California Dreamin

Hey I'm hopping on a plane on Saturday with my Dahon Flo which is a mountain bike with the same Ritchey Breakaway System and packs in the same size bag/luggage. I know my bike bag if measured is about 3" above the "oversize" limit. With the airlines cracking down on luggage and looking for anyway possible to generate more revenue I'm wondering ... did you get charged and who did you fly?

Have a great time in Cali! Isn't it great to always be able to travel with a bike?

jsirabella said:

Hello All,
It is beautiful and lots of rolling hills between Dana Point and Huntington Beach. KO you would love it. The hills are different than the east coast as they are longer and not as much grade and I think east coast riders would find it a nice change.
This is a nice change and recommend to travel with the bike to change the scenery and focus on something other than the watts.

-js

Sounds fun. Changes of Latitute bring changes of attitude and all that. I love it out west and always try and plan a legal conference somewhere on the west coast each year. Last year was San Fran, but my wife has family near San Diego so we have been out there as well. I usually just bring my running shoes, but I keep threatening to bring my bike with me. I just got back from a family trip downnashore (Avalon, NJ) as we say in Philly. Lots of flat riding on and off shore, the steepest hills are highway overpasses and bridges. My "shore bike" is an old '87 'dale equipped with an old school 6 speed free hub and downtube shifters, that is not compatible with the PM so I rode on PE. (That bike still shifts and rides true as the day I bought it, but it does make you appreciate how much brakes have improved). Also, was able to bring a kettlebell so I was able to stay on the program that way as well.

I am back on my Lightspeed tonight and will have to see how my power numbers are. As an aside, my wife is in NYC for a Women's lawyers group next week. I am taking the train so I probably won't bring my bike. . . but I have a call into a few bike shops to see if I can get a rental and just spin my pedals on. If you know a buddy with a spare 56 cm, I would be happy to give him the rental fee, or treat him to an after ride lunch. Then again, if I happen to box up my bike and it happens to find its way on the train, my wife shouldn't be that upset. :eek: Suffice it to say that we have different "visions" of this trip. Riding in central park has a little more appeal to me than shopping for shoes in Barneys. But we have a vacation planned for Lake Placid in a few weeks and I might want to play my chits there. (Running in CP has its own pleasures :o, the female scenery is really second to no american city, and it sounds like from Tyson that Tokyo isn't going to be the place that blows it away) I am just trying to decide road or mountain in LP. I also head out to Moab every fall for a "mancation" which is great, road or mt.

AdamW said:

With the airlines cracking down on luggage and looking for anyway possible to generate more revenue I'm wondering ... did you get charged and who did you fly?

Have a great time in Cali! Isn't it great to always be able to travel with a bike?

Depends upon where you are flying out of. I got raped last time flying USAIR out of Philly to Moab (Grand Junction) around 10/06. No problem at all flying return from Grand Junction, they just put the bike on the plane. I have a full sized rolling bike box. Philly wanted to hit me with a one way bike charge, an overweight charge, and an oversized charge. It was like $300 until I raised a stink and talked a supervisor into just charging me a flat $100 bike charge. I have rented out there ever since, but the Moab shops now are carrying very high end bikes so you are not giving much up. You might want to join USCF or IMBA and get a voucher. But yes, JS I am curious of this as well. It always used to annoy me when I watched the golfers load huge heavy golf bags on for no charge and they would want to stick me for multiple charges for a bike. If you are going for a week or more, I have heard of guys shipping their bikes UPS from their LBS to a destination LBS, via UPS. With the breakaway system, it should be pretty cheap to ship your bike 2 day air.

I never had any trouble with the airlines for extra fees as the suitcase that came with the bike fits the size requirements.

I do like having my bike especially in area like CA and NV. Initally when I got into cycling I was only intersted in fitness and touring so I really enjoy the changes in scenery when I can take my bike during my travel.

The end of this month I am to head off to Tokyo and thinking of taking it. I am not sure as Tokyo does not seem very good for riding. Bit still may do it and pack my trainer also so during those nights I can not sleep have something to do.

Just so you know KO the only drawback to the breakaway is that you have to be pretty good with fixing your own bike. Until the breakway I always went to the LBS but with the breakaway I have had to deal with slightly bent rims and dealing with lots of cables and wires and other small fixes. I actually think it is a plus now that I have learned it.

One pet peeve for me is that I must take out all the air of the tires when you pack the bike so I always must find an LBS to pump them back up to a good PSI. Otherwise my CO2 lasts for about two days and I sometimes use a pump at a gas station.

It also helps to slip the skycap a $20 ... my wife and daughter always have too much luggage so it has saved me alot of moeny in the past...[img]cyclingforums.combiggrin.gifOpen ↗[/img]...get those premium stickers and luggage comes out first...

-js

AdamW said:

Hey I'm hopping on a plane on Saturday with my Dahon Flo which is a mountain bike with the same Ritchey Breakaway System and packs in the same size bag/luggage. I know my bike bag if measured is about 3" above the "oversize" limit. With the airlines cracking down on luggage and looking for anyway possible to generate more revenue I'm wondering ... did you get charged and who did you fly?

Have a great time in Cali! Isn't it great to always be able to travel with a bike?

I do not know anyone with a road bike who is 56cm. I have a guy in my office who is that size and rides a track bike and plays bike polo.

A great shop to use is Sids Bike. They will definitely have some good bikes and not sure if they do rental. Not sure where you are staying but they have a place mid-town on 34th street. Just bring your pedals. Give them a call and see if they do rentals. Other places do rental but they are pretty low end bikes, mostly trek hybrids.

Not sure if you have access to a CT but if you want and you can get a hold of a bike I can set you up here so you can really try your ftp out and compare it to your trainer and outdoor numbers. It has been pretty muggy here.

Scenery...do not tell me about it...I also went to the gym out in CA and I am telling you, blondes grow like weeds on the west coast and I do not know what is in the water or the plastic surgeon but the cleveage is something way different than here on the east coast...

-js

kopride said:

Sounds fun. Changes of Latitute bring changes of attitude and all that. I love it out west and always try and plan a legal conference somewhere on the west coast each year. Last year was San Fran, but my wife has family near San Diego so we have been out there as well. I usually just bring my running shoes, but I keep threatening to bring my bike with me. I just got back from a family trip downnashore (Avalon, NJ) as we say in Philly. Lots of flat riding on and off shore, the steepest hills are highway overpasses and bridges. My "shore bike" is an old '87 'dale equipped with an old school 6 speed free hub and downtube shifters, that is not compatible with the PM so I rode on PE. (That bike still shifts and rides true as the day I bought it, but it does make you appreciate how much brakes have improved). Also, was able to bring a kettlebell so I was able to stay on the program that way as well.

I am back on my Lightspeed tonight and will have to see how my power numbers are. As an aside, my wife is in NYC for a Women's lawyers group next week. I am taking the train so I probably won't bring my bike. . . but I have a call into a few bike shops to see if I can get a rental and just spin my pedals on. If you know a buddy with a spare 56 cm, I would be happy to give him the rental fee, or treat him to an after ride lunch. Then again, if I happen to box up my bike and it happens to find its way on the train, my wife shouldn't be that upset. :eek: Suffice it to say that we have different "visions" of this trip. Riding in central park has a little more appeal to me than shopping for shoes in Barneys. But we have a vacation planned for Lake Placid in a few weeks and I might want to play my chits there. (Running in CP has its own pleasures :o, the female scenery is really second to no american city, and it sounds like from Tyson that Tokyo isn't going to be the place that blows it away) I am just trying to decide road or mountain in LP. I also head out to Moab every fall for a "mancation" which is great, road or mt.

jsirabella,

Glad to hear you had a great trip. I just got back from Maine yesterday. My bike bag, which is 3" over the limit, was visually scrutinized but escaped the dreaded check-in-counter tape measure! It got real close when my 9 year-old son said, "I hope they treat your bike well this time" which elicited the, "Oh there's a bike in there?" comment. However, I think the general chaos our family and luggage presented helped defray any further tie-ups! Thanks for the tip on the skycaps; that sounds like a good idea. I also packed cookies and a nice note for the TSA folks. I had five great rides. I love that bike! The 26" tires of my MTB don't require deflating, so I luck out there.