Flying to Berm Peak with Bikes!

Welcome back to the channel. I'm Eric Porter and today we're going to talk about traveling by bike. I've spent the last 20 years as a professional mountain biker riding some of the craziest places in the world like Iraq, the Himalayas, Iceland, Morocco. and many more, they have been some of the most rewarding experiences of my life and today I get to take my family on a trip across the country to visit seth at Burn Peak and we will be

flying

with our

bikes

, so this is the first time. for the kids and I hope this gives you information that will help you travel with your bike too, so I'm going to show you how to pack your

bikes

and get them on the plane without paying the crazy fees like we used to. and then we'll go out and have some great riding fun thanks to competitivecyclist.com for sponsoring this video.

They have lots of travel bags and equipment on their website, as well as spare clothing and even complete bikes and equipment. heads can help point you in the right direction and answer any questions I don't answer in this video, so check out the description below for links to some of the things in this video, as well as 15 off your first purchase, as well give them a Next time you need some bike riding gear, the first thing you should do before heading out on a big bike trip is to mark your bike. You really don't want to fly across the country and show up to find out your bike is broken. and you have to deal with it there, you ride to ride and have fun, not to work on your bike, so check everything, make sure your gears are working, your brakes are dialed and the pads have plenty of life and clean and lube everything. up so there are no creaks definitely replace any old or worn parts before the ride too so your bike feels fresh and amazing.

Well, I have your bike tuned and ready to go. Is there anything else that needs to be done? grips, I mean look at these, they're like all worn out, so the good thing is that you've been riding a lot, the bad thing is that they wear out, new grips, yeah, you've been riding these grips for a whole year, so these are The SDG grips are also specially sized for children's hands. They have a kit with the bars and the grips and they are a smaller diameter and they are amazing. Simply open them with an Allen wrench.

This is how you do it. Hit my Well, better, should we pack this? Oh yeah, this would be your first time

flying

with the bike, huh? Now for packing, Owen is on a Diamondback Sinker 24, so he has smaller wheels and we can actually fit him in an oversized golf bag, so he's smaller. than a normal bike bag and it will be much easier for him to walk through the airport and carry two. This will only work for a kid's bike or a 26-inch dirt jumper, but it's perfect for those of us who are going to take off. the bars I actually used to use this bag with my Dirt Jump and Slope style bikes which were 26 inches so I could sneak it on the plane without paying the 150 bike fee each way so your front wheel will fit right here now that we are.

Let's move on to full size bikes and they go in a bike bag so I used to always travel with a cardboard box because I thought it was simple and easy, you could find them in a bike shop and if something happened to you you would just take them. they gave a new one, but the cardboard box obviously has a lot of disadvantages too, if it's raining the thing will disintegrate when security checks it to see what's inside, they'll cut the tape and you have to wait for them to put it on. it went back to how it's supposed to be and also it doesn't have wheels and it's huge so I finally upgraded it to the Thule Round Trip Pro xt which is this bag here that folds up really small when you're not traveling. or when you arrive at your destination and then the sides go back in to make it a semi-rigid case that will help protect your bike.

It is quite light. It has wheels so you can roll it instead of just dragging this box. It has a tray at the bottom so you can lock your bike and it keeps it very stable inside the bike bag, so it doesn't float around. It also has handles all around so the baggage handlers have something to grab and it's easier for us to carry. On trucks it's pretty easy to put your bike in one of these bags, you just take the pedals off the handlebars, take the wheels off, and then the two things you really want to make sure don't bend are the rotors and the derailleur. hangers, so definitely remove those as well, then place them in the tray that fits in the bottom of this bag, place the wheels in bags and you're pretty much ready to go, there's plenty of extra space in there too, as long as you weigh less than 50 pounds, you can put some shoes in there, your camel, things like that and always make sure you take your CO2 out as well because TSA doesn't like those really important things to remember when you're riding with a dropper post in a bike bag.

TSA has no idea what it is or how it works. I showed up once at the baggage claim area to pick up my bike and my seat was sticking out and the bag was zipped shut. I thought it was funny, but you could definitely run into some. There are problems with that so with the megura post you can just turn it off on the seat post and with the normal dropper post you can remove the lever to prevent it from being pushed accidentally when tsa makes sure you don't have anything dangerous in there we are all packed and ready to fly so let's talk about the easiest way to get to the airport if you can ask a friend or family member to drive you there but if you have to park there you can use the economy parking but you will end up walking forever to across this huge parking lot with all your gear.

The easiest way is an off-site parking service that has a shuttle that will drive right to your car, load your stuff for you, and take you straight to the gate, so checking in with the airline is where they used to receive all your fares when you book your ticket. Be sure to check the rules on what your baggage fees are. I always fly with Delta, they used to charge 150 each way, but they changed. your policy a couple of years ago and now it counts as a normal bag, so as long as it's under 50 pounds, bikes aren't a problem and it's awesome, are you guys doing the elf?

Yes, it's very important to stay hydrated when you travel too, so I always bring my Camelbak parachute and I can fill it with the filters at the airport and I don't have to use so many disposable water bottles anymore. If you're going to be traveling a lot, be sure to sign up for frequent flyer. The program also not only do you get more free bags but every once in a while you get a first class upgrade like Owen and I did on this flight with our lie-flat seats and that's a huge perk so when you get to your destination you always I try. rent a van because then you have a lot of space for all your equipment, you can put a pad on the tailgate to put the bikes on it and if things get dirty, it's not a big deal, the second thing would be to rent a minivan because you could fold down the back seats and put a lot of gear in there when you book your trip.

Be sure to put some thought into where you'll be staying. Hotels are usually very demanding when it comes to bringing bikes inside, especially if it can be muddy and many times, Airbnb is your best option on this trip. We are staying at Burn Peak Ranger Station and Seth has thought of all of this to create the perfect place for mountain bikers. Plus, you have a place. cooking and relaxing when you're not cycling, so when you fly somewhere with your bike you have to consider what it will be like when you have to rebuild the bike and in this situation we are at the Burn Peak ranger station. and it's super easy, we have the whole tool set up here, but if I'm building my bike in a hotel room or in a parking lot, I have to bring all the tools that I'm going to need to do it, so whatever. tools that I use to take apart my bike I just go ahead and throw them in my bag and fly with them because I'm going to need them to put the bike back together so let's put these bikes together and start riding I hope this video helps inspire more people to travel with their bikes, it's one of the most rewarding ways to see the world and hopefully this video also gave you some tips on how to do it.

Thanks to competitivecyclist.com for supporting this video. Visit their website if you need gear for your bike and talk to their crew chiefs if you have any questions. Thanks again for watching, see you on the next adventure.