Damaged bikes in bike box Alan?

Definitely hire a bike in Mallorca. Get something high end and treat yourself. You can book in advance, where are you located?

I've flown with a BBA dozens of times and never once had an issue. My box has also been loaned to friends and again, no problems.

It's done short haul with the likes of easyJet, Ryanair etc and a couple of long haul flights too.

Plenty of videos online about how to pack it.

Thanks, I’ve booked a place in Pollenca, looking forward to it!

Definitely hire a bike in Mallorca. Get something high end and treat yourself

Am not saying 'don't hire', but I've never hired a bike which works as well or feels as good as my own, even if on paper it's 'better'.

Had to use a banana skin to grease an infuriatingly creaky seatpost halfway up Haleakala, and I've seen the results of someone picking up a sub-standard hire bike from a reputable Mallorca hire shop and protesting at the lower spec parts etc. Cue foul mouthed (50% in Spanish) argument... 🙄

Over the years:

I've used one of these lined with a cardboard box to fly to  ~USA x 3, Japan x 5, Europe x 3. No problems.

I've used the Cycling UK plastic bag for 10 flights or so too. Years ago I just put a bare bike on two flights and it was fine.

Bike Box Alan? I wouldn't worry.

Edit: And yes, I'd always take my own, at the very least it saves hassle checking that the brakes are 'our' way around. Why go on a cycling holiday and ride something unfamiliar?

Took mine in a soft shell bag with Scious steel subframe to hold the bike. No issues at all. I prefer my own bike, but pollenca has everything you could want (at a price). My. Clubmate had the same subframe and his was dropped. Steel frame cracked but bike was ok. The frame is to protect the dropouts.

 Was a little wary and took my spare bike that owes me nothing. Rode 800 trouble-free km on some fabulous roads and will be back this year too. Might take a better bike too. 

Am not saying ‘don’t hire’, but I’ve never hired a bike which works as well or feels as goud as my own, even if on paper it’s ‘better’.

I was out at Mont Ventoux earlier in the year with some friends.

Some of us (inc me) took our own bikes. Of the people who hired:
The hire co were about 2hrs late arriving at our accommodation which delayed the ride.
Half the bikes were not as specced - some of it was as simple as a different set of wheels, some of it was an entire different groupset (asked for Shimano, got SRAM).
Even at Ryanair's bike box prices (£60 each way) it turned out to be far cheaper to take your own than to hire; one guy paid over £300 for about 4.5 days hire.

our tri Club has had a BB (pretty sure it's a BBA) and mist have been used 100+ times over the past decade by people going g on hols   training, and racing.  Never a single problem as far as I know.

Went on a few big group rides in Europe about a decade ago, people used a range of methods from a verity of hard case boxes, soft bags and cardboard boxes. But the guy that flew the most with a bike used a thick clear plastic bag and parcel tape - said he'd never had an issue after many trips as the baggage handlers could see it was a bike and took more care of it. However I used a rigid box in bba style and also didn't have an issue.

We go out to Pollenca every March. Some take their own bikes (I do - I’m super fussy on road bike position) and some hire. The guys who hire use the Pinarello Experience and they had always had a good experience (pun intended) and you can hire all sorts of Pinerellos in the range.

I’ve had a brake lever bent and that’s it in 25yrs of using bike bags for travel. I have a Scicon bike bag with an internal frame which seems to predict the bike really well.

I borrowed a BBA and was quite impressed, although it was one of the older ones which meant I had to fully deflate the (tubeless) tyres and take discs off. Plus find some qr skewers to retain the wheels!

I also hired on a different holiday to Pollensa. I used Pro Cycle Hire who were brilliant; measurements added to the booking when I hired and the bike was setup perfectly when I turned up and had zero issues all week.

BBA boxes - we’ve done dozens of trips, short haul and long haul with both the older style and the new style boxes, plus lent them to friends.  Never had a problem.

if you have discs or integrated cabling through the stem, then definitely get the newer box, but check it’ll fit in your car, it’s a big bugger.

We've a CRC branded 'pro' bag, second hand iirc for £60.
With good packing and extra pipe lagging foam, we've never had an issue at all.

I hired a BBA to take a carbon road bike to Portugal.

No issues at all.

BBA here too, used a few times without issue…crush pole inside will protect it from stuff being piled on top.

Check with your airline on AirTag use, rumour going around last time was someone in another party had mentioned to staff that their tag wasn’t tracking to the plane. Apparently they were made to remove the tag…not sure how true that was given we were all boarded and the hold was closed up while we were being held at the gate due to snow.

I've always taken my bike with me but there's def a good argument for hiring instead. Personally I use an Evoc softbag with a lot of pipe lagging and foam blocks to add to the protection, not had an issue (but that's partly luck). I did look at rigid cases like the BBA but the weight always put me off, plus on one trip a guy using one had some hassle on the return leg (I think at Alicante) as for some reason it was too big to fit through their large item scanner so he had to go and wait somewhere and then open the case for inspection - no issues in the end but he was stressed about missing the flight for a while.

Pro tip, if you want to fit two BBA tri boxes in a mk2 ford focus, you'll need to unbolt the rear seats 🤦 

I’ve travelled with a mountain bike loads of times, with an old Leisure Lakes unpadded bike bag and have never had a problem.

I’ve never known there to be a problem for the other people in our group either.

A friend who works in Logistics at Heathrow says oversized luggage is treated very delicately these days anyway because of the risk of compensation claims.

I have hired bikes in Port Pollenca from Procycle hire, you input some measurements from your bike and the bike is set up ready when you collect, few adjustments if needed, I take my own saddle and pedals and then off you go. One year I had a squeaky front wheel, got it swapped out after one day, no other issues

Thanks for the replies.  I would be really scared using the plastic bag method, but I can see the logic.  <br /><br />

This is the horror story which puts me off soft shell bags, and potentially flying with a bike 

https://road.cc/content/news/uci-worlds-riders-cervelo-wrecked-when-flying-air-canada-303759

I suppose that’s why I am trying to find out if there has been a similar situation with a BBA? <br /><br />

Surely BBA the strongest. I’m not sure how much weight you need to put on it for it to deform but it’ll be lots, especially with that bar in the middle. You’re overthinking it.

Have flown with:

Solid bike box - no issues,  but weighty

Cardboard bike box  (for a one way journey) - no issue, lightweight whilst pretty rigid. A guy watched me build the bike back up in the airport before he had the box for himself. There is also a proper way to package it down (just like how a new boxed bike arrives partially assembled).

Friends have toured and used the plastic bike bag method, whilst also attaching bottles of  Italian wine and olive oil to their bike! Again no issue, the bikes are pretty much unthrowable as they weighed that much.

I hired on my mast Mallorca visit last year, pretty much means you can jump on and ride (bar a few tweaks), but I seem to recall flying Vs hire was about the same cost (depending on hire model obviously)

I've gone for both European and further abroad biking holidays with a traditional soft bike bag for a couple of decades now, with both metal and carbon bikes and the worst I've ever suffered is the occasional bent rotor, and TBH that is often me being a bit lazy about packing.

If I was buying I'd be looking at a Shokbox.

I flew with a BBA last year and my friend on the trip used a Shokbox.  we are going this year and I'm looking at spending a bit more to hire a Shokbox instead.  It seemed superior to BBA in pretty much every way, not that there was anything bad about BBA - it did everything intend but the Shokbox just did it better. Much to the annoyance of the other mate on the trip who had just shelled out for a personal BBA

I’ve flown numerous times with my very expensive carbon road bike in a (cheap) hard case and never had an issue. Neither have any of my club mates . I pack the box with my cycling kit to ensure it’s not juggling around in there

i have used a cardboard box in past for my alu mtb, but no danger id consider that option for anything made of carbon that I valued

In Mallorca I'd hire. There must be 20 rental shops along the strip with every possible posh bike on offer, if one doesn't have what you want just go next door.

The one caveat is euro brake lever down steep hills. Nearly got me that one, I suspect a lot of places will swap that for you though

I fly loads with my MTB, never had an issue, but it's a lot more solid than a skinny roadie thing