Flying with bicycle! GLA to KEF Iceland!

[farmer palmer]

I've been to Iceland a few times with my motorbike by ferry but this is my first trip flying with my touring bicycle....!

Does anyone have any experience flying with Icelandair regarding packing the bike etc?

Any advice re bags, boxes or wrapping the bike in bubblewrap greatly recieved!

Thanks FP.

[Vaufi]

I'm afraid my experience is way too old - I flew my pushbike to KEF with Icelandair in 1989 All I did was to cover it with bubblewrap, align the handlebars, turn the pedals to the inside. And yes, I removed the rear derailleur.

[farmer palmer]

Thanks Vaufi,

I'm looking at either a padded bike bag, a cardboard box or the CTC plastic bike bag.

Either way Icelandair insist on a bike bag....! My 610L Thorn Sherpa will take a fair bit of dismantling to fit in the padded bike bag option!

FP.

[farmer palmer]

OK, time to do it all again......!

Last time in may 2010 I stripped my bike and put it in an Edinburgh Bicycle padded bag and my bike survived the trip there and back with only slight damage to the bags zip.

Removed wheels, mudguards, racks and pedals aswell as lowering the seat and removing the handlebars and stem and taping them to the frame and padding it all out with bubblewrap and plumbers pipe lagging. I also removed the rear mech incase it was damaged or broke the hanger.

My panniers and barbag were all carried in a seperate bag and I had no problems whatsoever with customs/baggage at either end of the trip infact my luggage including the bike was the first off the plane.

Assembling the bike took around forty minutes which I did at www.Alex.is and I double checked everything was tight before setting off on an eight hundred mile trip.

The biggest problem on my tour in Iceland was caused by the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption and the riding conditions around Skogar-Vik were horrendous and I had to turn back after riding into several 'ash storms' and the campsites in the area at that time had been abandoned and were covered in a layer of volcanic ash which wasn't too healthy.

By altering my 'planned' route away from the eruption I was then able to have a really good ten days cycling around Icelands Golden Circle aswell as the island of Vestmannaeyjar and Rekjanes penninsula and in mostly very good weather aswell.

Although the ringroad to the south of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption was open for traffic cycling at that time wasn't to be recommended and I met several other cyclists on my trip to Iceland who had also had a tough time and had used the bus service to get them throgh what was known at the time as the 'dead zone'.

This time there hopefully won't be any volcanic eruptions in Iceland when i'm there and i'm intending to cycle the entire ringroad.....weather permitting and I'll be using the same bike, luggage and camping gear without any alterations apart from carrying slightly less clothing and slightly more food.

Here's hoping for a good one......!

FP.

[Vaufi]

Enjoy your trip, mate! And good luck!


I'm busy planning the ADT through the States. Less headwind hopefully, but more miles ;o)

[farmer palmer]

Originally Posted by Vaufi

Enjoy your trip, mate! And good luck!


I'm busy planning the ADT through the States. Less headwind hopefully, but more miles ;o)

Wow......That sounds like a fantastic ride!

Not been cycling too much this spring but hopefully can get some miles in before my trip mostly on an MTB to the local supermarket and back which isn't as bad as it sounds. It's only around 15 miles but it's short, sharp, and very hilly on the rural Scottish roads and it's singletrak farm roads with rough surfaces, bad potholes and loose gravel.

Longer rides will follow up to the fifty or sixty mile mark and i'll save the rest for the Icelandic trip.

FP.