Flying and a Bike Friday

So I have had the bike a few months now so I thought I would look back a little and recount as to what is it like flying with My Bike Friday Rocket Pro. Well, it has been pretty easy to be honest. I have done about 5 or so trips with the bike, some where I have moved from one city to the next over a period of one to two weeks while the others tends to be a week or so in the same place.

I fly with United Airlines enough that I have had no problems with checking in two items of luggage, either because I have two items to check or the weight factor of either single item or the two combined, so that does help. May be for those who don’t travel quite so much this might be an issue, not sure. As they say in all the travel magazines, newspapers and TV shows, “check with your airline”! I don’t actually know what the weight limits are to be honest but United happily accept the suitcase and it re-appears at the other end. I have flown several trans-Atlantic routes and a lot of internal US flights on some of United’s smallest aircraft – you know, the ones with metal things that go round on the wings and bounce around like a rubber ball – and it has been no problem.

So far the bike has survived without damage, the case and the associated packing items working well. Getting to and from airports is OK, the only issue is sometimes negotiating the odd transfer bus with two suitcases and a brief case, but to be fair, it is really not a big issue. One thing I do have as an advantage is that my other case has four wheels. This means that I can push that case while pulling the bike (it only has two wheels). I place the briefcase on top of the four wheeled case making myself pretty agile. I would recommend this. I have to confess that my suitcase does not actually have four wheels, it should have but it now has three courtesy of United and their baggage handling between Washington Dulles and New Orleans last year, but it still rolls pretty well with three (I can hear a song coming on here).

I have yet to fly within Europe with its associated low-level of customer service that we suffer over here. This is down to my trips in Europe tending to be 1 or 2 day affairs and therefore it is not worth taking the bike. So all of this experience is pretty much based on travel in the US and Canada.

The funniest thing with the Rocket Pro is the hotel. You get some odd looks when you leave the bike standing in the corner of the room, or walk out of the lobby carrying the bike ready for a ride but it is a great way to strike up a conversation. Best one so far is the gentleman outside of a hotel in Washington DC who was amazed as I folded up the bike. He laughed his head off and had me show him how it folded several times before he let me go.

So all in all, the Bike Friday works for me. If you are as frustrated as I was about not being able to ride when working and travelling, get yourself a Bike Friday. But, as they say on BBC Radio, other makes of folding bikes are available!! 🙂