Triathlon Travel Tips (3 minute read)

Race day approaching for you and your triathlon bike? Not sure how to get your bike to your triathlon race in a effective, safe and money saving manner? We have you covered.

Check out this quick triathlon travel tips explaining the pros and cons of either shipping your triathlon bicycle with a company like Fedex or UPS or checking your bicycle on a plane with such airlines as Southwest, Delta, United, American etc.  

Our goal is to save you time, money and energy with this article. These triathlon travel tips work for all types of triathlon bikes.  These tips help answer the basics on how to fly with a triathlon bike as well.  Our goal is to provide triathlon tips and tricks for beginners.

Triathlon Travel Tip 1: Appreciate the actual travel with the bike

Think long and hard about hauling your bicycle through the airport before you take this step. If you haven’t thought about it, if you check your bicycle with an airline, you will still need to haul your bicycle from the airport to your triathlon destination. While that may sound simple, think about what car you may be driving and if it will have the room to hold your bicycle. Further, you will have other luggage to carry besides your bike so this could add to your troubles. Lastly, rental cars normally don’t have bicycle racks on them or you are going to have to rent a large rental car to put your bike in, a budget rental car probably wont’ do. 

Triathlon Travel Tip 2: Watch the fees

Airline checking fees can vary depending on the airline. Each airline is different on the pricing they will charge if you want to check your bicycle with them. Here is a link of links to the major airlines on pricing. As you can see in each policy, the pricing here can vary.  Know these fees prior to arriving at the airport.

1. • Southwest- Generally runs $75. Find Southwest’s policy here. 
   • American – Depends on weight and size of the bicycle.  Find American’s policy here. 
   • Delta- Depends on weight and size of the bicycle. Find Delta’s policy here. 
   • United – Depends on weight and size of the your triathlon bicycle. Find United’s policy here. 

Triathlon Travel Tip 3: Financial protecting your bike during travel

Review the fine print when it comes to what the airlines and shipping company will cover if they damage your bicycle during the travel.  Many times if you haven’t paid additional fees, the airlines and shipping companies have a default limit of a few hundred dollars to reimburse if they damage your bicycle. Ask your insurance company or shipping company what their coverage limits are and see if for a few dollars more you can get coverage that is aligned to the value of your bicycle. Most airlines don’t allow you to purchase additional coverage. As you know a triathlon bike can cost more than a few hundred dollars to replace. 

Also, check out if your home owner’s policy would cover your bicycle if damaged during shipment. Some insurance policies may provide coverage under your existing plan or you may be to add travel coverage for few hundred dollars for this potential situation.  Ask for what is called an insurance rider if you don’t immediately have coverage. 

Triathlon Travel Tip 4: Rent a bike travel bag

Rent a bicycle travel bag from us. Our rental options can work in either option described herein.  Check out our rental options here.  We have an assortment of rental bicycle travel bag options such as Thule, EVOC and Dakine that can work for an assortment of triathlon bikes.  We also have time period options from three day rentals to one month rentals. 

Don’t want to rent? We also sell bicycle travel bags as well.  Let us make your big racing day a hit with our travel services.

Lastly, we also allow you to have our rental travel bags shipped back to us from different areas of the United States so if you want to keep your bike in a particular destination, you can ship the rental item back from that location. 

Have more triathlon travel questions we didn’t answer above? Check out our FAQ with our time savings insights. 

Have questions on how to pack your bike travel bag? Manufacturer’s Installation Video Found Here. 

What is the difference between a hard and soft bike travel bag? Explanation found here

Not ready to rent a bike travel case yet? Want more triathlon tips and tricks for beginners? 

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter as your first step. We will send you great rental deals, discounts and giveaways to allow you to take more enjoyable biking trips and races.