Is it feasible and practical to take along a folding bicycle in addition to the regular roller bag and flight bag on a CRJ series aircraft? I’m thinking of something compact like a Brompton (23”X22”X11” ~24lbs) or Bike Friday Pakit (28”X17”X8” ~20lbs). Does anyone have experience with this?

 

 

You just going to walk through security in uniform with a bicycle?

From what I could find the max allowable per United for the CRJ overhead bin is 18x14x7. You’d probably get some leeway on length but I doubt either of those bike options are going to fit in a way that allows the bin to close.

You could probably gate check it if you trust it not to get lost or destroyed (it likely will over a long enough period.) so I’d argue it’s possible.

But is it professional? Backpacks and traveler guitars are already pushing it. Bringing a bicycle with you is another level. Plenty of places have bike sharing now, and many hotels in fun, bikeable areas have loaner ones anyway. Why go through all the hassle?

 

Don’t worry, they won’t notice the bike when I forget to put my hair in a manbun.

 

Wait...why is carrying a guitar "pushing it?"

 

Ive done my folding bike many times..

I had a small case for it that I would use but I just had it folded and wheeled it through kcm. We mostly do turns from the hub so it stayed in the crew room till my flight to the overnight flight to the out station.

I would just put it as a valet bag and personally made sure was loaded and offloaded. I never had a problem unless the hotel tried to use a taxi instead of pick us up.

Ive taken my golf clubs hundreds of times.

Get the most compact folder you can find. It will make your overnights a lot more fun and you can get some exercise.

The brompton m6l is the best one out there, along with the fridays. The Friday packit with the backpack option is probably the one you
want. he brompton has wheels when folded so you can easily roll it through the terminal.. there are some cases, soft and hard so people don't know what your carrying. If I got the packit I would go with the 8 speed chain drive.

https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a20048132/best-folding-bikes/

 

Won't fit in a CRJ bin, might fit in one of the closets (if installed), but traditionally the CA has first dibs on the cockpit closet (I think that's too small anyway), and the FA's use the cabin closets (for their stuff and premium pax coats). If it were one leg nobody would mind, but as ongoing thing it would be an imposition.

So really you'd have to gate check it every leg. That's a PITA with multiple legs but can be done. The problem is if they miss the gate check tag, it will go to baggage claim and then are you going to delay the flight to go outside security and fine your bike, or abandon it. If you make a habit of it, it WILL get sent to baggage claim eventually, probably sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't worry about what people think in this case, crew sometimes bring guitars, golf clubs, skis, snowboards. But other than guitars it's usually only *sometimes*.

 

I can't believe how small some of those bikes fold up. It seems like a few of those would fit ok depending on what type of metal you're hauling with.

 

I have a full size bike I occasionally fly with that has S&S couplers. Fits right on the flighdeck behind the seat in a special case. Granted this is one of the largest narrowbody offices and not a CRJ, but it works no problem. I only take it if it’s one leg out and one leg back. This is either a 2 leg 2 day or leaving it in the bag room and snagging it/dropping it off. This is a full size road bike and I only take it if the ride is worth it. This was a hilly ride outside Berkeley on this nice couch I found. Don’t let others deter you from making the most of an overnight outside of a bar. As a general rule, I ensure whatever it is (this bike) is only an inconvenience to me and not the crew, or anyone else for that matter.

 

Thank you very much to all for sharing your input. I appreciate hearing the different perspectives. I think I’ll try taking a bike on at least some of my trips to see how well it works, if it isn’t well received among my coworkers or inconveniences others then I’ll try to find something else with which to entertain myself.