Do you use a torque wrench for the rotors? There’s the dedicated 40Nm from Topeak, but that adds almost 600g, though according to the website at least it also seems ok to be used for removal too.
Without torque, the Wolftooth pack wrench looks quite good, also providing a proper pedal tool.
No, I don’t. I just tighten the rotors down as tight as possible.
I use either the Silca torque kit or Feedback kit for stem bolts, but for rotor lockrings and pedals I use the Wolftooth pack wrench and a digital torque meter - the 5 digits on my right hand. I make rotor lockrings good and snug but not uggadugga, and I thread the pedals in just finger tight. I’ve had good luck with both styles of lockrings and the pack wrench, and the 8mm hex insert is good for breaking the pedals loose since they tighten a bit during riding. I’ve never had an issue with anything getting loose.
I’ll dig the case out this weekend and take some pictures.
So when I looked into this a few years ago, at least British Airways at the time took full responsibility/liability for well-packed bicycles in a hard case and not in a soft case.
No clue whether that has changed and yes I am one of those people mentioned earlier who bought the case and hasn’t used it too much yet. 
Good call out. I had forgotten that hard vs soft case makes a difference. I believe you are right.
Even if they say “full liability”, it’s worth remembering that the airline’s liability for a passenger’s checked baggage is capped at under two grand under Montreal convention rules (or a bit more if travelling to/from/in the US and possibly some other countries), so making sure you have additional insurance coverage is usually a good idea.
For what it’s worth, I have flown several times with a carbon frame in a soft case and lived to tell about it. Wouldn’t try it without extra padding in the form of pipe insulation (foam) around all frame tubes.
I’ve paired the Scicon Aerocomfort with their rear triangle and handlebar pads, plus the Orucase pad kit. There is barely any exposed carbon at this point. Knock on wood but 20+ flights with lightweight carbon bikes and no issues.
PSI/deal alert, the Scion Aerocomfort soft case that many of us have raved about has been slightly updated (model 3.1) last month, and the previous model is deeply discounted to under $500 US with free extras like gear bags and a gift card. They’re also discounting the new model and their hard case but the 3.0 is a steal.
I would not risk anything but a full hard case for carbon bikes on planes. I run a small cycling event series, and we had at least one person turning up with a broken bike due to soft cases in the last five years.
Personally I love my Buxumbox. Packing is super quick, under 10min consistently, the bike is well protected, even if airport security would open the case, it is simple to close again without the chance of them getting it wrong, it rolls along well, and the square form factor makes it easy to stack and store.
Plus it looks nice 
+1 for the Orucase bags (ours are the Airport Ninjas). My wife and I have flown our carbon road bikes probably 20 flight legs (and several Spanish train legs) with no problems. My theory is that oddly-shaped soft cases can’t be the bottom building block of a pile of luggage on a luggage cart at the airport. And having flown with an enormous hard case before that which necessitated a very large rental van, the small size in Europe is a huge plus. We managed to fit two bikes (in Orucases) in the boot of a Corolla which saved us from missing a flight after the first cab driver gave up without even trying. (Also, +1 for removing rotors and derailleurs, and even derailleur hangers)
You are 100% correct about odd size bags not being placed on the bottom. My S&S case is rigid and probably will be on if bottom, but it’s designed and braced for it. Orucase et al are small but odd shaped enough to end up on top of regular-sized suitcases. EVOC, SciCon, etc are really hard to load anywhere but on top of the stack.
In my experience (limited to regional jets), damage to bags happens more on belt loaders and conveyor belts, where things can fall or straps get caught. Tighten and shorten straps, make it easy for TSA to search, and don’t check a backpack with loads of straps flopping around.
One thing that I will add that I always do when packing my bike: I cut sections of small (1/2 inch or so) pvc pipe to the same width as my front and rear hubs and place them in the otherwise empty space between the fork and rear dropouts like dummy hubs to create support/rigidity when the fork or (far more likely) rear triangle gets squeezed. I hold them in place with the quick release or thru-axle. Obviously if your case has an internal frame or the like with mounts that use the dropouts, then that kind of thing is probably unnecessary. Oh, and pipe insulation foam works great to pad the frame and is cheap and reusable. I hold it in place with masking tape that is easy to tear and doesn’t leave residue if it sticks to the frame. I bring the roll of tape with me to re-tape for the return trip. I also use it to wrap up anything hard and/or heavy like a pedal wrench so it doesn’t come loose and chip my frame.
Heya! I’ve been a happy user of a Pika Packworks EEP since 2008 - yes, the same case over all those years. And for the first 10 years of its time in my possession, it carried carbon frame bikes. Never did my bike (or those of friends who borrowed the case) suffer any damage. And I never made any extra effort to pad the frame tubes - the bag worked a charm.
Now all of my bikes are titanium or aluminium frames, and still: no damage. Even the move to thru-axles didn’t faze the bag.
So a good soft-sided case will work just fine.
I’ve done a couple dozen trips with the evoc (not the pro), probably a third of which were with a carbon bike and never had any issues with stuff getting damaged.
Note that many cases are heavy enough that it will be hard to get a mountain bike in there and still stay under the 50lb limit many airlines use (especially US airlines). E.g. the scicon mountain bike case.
That said on my last trip no one weighed my bike in either direction, so as always ymmv.
Hey Andy, if you go for a Scicon Aerocomfort I recommend changing the wheels. The standard ones are great for smooth tiled surfaces, but bounce them up and down a few kerbs and across cobbles pavement and they will crack. I bought some non marking castors that are available at Bunnings, proper bearings and bigger diameter wheels work like a charm.
Just got back from another successful trip with my basic EVOC bag + EVOC bike frame from the pro model. This was my first time traveling with a “fully integrated” bike so I had some concerns but I need not have worried. Specialized’s cable routing below the stem made it easy to remove and rotate the bars into the bag:
My traveling companion rented the full EVOC Pro bag, It’s more maneuverable and quicker to pack (the bars stay on) but the bag is so much bigger than the basic EVOC that I still prefer the smaller bag with one extra assembly/disassembly step. Getting the EVO Pro into the back of cars, vans or onto conveyor belts at the airport was just that much harder.
Note that this trip didn’t really require much non-airport transit so I may feel differently if I had to wheel the bag around more.
I assume most people are using road or gravel bikes.
what’s the cases that would fit an XL frame sized full suspension mountain bike with 29” wheels? Or is it just simpler to find a high end bike rental. I’m going to New Zealand for a multi stage race and would love to bring my bike. And ride some additional trails while I’m there. I don’t mind paying the oversized baggage fee but the point about what to do with the box when there was something I hadn’t thought about. I wonder if there is storage near the airport.
I’ll go one step further. Search for removable casters and you’ll find some nifty plug-in solutions that you can easily DIY install on and hard or soft case. No matter how rugged your casters are, handling systems love to tear them off and it’s the case’s plastic base that is the weak point. I roll the case up ti check in, pull off the casters and toss them into the bag. Upon arrival, plug them back in and roll on. No tools required. I think a set of 4 heavy duty steel cost me about $50.
Reliable Hardware makes a steel bracket that fits 2” casters. For hard shell cases you can rivet the plates on then slide the casters in and out. There’s a spring clip that holds them in place. They work really well but I’ve had 2 get damaged (looking at you, Schipol) so I made dummy filler plates that I pop in before checking the case. A set of 4 plates and casters is under $40 or so.
