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Traveling by Plane with a helmet
How do people carry their helmets on planes? I'm trying to pack it in my hard-side suitcase, and it fits ok, but I'm a bit worried that somewhere on the three flights I have to take, the suitcase will take a solid blow to the lid, which is soft, and that will crush the helmet, but I would never notice.
Also, I packed a bunch of hard, but fragile stuff inside the helmet. I can't decide if that is a bad idea or not. If the helmet doesn't get crushed, it won't really matter, and if it does get crushed, the stuff inside will be the least of the problems.
I would take it as a carry on, but I have a huge backpack that weights a ton, and I have to take three flights to get to Beijing, so its going to be a bit of hassle.
So, what are other people's experiences? I'm going to be doing this trip 4-5 times this year (so 10 packings), so packing the helmet securely will be important.
Thanks for any suggestions!
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Wear it :lol8:.
You can find a nice semi-hard shell case in China for about ¥65. My wife and I always use these when transporting our helmets and nobody has ever treated them as an extra carry on.
I don't feel comfortable with keeping mine in the suitcase and it takes up a huge amount of room.
Cheers!
ChinaV
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
I always have my helmets as carry on and it was never any problem with security check or airline carry on luggage restrictions. I normally take off the visor to my other hand carry bag / backpack or suitcase and take the helmet with it's carry bag.
I brought at least a dozen helmets over and my helmet with me on various flights inside China.
I don't think a suitcase is secure enough to transport a helmet.
If you are going to do that trip 4-5 times, leave your helmet back home, buy one over here and store it here as you travel back home. There is plenty of choice in Beijing.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Carry-on it is! I'll give that a shot and see how it goes.
I was worried about buying a helmet in China, I didn't think they would be very good quality, or at least, it would be hard to tell a good one from a bad one. Right now we've only got electric scooters, so we didn't try a motorcycle shop, but the places we did look had some pretty crappy helmets.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
CantDecide,
I was going to suggest that you just buy some helmets in China and not carry them back and forth.
I think all my helmets are made in China. I seem to have a AFX head. The Chinese helmets in the USA and Europe have to pass the same standards as the ones made in those countries.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
I vote for carry-on also. Before my last trip to China I bought a nice fleece-lined and padded helmet bag at the local shop. I stuffed the helmet and a nice warm jacket into it to use on the flight along with a couple of snack items and it was no problem taking it through security. I don't think I'd ever trust sending it through in checked baggage.
Cheers,
Dan K.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Josh, it's too late for your trip this weekend, but there are bags designed for carrying helmets available.
Presumably all made in China....
cheers
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Quote:
Originally Posted by
euphonius
...bags designed for carrying helmets...
cheers
Local sportswear shops had some "??? ball" bags also quite OK for helmet
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Yep, they look good, especially if big enough to wrap helmet in rain gear/winter gear. My gearbag is big enough for all that stuff plus first aid kit, and it has wheels too but definitely wouldn't fit through the carry on slot! Don't they still have them at airports or do you all travel Business class and up?
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Maybe one of you smart people can find a Taobao link for these. They have them with various logos if you're not into Suzuki. Really nice hard shell helmet case for ¥65 in the Guangzhou market.
The straps and the shape of the bottom keep the helmet from bouncing around.
http://www.contactdi.com/2011/1090553.jpg
Fits every size and shape of helmet I have ever tried.
http://www.contactdi.com/2011/1090554.jpg
Looks good and has a front pocket that holds your spare shield.
http://www.contactdi.com/2011/1090555.jpg
High quality shoulder strap and handle makes you look cool.
http://www.contactdi.com/2011/1090559.jpg
Cheers!
ChinaV
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ChinaV
Maybe one of you smart people can find a Taobao link for these...
Search "硬" "頭盔包" in taobao for this type ~Y8? + shipping
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Bah, I stole my sister's favourite beach bag, put TWO helmets. No problems, took it as a carry on. No problems, except I wasn't wearing the matching bikini :naughty::naughty:
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
I've packed the helmet in my riding gear, wrap it in my riding jacket and stuff everything in a waterproof bag. I would then stuff the empty spaces with gloves and shirts and things. Then, I will ship it with my other luggage.
Alternatively, you can always buy a surplus military hard storage case for the helmet.
http://www.colemans.com/containers.htm
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
I've packed the helmet in my riding gear, wrap it in my riding jacket and stuff everything in a waterproof bag. I would then stuff the empty spaces with gloves and shirts and things. Then, I will ship it with my other luggage.
Alternatively, you can always buy a surplus military hard storage case for the helmet.
http://www.colemans.com/containers.htm
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
dats weird. did you repost pennstlong?
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the suggestions, ChinaV, Euphonious, I'll definitely have to get one of those bags, I think that would be perfect.
I carried my helmet in the soft bag it came in on the plane and kept it in the overhead, it worked great, I made it from Boston->Detroit, Detroit->Tokyo, and Tokyo->Beijing, over 24 hours of travel without a problem. Then, getting out of the taxi at our apartment, I handed my wife the helmet bag so I could lift the suitcase out of the trunk, and she promptly dropped it on the pavement...
So they say even a short drop can ruin a helmet... lets say this was 3 feet... should I fret about it much? I know the damage can be invisible!
Gotta go find one of those bags like ChinaV's...
I have an Ogio Less Drag backpack for around the city, but it doesn't offer enough protection for traveling.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jape
dats weird. did you repost pennstlong?
Hum.. I guess when the webpage timed out, I reloaded it.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Penn is in Beijing, and web is subject to severe filtering these days. i'm finding some of my mcm posts are very slow, though none has timed out yet. may be worse in beijing.
cheers
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
by the way, pennstlong, how do you pronounce that? i'm guessing there's a link to Penn State?
thanks
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Quote:
Originally Posted by
euphonius
Penn is in Beijing, and web is subject to severe filtering these days. i'm finding some of my mcm posts are very slow, though none has timed out yet. may be worse in beijing.
cheers
Hmmm. I have had a couple of posts I made not even show up lately. I'm not in China ...
And sometimes I get email reminders of a post more than once or hours late. That would be forum server. Let us know of such things and CC can look into it.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
I had a duplicate post appear in the Tapatalk thread because of something like that. I got a warning about not posting more than once in 60 seconds, so I wanted the recommended amount of time and clicked 'post' and then it went through twice. I was at a cafe in Beijing, on VPN.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
That is probably an anti-bot setting to stop 'flooding' as it is called. I have removed a couple of spams today, just three or four rather than the usual three or four dozen we were getting sometimes a few weeks back - so they still get through but much better. Stopping spam and bots is a trade-off, a compromise that we have to accept. Some are humans joining, then using that access for spam and porn or cross-linking. But even though slow in China and sometimes problematic it is a gift given to us all by CC and very worth while.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CantDecide
I had a duplicate post appear in the Tapatalk thread because of something like that. I got a warning about not posting more than once in 60 seconds, so I wanted the recommended amount of time and clicked 'post' and then it went through twice. I was at a cafe in Beijing, on VPN.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Quote:
Originally Posted by
euphonius
by the way, pennstlong, how do you pronounce that? i'm guessing there's a link to Penn State?
thanks
Right on, the name does relate to Penn State, which I attended many many moons ago.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
I just brought mine over in the box and packed a lot of clothing around it. Did take up more space, but it's nice being a hockey player in that i have tons of huge bags lying around the house haha.
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Thats funny, I never thought to pack my stuff in my hockey bag... probably because its full of hockey gear. :)
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
I sometimes do the same thing. Stuff my helmet with gloves and other stuff, then wrap it inside my leather jacket, then jam the leather jacket in a big duffel. Then ram in others soft stuff all around. I've check this luggage that way several times, with no problems. At least everything has arrived in the same condition I sent it, and nothing visible is wrong with the helmet.
Still would be great to have one of those neoprene wetsuits like ChinaV showed us. Then pack THAT inside my jacket in my duffel....
cheers
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CantDecide
Thats funny, I never thought to pack my stuff in my hockey bag... probably because its full of hockey gear. :)
I did notice my helmet had a distinct, heady odeur upon unpacking it though. haha
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Re: Traveling by Plane with a helmet
If its the smell you're after, you should just wear your hockey helmet around on your bike, I'm sure that would get some looks... I wonder if you could retrofit a hockey cage to an open face bike helmet...