Maybe Mr. Armstrong can push for some airplane reform

Apparently South West Airlines does not charge to check a bike (note if you are taller than 4 feet your standard bike will still cost money). At first I thought this is awesome (my initial excitement was dashed on a very small box with my bikes very large frame).

As I follow the story

today Lance sent the following to the 2.4 million followers who read his "tweets/twits"

RT @LIVESTRONGCEO: Hey @southwestair - idea: SWA should be the first airline to take bikes for free! Bags are free. How about bikes?about 9 hours ago via UberTwitter
A short time later South West Airlines posted their policy non motorized bicycles. Please forgive this giant corporations grammar this policy can save you money.Here is our policy on bikes (scroll to non-motorized bikes) u can check bikes for free: http://cot.ag/2I9afw @livestrongceo@lancearmstrongabout 9 hours ago via CoTweet
Following the link they do have some severe restrictions that make this a free bike in name alone.
The box size has me some what concerned a length + width + height of 62 inches is pretty much impossible to do. My mountain bikes frame rear dropout to head tube, and bb shell to seat collar is 62" (42+20). A frame has to be very broken down (to base tubes or raw carbon) to fit in that space. A 2 foot by 3 foot box would suck up 60 inches (24+ 36=60) this will make for a very slender bike given the narrowest dropouts are 120 mm wide in the back. In fact 700c rims require 24.5" length and height just to fit with out tires. I believe to fit a bike in this I would need to have a frame that can be decoupled S&S style I do not even own a bike that could be much less afford the custom frame that can take the couplers. However a folding bike may fit I will have to measure ours at the shop Thursday.
Free bike transport could make them money. It gives you virtually every single ticket for a person with a bike. It makes you the airline which otherwise spits out millions of tons of CO2 look greenish which is good P.R.. Finally bikes like Ikea Furniture, flat pack. They are ideally suited to the cargo bay of an airplane where volume is at a premium. A careful cyclist can bring their bike narrower than a foot my bike into a 3X4X1 area this is 96 inches a 100 inch barrier is much more realistic.
What could have been a glorious day leaves me saddened as I do not think it is possible to squeeze my bike into the box SWA would allow to be on a jet plane for free. South West clearly missed the point the cycling world/Lance Armstrong was trying to make. Bumping the allowance for bicycles would be simple the box does not have to be much bigger than the 62" allotment. Which as of right now allows for a well packed wheelset.
Heres to realistic policies for bicyclesJohn Henry

Googling a more bike friendly way!

Google has added a bike route feature on Google Maps. So far Champaign has campus and and a trail just outside of the bike shop. This is a big step forward in showing the world that the bicycle is a viable way to get around town. Hopefully the routes will expand so people can see safe routes on the internet.

At the shop we offer maps of the area with all the routes deemed safer to ride by bicycle for the ultra low price of $1.

Hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather today!

John Henry

Handle Bars!

I am going to try and blog more to make this page more worth visiting. Two in as many days is a huge increase.

Today was a catch up day at the shop we have been so busy with last weeks spring rush today was a nice change of pace, kind of. We played catch up today Jason checked in the biggest pile of parts I have ever seen at the shop. In addition to that MOAR STUFF came in, including another shipment of bicycles. This weekend left some fairly serious openings in the bike shop floor and I had to get 7 or so bikes out of their boxes as well as rearrange some to make room for new models. For example there is a new madone 4.5 on the floor.

Yeah its not M'erican carbon fiber however is attractively priced at $1999. Which makes it the cheapest full carbon fiber bike we sell. Also it was redesigned for 2010 which makes it ride significantly nicer than last years 4series frames. (I would know I rode them both back to back, Its one of the perks of the job) This bike is a great upgrade from what ever aluminium bike you are riding on currently. It seems every bit as stiff as the 5 and 6 series bikes. However it does not seem as lively of a ride. That may be in part due to the heavier parts on the bike further testing needs to be done by an independent source.

Also this came in today. This photo does not do the bars justice.

Bontrager XXX lite bars

Weighing In at 114 Grams the packaging that comes with the bars is required in order to keep them from floating away. I am quite excited to see these on my Mountain bike. They are so choice. If you have the means I highly recommend it.

This is the first step in operation save weight on my mountain bike

coming soon to it

lighter SRAM X.O Shifter and deraileur and casette as that is worn out as well

Ligher and stiffer Shimano Deore XT Crank

A 1X9 setup

Some lighter new stem

Lighter weight seatpost and saddle

The Stans Wheelset mentioned in my last post

Turns out when its all said and done the bike will effectively be an aluminium Superfly. I cannot wait.

John Henry

Time to get out and ride!

If you had not noticed and judging by how busy Saturday was at the shop you have.

It is starting to warm up a bit. I would not be surprised if there is one more cold streak before winter finally throws in the towel but I am enjoying the nice weather. Indoor trainer rides have stopped at the shop and group rides are spinning up.

If you are like me you have not ridden near as much over the winter as you should. I am looking at the new Trek Madones to save me in the coming group rides at least until my legs come around. I however already have a fine road bike and perhaps more importantly have college to pay for first. Whats your excuse? Several 2009 demo bikes are still here. These bikes have been tried and ridden before, but still carry full warranties and guarantees not to mention they are hundreds of dollars below msrp at this point come check one out!

Unfortunately Kickapoo state parks mountain bike trails will probably be a mud fest until we get a good dry streak but I remain hopeful that there will be some days in late March April. Over the winter my Mountain bike did see some use as snow and ice made me leery. As a result I managed to wear out my drive train It now skips when I pedal hard. If your bike has suffered through a tough winter or just sat and collected dust its time to get repairs done!

On this front of the cycling world I am torn between Treks Full Suspension top fuel and fuel and the 29ers from Gary Fisher. I love the new Gary Fisher Superfly 100 the way parents love their children, meanwhile the Fuel and Top Fuel from trek teases the engineer half of me with every bit of tech and suspension jargon out there. The 2010 mountain bikes from Trek and GF are spectacular. Even the lower end models will let you go ride through nature with style and dare I say, grace.

New for this year we carry Stans/No Tubes product. This means that some of the best mountain bike rims period. are available to you. Just be sure to ask about their wheel sets. We keep in stock their sealants and conversion kits so all you tubeless fans can run tire pressures that make fresh Peeps seem firm. I cannot wait to get the White ZTR crest rims on my X-Cal they should take Pounds off of my bike.

Hope to see you soon.

John Henry