What do you think they're going to do to it? What would they think it is if they open up the bag and look? They'll X-ray it and see it's not a bomb, and put it back. I wouldn't worry.

But I do think your plan is kind of an odd way to get exercise on the road. Lugging a trainer and renting a bike seems like a lot of trouble, and you won't be precisely duplicating your own bike position with a rented bike. Why not just stay at a hotel with a good fitness center and ride their stationary bikes?

 

Have you ever ridden the stationary bikes at hotels!? They are absolutely terrible, and you have to use regular shoes with straps over them, I can duplicate my position close enough. The main thing is that I can still get a good workout on a trainer and a rented bike, but trying to ride a gym bike is 1,000 times worse than a rented bike on a trainer, plus I have the option to ride outside.

 

Never had problems with odd professional equipment, sporting goods (incl. guns, bows, hunting stuff, scuba, spear guns...), or hobby stuff. If it isn't specifically prohibited, it's OK. In my experience, the main thing they do is x-ray and sometimes open up the bag to swab around and then stick the wipe in the explosives detection sniffer.

I fairly often travel with my bike in a soft case including tools, spares, and all riding gear. About 1/4 of the times I find a card in the case that says they inspected it.

Go to the TSA website for specific info.

 

Whatever works for you, austin. I've ridden plenty of stationary bikes at hotels. Some are okay, some are better, some a little worse. All permitted me to get a good workout for legs and cardiovascular system. As for riding in sneakers on flat pedals with toe straps -- well, I did that for years; it's fine for the occasional indoor workout.

I thought you said it would be too cold to ride outside?

Whatever works for you. Hope your trips are all smooth.

 

Right, it's presonal preference. Do the hotel bike seats not hurt your a$$ though?! it's like sitting on a bar stool and trying to pedal, haha!

 

Ship the trainer to the hotel ahead of your arrival. Ship it out when you leave. I did this with a bike; it saved a lot of headaches.

I HAVE used the trainer bikes in hotels. If I were to be staying only 2-3 days, I wouldn't travel with the trainer. I'd adapt to the available equipment in the hotel.

One business trip I spent a week away. The hotel's exercise facility had a treadmill, exercise bike, and an elliptical machine. I would use one machine for 15 minutes, then rotate to the next machine.

If the hotel only had a treadmill, I'd incline the machine as much as possible to work my quads, and walk for an hour.

You could bring some racing DVDs with you. If the hotel has dumbbells, take a pair up to your room and perform a set of lunges or single leg squats every 3,4,5,6, or whatever minutes while watching the race. I do this while watching races on the internet. You will be trashed.

The point is, you can easily improvise cycling beneficial workouts with whatever you have available. Schlepping the mag trainer with you may be more aggravation than it's worth.

 

Check with the airline and see what they say about magnets in checked bags. Though it's rare to navigational issues from magnets on board, it's not unheard of.

 

Devices that produce a significant external magnetic field could be a problem, but in mag trainers, electric motors, etc, the field is largely contained within the magnetic circuit in the device and the external field is not great enough to cause issues. The magnetic sensors in airliners are located far away from passengers and baggage, and there are redundancies built into the system.

Many of the items I worked on designing had magnets and part of the process was designing the shipping packaging and testing that external magnetic field met standards for air shipment. Never ran into a situation where we didn't easily pass by a wide margin.