Scott

We have just returned from a 13 day bicycle trip on the south island of New Zealand. Both the new cases and the bike worked great. There were 6 airline legs where the cases were inspected and there was no indication that they were at all interested in the exact size. They weighed them every chance they could as we are always right on the edge limit but my guess is that because they look professional and not out of proportion they would never get the tape measure out for a nit picky size evaluation. They certainly didn't on this trip and their close attention to weight means that they did not just shoot them through without evaluation.

The bike continues to work to our best expectations. We had many steep passes to climb, 4 days of gravel and rock roads with stream crossings, and the "Travel Toucan" worked great without protest. I fitted 26x2.0 inch Serfas Drifter tires to the front and rear and that helped with the loose stuff. The wider fenders I purchased on our last trip to Seattle worked fine but they are close. The good low gearing I specified on initial delivery was barely low enough as we were on 9-10% grades for hours on end.

Cheers,

Larry Swanson
Salt Lake City, Utah