Most airlines can provide you with a free box if you call ahead. The big advantage of their boxes is that it fits the entire bike by only removing the front wheel. No need to disassemble the whole bike. The bad thing is that you'll need to carry the entire bike in one piece to and from the airport. I've been to the Big Island, and stopped by Oahu for a few hours on my way back. In both cases, I saw a lot of minivan taxis, which can make it easier to transport the bike to the hotel, or you may be able to just ride depending on the distance.

For rentals, most of the stores I visited in Hilo and Kailua Kona had some decent road bikes and hybrids. I would suspect the same might be true for Oahu.

When I went, I just got a regular bike box from a store, and packed the bike and quite a bit of gear into it. Same thing coming back. No problem. The bike got there and back without a scratch.

"In retrospect, it has been a busy month and while I do not remember posting a thread, it is possible that I did. I was in the process of changing jobs and doing the whole end-of-year festivities thing. It is entirely possible that I posted a thread and either didn't check back or forgot all about it.

So, if you feel I have wasted your time, Mark, I sincerely apologize. In the future don't feel like you have to post replies twice. For the record I didn't say that I, ""didn't know"" I said, ""...you never know"" meaning only that a recommendation from a club member means more to me than an internet ad from a company I have never done business with. If you feel the need to quote me, try to get it right. And for the record, I did try to be polite, thanking everyone for their input.

I would like to know what bothered you so much. Do you feel the message board is running out of space? Does nothing ruin a message board for you like having it cluttered up with messages? If you believe I wasted your time why bother posting again, just feeling cranky?...and not the good, cyclist kind of cranky?

For reference I think club members should consider shying away from the following topics which have all been amply covered in the past:

Ullrich Vs. Armstrong: likely to come up during TDF 2004, but we discussed it a lot in the past you can look up the discussions in your printed, filed records of the message board threads and save everyone a LOT of typing.

Shimano vs. Campy

Fixed Gear bikes with brakes

recommendations on local bike shops: it's been covered

Carbon Fiber frames

I am sure there are more...any suggestions?

Ride safe everyone,

Roberto"