Why are bikes such a problem on airlines?

Chuck Anderson writes:

Sergio SERVADIO wrote:

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004, Chuck Anderson wrote:

Better say: 'That's none of your business, safety assured'.

Not in this day and age. That answer would get you bumped off
your flight as a possible terrorist. I can't imagine that answer
as ever having been acceptable.

What's wrong with assuring that it is a safe parcel, and possibly
letting them inspect it, at request?

Saying, "That's none of your business. It is a safe parcel." is
hardly *reassuring* to a baggage inspector, .... wouldn't you think?

In a similar vein, a brain-injured client of mine once, for reasons
known only to himself, sent several pounds of newspaper clippings to
a Federal judge in Missouri. This was shortly after the McVeigh
bombing. In his child-like scrawl on the front of the thick manilla
envelope, he wrote a statement claiming "it's not a bomb." The mail
department at the courthouse was *not* amused. Neither was the FBI.