Packing the bike

There is a number of options in which to transport a bike and there are companies like Scicon that offer a great range of transport solutions. There are cheap ways, expensive ways, good ways and bad ways, but there is a bag or box that suits almost every type of bike these days. With Lindsay and I heading off on vacation with our bikes to homeland Australia, I thought I could post on my view of packing a bike, and I don't use a soft bag or hard case, it's all about taking your time to do the job correctly. With such a long trip the luggage is handled many times, so you want your bike well packed.

While there are some soft bags that differ from others in some ways, the advantage is they are reasonably light in weight and easy to transport, but some are better than others. On the team we use the Scicon type, similar to the Aero Comfort model.
http://sciconbags.com/en/item/19-bikebags/4-aerocomfort-tsa
This type of bag are made from strong nylon and have a frame inside in which to attach the bike and have a small amount of padding on the side walls. But even with the padding they can still come out broken. We had a bike break this season in one of these bags, although I did have limited packing materials. The reason is that the average airport baggage handler does not give a shit if there is a $100 bike or a $10,000 bike inside that bag, they will put it upside down or on its side and throw a 20kg suitcase on top of it, and if you haven't taken the time to pack it properly it will arrive to you broken. That said, these are a much better option than a soft bag without any padding at all. I was once at the airport with Alexander Kristoff, we were both on our way to Stavanger. He was travelling with his training bike (a pro normally would have 3 bikes) as the team had not yet built his other bikes, it was in a bag with no mounting frame or padding. He said the team mechanic packed the bike, but I was appalled by the lack of care in the way it was pack. In my opinion, just putting the bike in such a bag with no effort of any sort of packing preparation is just lazy and a recipe for disaster. The end result, the bike was broken and Alex had to be sent a new frame, no problem for the team but a hassle for Alex. The problem with the soft bag is that the walls have too much give in the bag, so when a suitcase is put on top of it the suitcase is actually sitting on your frame, there is no buffer zone so to speak.

The safer option and what offers almost full protection of your pride and joy is a hard case bike box. These are usually made from some form of hard thermo plastic and can easily handle the most careless of baggage handlers leaving your bike well protected. They take little preparation of the bike, just take out the wheels, place it in the box and secure in place with provided straps. There are these days a hard case to suit almost every size bike, but you should still consider the box carefully before purchase, that the box will suit a range of different bikes. After all, they can be expensive, but there are options out there to rent one for a one off trip. The biggest downside though is the weight of a hard case can be quite substantial and be almost your complete luggage allowance once the bike is inside. The box alone can be 10kg or 12kg. With this in mind you really need to do some research on baggage allowances with the different airlines.  If your really nervous about your bike arriving in one piece than this is the obvious option for you.             http://sciconbags.com/en/item/19-bikebags/1-aerotech-evolution-tsa 

The option I go for is a simple cardboard bike box that your bike is originally delivered in. This option is light weight, comes in a number of sizes and you can even custom make it to a size that suits you. Most boxes are tall enough to fit a frame with an integrated seat mast, but if not there is some modifications you can make to do so. So you may have to spend some time to cut and shape the box but after all, at most bikes shops the cardboard bike box is usually free to take. The box is normally thick enough to offer some decent protection of your bike and offers a bit more of a buffer zone than the soft bag, but read on as I explain how to protect it a little better. The downside is if the box is sitting out on the airports tarmac waiting to be loaded, and it is pouring rain, the box may go a little soggy., and this is not good. So far I have been lucky with this, touch wood, and besides, normally when its raining baggage handlers are supposed to cover the luggage carriages.

 So I picked up two boxes from my local shop, if your lucky it will come with some foam padding bags already inside. Now this box will be used for Lindsay's bike and although she is not taking wheels I cut the length of the box to make shorter, you want the box to be the length of the bike (with handlebars turned).  Most bikes are delivered to your bike shop with the rear wheel in, this makes for a very long box, one that can be difficult to navigate through an airport. I probably cut about 30cm off, but I cut one side not as much to use as a flap to fold in to make the new end piece. Once all the corners are taped securely using a good quality packing tape it holds quite well. Another thing to do is to tape around the holes in which you use to carry the box, these can sometimes tear, leaving a big hole and making it awkward to further carry the box.

The cardboard box option will also have your transport warning labels already on, like 'This Way Up' and 'Do Not Lay Flat', not that baggage handlers gives a stuff, but you never know it may help. The walls tend to be much more solid than a soft bag therefore leaving the bike much more protected. Being quite a sturdy box it weighs approximately 4kg, and with an 8kg bike in it leaves me about 18kg for luggage. Now that is flying with Emirates who have a 30kg limit, other airlines just have 20kg and charge a fortune for overweight, while others will have specials allowances for sporting equipment. Before you think about any form of bike transportation, check with the airlines on what will suit you to determine what box suits best. 

Now this is just what I do and is how you can  pack a bike for a cardboard box or a padded soft bag, with a hard case you probably don't need to go to this extreme. You will need some plastic zip ties and some foam insulation tubing, or you can use pieces of cardboard to wrap around the frames tubes.

First thing I do is shift the front mech to the outter ring and the rear mech to the smallest cog. Then I pull the levers in and zip tie them to the bars. It's an idea to mark the position of the bars somewhere beside the stem. You can use a piece of tape with a arrow drawn on it pointing at the join line between the stem and the face plate. This will exactly determine your bar angle when repositioning the bars. Then loosen the face plate and the stem at the fork steerer, turn the bars down and under the top tube paying particular attention to the cables, seeing that you do not damage them.

Next is to remove the rear derailleur. Be sure to do this with no tension on the chain as it can damage the thread on the hanger when being removed. You can remove the derailleur also by removing the hanger (also with no chain tension) but I like to leave the hanger on so a brace like the plastic one I'm using here can be installed. You can ask your local bike shop for some of these braces, the other option is to use some old hubs. For your wheels, most wheelsets are delivered with a plastic disc that sits in the hub axel to prevent the hub axel from going through the box, if your local shop doesn't have any there are some other options.

Wrap the derailleur in a cloth and secure in place. With the chain on the outter ring and the crank horizontal, zip tie the chain to the ring. This will prevent the teeth from getting damaged. For added protection of the chainring, I use a piece of pcv pipe with a channel cut out so it fits over the outter ring. This is then zip tied in place, giving the chainring a good solid surface to sit on.

Here I use some foam pipe insulation tubing purchased from the DIY store, it comes in different diameters and is thick enough to provide the paint work some protection. I place a piece on each chainstay, then I remove the pedals and re thread the pedals on from the inside of the crank, so the bike bike fits in the box easier and so there is less chance they will protrude outside the box. Then the left crank is secured to the chainstay so the crank stays at the horizontal position.

Now the box alone is reasonable protection and the chance of it getting damaged is slim, but I like to use the foam tubing just to be sure. So I use this to wrap the whole bike, the chainstays, fork and main tubes are all covered. It also protects the bike from other things you may have inside the box. Your goal is to protect the paintwork. The foam tubes are cheap and can be used over and over again. They come in a 1m length so you can cut them to the perfect length of the frame tube you wish to cover.

I cut out small sections of the tubing so they fit around the bottle cages nicely. Here I cut small strips off two tubes to make one big tube to cover the main down tube. Every foam tube is zip tied into place so it is secure throughout the journey. The seat post I remove and secure it to the frame. Then I tighten the stem and bars in place leaving the fork in its forward position, and then install a plastic brace into the dropouts. I then write an initial on each foam tube where it is placed so when it comes to repack the bike, I know exactly where every foam tube is to be placed. So when it looks like it does in the picture on the left, the bike is ready to place in the box. If using carbon bottle cages, it is an idea to put bottles in them to prevent from damage, especially if using a soft bag.    

So in this box there is a extra lining of cardboard. There was two plastic bags filled with foam when I collected the box, so I place one under the rear of the bike and the other at the front to protect the fork. Then I placed a piece of molded packaging foam (like what is supplied with electrical appliances) to make the bike sit tight in its place, you can add extra in as there is less chance a 20kg suitcase will be sitting on your frame. You also want the bike to move around as little as possible.

 

When packing in wheels you want to cover the hub axel and cassette to prevent them from rubbing on the frame during transportation, as well as from going through the box. Here I have used an old drain plunger pump (with handle cut off), it's a soft rubber so it's perfect for covering the cassette. On the otherside just a plastic end cap used for metal tubing does the job. For the front wheel I used some plumbing end caps to cover the cone nuts. Another thing be sure to do is deflate your tyres.

I also cut the length down on my box as the box was quite wide to easily fit the wheels in, and it was high enough for me to leave the seat on, after removing the spacers it just fit. I also used molded foam between the frame and wheels to keep the two from contact.

So that is how I pack a bike, it does take a little time but it will be worth it to have your bike arrive undamaged. I have travelled using a cardboard box a number of times and have had the bike arrive in perfect condition using this packing method. The only thing that I've had happen is some careless baggage handler, or something, tore a big hole in the side of the box. So some things I had loose in the box were falling out as I took it of the conveyor belt. This is where a soft bag would be better, and you could probably line the bag with cardboard to create that buffer zone I previously mentioned for extra protection. By using the cardboard box,  I can at least throw it away once I have finished using it.

Thanks for reading