pb_toronto

bringing a bike on an airplane, using a Thule hardcase, never packed a bike before and getting mixed comments about what to do regarding the derailleur.
some say leave it, just pad it a lot, others saying take it off, others saying just remove the hanger.
thoughts?

any other tips on packing a bike would be super helpful. i would like to arrive and not have a mess in a box.

THANKS

alcjphil

I am of the take it off school of thought. It is easy to do and easy to reinstall. I don't worry about damage to the derailleur, rather I worry about damage to the hanger during packing and transport

Looigi

I remove it leaving the hanger on the bike. Takes a minute. We travel using Aerus soft padded cases. We still have and used to use hard cases, but the soft cases are so much lighter, ~35 lb total fully loaded with bikes and gear, and much easier to deal with getting in/off shuttles, cabs, etc.

Andrew R Stewart 

Safer to remove and also block the drop outs with a spacer/travel axle. Andy.

mconlonx

This.

And when we pack a customer bike for shipment, I always remove the derailleur. Easy thing, one bolt, usually bolts right back on without any need for adustment.

But if it was my own bike, I might be tempted to leave it on. I ride a small frame and know what I'm doing when packing a bike, so nothing on top which would press down in that area + space among the wheels usually means there is nothing which would press on it to damage it. With larger frames, you very often don't have a choice -- derailleur needs to come off just to fit it in the case.

Many, many new bikes are shipped with the derailleur attached, in a cardboard box...

FBinNY 

Since you're packing in a fiberglass hard case, there's no need to remove the RD as you would if packing in something that might crush. Just make sure that the rear triangle is well padded and the front wheel toward the other end of the box.

If you're really concerned, use a long threaded rod and nuts in the dropouts as a triangle brace (always good practice anyway), and let it extend out to the right beyond the RD as protection. This too shouldn't be necessary with a hard case, but can't hurt.

fietsbob

I've packed my Touring Bike for the several European tours I Flew across the Atlantic to start. (abandoning the carton/etc. at the airport)


I now, have the summer P/T Gig of Packing to ship Touring Cycles Back East when they dont want to turn around and Ride Back .

Removing the RD also removes a bit of leverage that may bend the RD hanger in a dropped [corrugated fiberboard] Box situation ..

rear wheel remains in place, the front fork is where the blocking spacer is put in , when that wheel is Removed ..

Replicating all the packing materials used in shipping a New Bike in the Box drom the factory assembly line is Ideal .



There is a huge waste stream of those Packing materials in the weekly Refuse Pickup at the Shop Curb..

single use Plastic Protectors on the rear axle over the RD is just part of the dumpster discards..

Why not drop by the LBS and pick up a few of those Bits, and the rest of the kit.. Maybe Buy New zip ties , if they cut the heads off
the ones used in factory packs.

Andrew R Stewart 

My more complete answer about der location WRT boxing is whether the rear wheel will stay on the bike or not. In most hard case boxes the wheels needs to be removed, leaving the der much more exposed. So in these boxings I remove it. But when using a cardboard shipping box the rear wheel is usually left on the bike. This does a good job protecting the der from some impacts. So I leave it on but shift into the inner large cog and zip tie the cage to the spokes. Then I can disconnect the cable from the stops easily gaining slack to position the bars more easily.

I use to do rather extensive wrapping/padding work when boxing bikes (and I do 15 to 25 each year) but lately I've only protected the contact points to a high degree. I do take much care that there's no shifting around of the parts (ft wheel, pedals, bars, seat/post, and more) by using a lot of zip ties and separate parts boxes. I unpack and assemble a lot of bikes each year, that have seen packed by other shops, tour companies (the worst) and owners and have seen a LOT of really bad jobs. Andy.

9606

Take it and hanger off (leave rd attached to hanger), wrap in towel.
+2 on the threaded rod with wing nuts(4x) & washers(4x) in both front and rear drop outs. Or get plastic pieces at lbs.

HillRider

I've made reusable packing spacers for both the rear dropouts and fork blades from trashed qr hubs gotten free at an LBS. Remove the axles, cones and locknuts. Reassemble with the cones inboard of the locknuts on the axle and spaced the proper distance between the locknut outer faces. Jam the locknuts and cones tightly together to prevent rotating. Slip the assembly into the dropouts and fasten with the qr skewer.