I've been wondering about claims of only one hour to pack a folding bike into a standard size suitcase. It takes me about 9-10 hours minimum. What is it that others are not doing to get it down to 1 hour?

From the photos I've seen on the forum it seems that other people simply remove the wheels and seat post and possibly the handle bar stem, and then stuff them into the suitcase without any padding or zip tie. Several photos seem to show the hanger and derailleur still attached to the frame. But how is that safe?

The first time I flew with the folding bike many years ago I did not disassemble it, I simply put it into a box and it only took me 30 minutes to prepare. But when it came out of the baggage return, the hinge latch which was over the hinge when folded was completely bent inside out and the hinge was possibly slightly bent.

I've used my current method now for about five trips without any damage. Although about a third of that time is for cleaning to pass through biosecurity.

I disassemble the wheel, seat post, handlebar post, fork, handlebar, derailleur, tern cargo rack that can be flat packed. I also remove the chain, derailleur, and cassette to prevent them from being bent. Each part is padded with foam noodle in areas the contact each other or the side of the suitcase, and zip tied together so that if you lift the entire package out of the suitcase, it comes out as one piece with all the frame components, and you can put it back in one piece. This also allows some independent movement so that if the suitcase is dropped the entire weight of the bike is not impacting a single point on one part. Also if a baggage inspector decides to take something out they can get it back in successfully without changing the position inside the suitcase.

The two wheels are zip tied together so you can lift it out as one piece. I put them in the bottom the suitcase where the tires rest against the telescoping suitcase handle so that there is no contact with the hub or spokes or rim. Then I lay the frame over it so that there's only three contact points against the inflated tires which also serves as padding against the frame. It contacts the left side rear frame stay, the hinge plate, and the left crank arm. The frame only contacts the edge of the suitcase at the rear drop out, headset, and hinge which are all double padded with foam noodles. I insert dropout spacers. On the top surface only the crank arm and bash guard directly touch the top side of the suitcase with a little bit of foam noodle. Since everything is zip tied together there's no risk of a component shifting and hitting the spokes or denting the rim.

Without doing this I don't see how a bike can escape damage. For example I've seen photos where people do not take the cassette off of the rear wheel and simply put a piece of cloth between the cassette and the spokes of the front wheel or against the frame. But that risks damaging the spokes or bending the cassette teeth. Also people leave the derailleur on the frame as one of the contact point against the side of the suitcase, I don't see how the hanger can escape being bent. I also see no padding between the frame and the suitcase wall in other people's photos.

Here's a breakdown of my time

• 1 hour chain degreasing, 4 changes of degreaser in the chain cleaner tool, remove chain, hair dryer, apply lubricant.
• 1 hour Remove and disassemble rack, Wheels, fender, petals, handlebar, handle post, fork, seat post, saddle, grips, cassette, derailleur, hanger, reflectors
• 1 hour degrease the cassette cogs and brush off the crud until shiny
• 2 hours clean out tire treads, rim walls, pedals, wipe down all surfaces, get rid of sticky residue from grips, brake pads
• 1.5 hours attach foam noodles and zip tie all parts together
• 0.5 hour try to get everything to fit into the suitcase
• 0.5 hour sort and bag small components and fasteners
• 0.5 hour keeping the workspace clean and cleaning the tools
• 0.5 to 1 hour lost from working in tight space in tiny hotel room

Most of your thread I thought not too unusual. But at the end, I see time investment having nothing to do really with a folding bike, which should not be counted, though you can do if you want.

Minus cleaning the chain, cassette, and tires and wheels, slashes 4 hours off your total. Bagging small components and cleaning the workspace should not take an hour total, so cut at least 1/2 hour. With practice, other things should go faster, like pool noodles, you could label those for quicker location and zip tying. You don't need to ULTRA clean (4X) the chain unless you are going to wax it, and if you wax it (regularly), you don't need to pre-clean it, and with wax, you don't need to rewax-clean it for the trip home, just wipe the outside with a rag, that's still WAY cleaner than if oiled. An exploded view of how the bike packs and numbered order, may also speed things up. Do multi-tasking; Pull the cassette off and let it soak in solvent while you're doing other things. But most folks don't pull the cassette, and again, if waxed chain, the cassette is gonna be pretty darned clean. Pulling the rear derailleur (just the bolt, leave cable attached), wrapping in foam or old t-shirt, and zip-tying to the chainstay, should take only 5 minutes.

Takes me about 16 seconds per Bike Friday...


Real-time, it's about 1 hour per bike, give or take. I may wipe the chain down if it's dirty but I don't clean it thoroughly. And my workspace is a mess, so I save time there as well

Bike Friday does provide a lot of felt bags and tube protectors, which is nice.

If you don't do the cleaning, customs won't let you through and then they'll make you do it at the airport. If there's any dirt found they'll make you brush it out and wipe it down.

Deep Chain cleaning is once per 3 months or 2000-3000km so I'm doing it thoroughly.

Doing this in a 5m2 hotel room and you'll see how much more time it takes. Need to lay down the plastic sheets or the room geti dirty and you'll be charged for stains. Moving stuff around to clear the space for the next step when space is limited takes time. Using rags and paper towels to soak up the runoff degreaser and changing plastic sheets to keep the room clean.

Seems like the perfect application for hot melt wax chain lube before a trip, everything stays so much cleaner, and no runoff of degreaser. If any road dirt, just a spray bottle of mild cleaner, or just a sponge in a small basin of warm water, should work. Cleaning my bike I use dilute household lemon ammonia, and a shot of spray citrus cleaner for any greasy spots, but I'm still using chain oil. I want to go back to chain waxing, did it decades ago, was SO clean, but I quit because I thought oil gave better lube; published tests say otherwise, that wax is king.

I don't ride my folder off-road, but if I get caught in a big rain, the road grit makes the bike pretty dirty. I wheel it into the large bathroom next to the tub/shower, with a floor drain right next to the tub; Using the shower hand sprayer, wet down the bike, then a drop of good dish soap that dissolves oil (Dawn) on a soft-bristle brush with long bristles (easily wrap well around the spokes and across the rim, inside of fork and chainstays, etc) on a head the diameter of a softball, quick sudsy scrub down everything, then spray off with the sprayer, and it all goes down the drain. Dry the bike, clean, easy.

What countries are you traveling to/from? I flew from USA to Spain and back with the Bike Fridays. No problem with customs regarding the chains or anything.




We did wash the bikes down after riding through a particular muddy section, but not the level of cleaning that you do.




It sounds like you are more fastidious about your gear than we are, but we do take care and try not to dirty up the places that we are staying.

Brompton. Fold. Place in suitcase. <2 min. (check weight with clothes bag packed around, not included.)

30-45min depending on how fussy I am about padding the bike with foam.
I use DIY sized boxes.

1. Take out wheels and remove pedals
2. Remove rear D hanger with rear D (wrap it in a paper or plastic bag and secure to chain stays with masking tape)
3. Remove handlebar (some of my bikes are drop bar folding bikes; skip this step if its a flat bar bi-fold bike)
4. Remove seat post.
5. Place in box and pad it out with clothing, some packing material.

Sounds extreme to me? New Zealand is hardcore with biosecurity at the border, but that won’t stop you leaving another country - you just declare items of interest when you arrive and if it’s muddy/infested/banned then it’s dealt with after immigration and baggage collection and before you’re allowed to exit airside. I’ve just flown back on the same plane with a bunch of Ironman triathletes and none of them when checking in their bikes at the airport in Australia (also a nation with strong biosecurity controls) had their chains inspected for excessive greasiness.

At most all you have to do with a Brompton is screw down the hinge levers and remove the saddle.

I can pack my Origami Seift into a suitcase in about 15 minutes, 25 if I include the rack and fenders.

One Origami Swift packed, one ready to ride.

Chain:
I used to use a petroleum based gear lube for chain lube, it of course got quite dirty because it was a dust magnet. When I flew home from Iceland about nine years ago, I put my chain in a ziplock and put it in the trash bin before packing my bike. But it was completely worn out at that time, so it would have been discarded if I brought it home. I now use a wax based chain lube by Finish Line, a good wipe should be all it needs. I put it in a zip lock baggie when packing up the bike.

Long list:
Rack, Wheels, fender, petals, handlebar, handle post, fork, seat post, saddle, grips, cassette, derailleur, hanger, reflectors - I have no comment.

Cassette:
Is this really necessary? When I clean off a cassette, first thing I do is use some gardening twine as if it was a dental floss to clean in between the sprockets. I usually do this next to a tree outside where nobody walks, that way any greasy dirt that falls off stays there and does not get on shoes to come inside. That is all the cleaning I do. Then after removal from the wheel I put it in between a couple pieces of paper toweling inside a zip lock baggie, use enough paper toweling to protect the teeth from punching holes in the baggie.

Long list:
Tire treads, rim walls, pedals, wipe down all surfaces, get rid of sticky residue from grips, brake pads - I do not clean those other than a wipe down.

Other:I usually do this in maybe 45 minutes, but I have never done this indoors, always outdoors. Working outdoors, it is easy to lose small nuts and washers, bring spares. I do not make this stuff surgical room clean, it gets wiped off.

***

My Airnimal Joey (folding bike with 24 inch wheels) takes maybe an hour to hour and a half to pack into an S&S Backpack case (26" X 26" X 10") in the photo below, I also had to remove the crank arms from the bottom bracket to make it fit. The wooden center support in the case is a home made support, was not included with the S&S Backpack case. I use a mix of two sided velcro and zip ties. And I bring a small side cutter or a small toe nail cutter to use for cutting zip ties, safer than a utility knife.



The photo below is my Thorn Nomad Mk II in the same S&S case. The bike is not a folder, it is a full size bike with S&S couplers, 26 inch wheels. I also had to remove the crank arms on this bike. No cassette, the bike has a Rohloff hub. The rear rack does not fit, that is in my other checked bag. The bike and case exceed 50 pounds or 23 kg, so the pedals and saddle and maybe a few other bits are in my other checked bag. This takes about an hour and a half to pack plus maybe five more minutes to use the luggage scale and remove a few items until I get the total down to 49 pounds.



That bike in the case above is the same bike as below:



If you have trouble fitting it all into the case quickly, I suggest next time you unpack it that you take lots of photos. Take a a photo after you remove a couple items so that you have a list of a half dozen to dozen photos that show the sequence of how you successfully packed the bike and any little tips and secrets you learned. The reason I say take the photos as you unpack it is quite obvious, that is when you know with certainty that you could pack it in that sequence that way. I keep that list of photos on my phone when I fly somewhere so I can easily refer to them on what gets packed next in what orientation, etc.

If I had to do the long list of cleaning that you described to leave an airport, I would do it at that time instead of before going to the airport. I try to always schedule my trips so that I have several hours after I arrive somewhere because I expect delays. If they insisted that a chain be degreased, I would discard the chain and buy new. Same with cassette, but my Airnimal uses a $25 cassette, maybe yours costs more.

If you want to do a better job of cleaning than I do, if you see a store like a Dollar Tree somewhere, buy a couple of the biggest cheap towels they have for the non-greasy parts, and give things a good wipe down with a damp towel that you later discard after packing.

I always bring several pairs of medical type disposable glove for my cleaning and packing chores.

Cassette: One of the little bolts that holds everything together stripped, and I realized they are only to keep things together at the factory. So I removed the other two little bolts. Now, once I remove the lockring, all the cogs and spacers separate freely, and this makes them much easier to clean, or just simply wipe off with a paper towel. The spline pattern makes certain they assemble indexed to each other to preserve hyperspaceglide function.

Crank: If it helps to pull the crank, I submit this is easier with a hollow-spindle two-piece crank ("Hollowtech II" style). This requires only a common allen wrench on the non-drive side arm, unlike needing a crank extraction tool for a taper spindle crank. I also have in my kit a section of metal tubing to slip over the long end of the allen wrench, as I need that leverage for the torque needed on the crank arm bolts.