S&S Coupling Hints?
 

This week, I sent my beloved Bridgestone RB-1 to Bilenky Cycleworks to get S&S couplings installed. I am a frequent flier, traveling by air mainly US and Canada, about 25 weeks per year. I suspect I will be able to take my bike with me about half of the time.

Does anyone have any suggestions for traveling with an S&S coupled bike?

Some of the questions I hae:

How do you pump up your tires at your destination. I carry full sized frame fit pump, but using it to go from empty to 100lbs every other week sounds painful.

How do you keep your pedals from over-tightening?

What tools do yo u travel with?

Any hints on how to manage the chain?

Gas station with presta adapter is you don't want to hand pump is the easiest. You need the S&S tools for sure. My wife with her S&S bike puts most of the chain in a plastic bag. You can screw pedals in by hand although my wifes S&S Seven the pedals can be put in with a 6mm Allen wrench and never seem to get tighter. She carries other than those items the same tools she would riding the bike near home. Roger

Whatever tools you normally bring plus the coupling tool should be enough. Using the frame pump works a treat as long as you view using it as a challenge rather than an exercise in drudgery. As rhenning suggested, bunch up the chain into a plastic bag... as for the pedals, just don't over-tighten them.

Hardly you can overtighten the pedals :-) Get a pair of MKS pedals than you dont have to worry about that anyhow.
Air .... are you one of the folks who think to let the air out of the tires when you fly ?
Dont

Thor

If you are going to remove the pedals often they should never be harder to remove than the amount you tighten them.
You can also coat the pedal's threads with anti-seize paste to help things along.

I use Wellgo QRD quick release pedals myself.
They have many models, look on fleabay.
You won't have to worry about a pedal tool with these.

50 to 100 psi is more reasonable.. unless the wheel wont fit in the travel case unless flat.

fixie wrenches have a 15mm open end, same as pedals, some are aluminum, to be light weight.

Park used to make a 6" long wrench. RW 1 a 15-32, RW 3 a 15-36, big end for headsets ,
should the threaded sort come loose on a trip.
I packed a RW 1 in my touring tool kit..

found the other one, used , when I got a Brompton, they use 9/8" threaded headsets.

being short its hard to overtighten the pedal..

as far as the chain , etc, remove, just unscrew, the rear derailleur to keep it from getting damaged and bending the dropout,
wrap it all in a plastic bag to isolate the dirty chain.

Would not recommend this. Not all gas station compressors will work. Cars take in the 30-40psi range,so many stations regulate their compressors to keep people from blowing a tire. And the unregulated ones can damage a bike. Sold a wheel to a guy who actually blew his rim apart(tube also went,but somehow the tire actually survived) with the compressor that was set up for the bike racks at his job.

Agree with @fietsbob, unscrew derailleur completely and roll up it and chain all into a grocery sack, tie together to avoid mess.

You have cable decouplers (eg, da vinci or similar?) ?

Hopefully you have 26" tires - as 700c are a pain to fit into the box.

I'd add :

- don't try to fit everything into the case. Carry the handle bars in your carry on bag or some of the other loose components.

- is this a road drop style frame? If drop bars, cutting off the bottom of the drops off the bars can help a lot, and this doesn't add a whole lot to having a drop bar bike unless you're really serious.

- tires are nothing to worry about. Get a road morph pump and you can inflate anything in less than a minute to full pressure, especially if these are 700x23c tires. This has a gauge built in that's not too bad. It's much less stressful to use than any frame pump as your not working two arms together to pump.

- depending on your frame size and where the couplers were placed exactly, your fit in the case can be hard, and can be VERY hard if you have a lot of steerer tube left. You may need to pull the crankset off to get in the case , in which case an external bearing bottom bracket is much easier toolwise to do so.

- leave some innertube sections over eaach side of the coupler ends to pull over the other part during transit to protect the more fragile machined part.

You might give some more detail on exactly how the bike is set up, eg. threadless or aheadset, how many steerer spacers (if aheadset), racks, fenders, type of BB, handlebar bag, which case you're using, wheel size, tire size, etc.

Thank you
 

Thanks for the replies. Lots of good info. I just sent the bike to Bilenky this week so it'll be about a month before I get it back.

I'll post more once I have it and learn how to pack it.

Surprised nobody mentioned this: get one of those shipping pieces that go in the fork ends,any bike shop will have them laying around. If you're not going to leave the rear wheel in the frame,then you should see if they also have the ones for the rear dropouts. These will help ensure your fork and frame don't get tweaked.

Another way for this is to carry two 100mm/~130mm sections of PVC tube , about 15mm diameter, you'll need to remove the quick release from the wheels anyways to get them in the box, then grip front/rear forks to these to ensure a rigid piece.

If you're using an S&S case, tubes on 700c rims must be fully deflated to close the lid of the case. I use a Topeak Road Morph pump ... doesn't take long to get to 100 psi x 2. Make sure that Bilenky agrees that the frame halves can be coupled without torquing the frame. Most welders get it "almost right". The downside of S&S couplers is they weigh alot, and the tool weighs alot, but when coupled, it rides like it a solid frame even on pavé. The same cannot be said for the Ritchey Break-Away system used on the Dahon Allegro and a few other models.

Even better idea.

You've had bad / different experiences with the Ritchey system?

SS definitely have their place in creating a bombproof system , on real touring/rough surfaces over time, there isn't a better alternative. Some disadvantages like cost and not getting a small package, but for certain functions, it's best.

Not sure if I agree with adding a lot of weight (~300 grams total weight , 31.8 OD tubes), wrench can be miniaturized for portability/weight. Other hinging systems will add no less than 1/3 of this.