Shipping a bike tips?
 

I don't usually post in touring, but this seemed to be the best place.
I'm moving soon, and need to box all my bikes for moving.

I've watched a few videos and things seem reasonably straight-forward, but I had a few questions?

1) What do you use to protect the cranks/chainrings?
I've just got an empty bike box from the store and don't really want the bike resting on the chainring, what's good to place under the bottom-bracket and how do you prop it there?

2) Alternatives to wheel caps?

3) Protection for drop-outs?
I don't have the bike shop plastic things, what else works.

Thanks in advance.

Leave the rear wheel and the fork on the bike and it should not rest on the chain ring.

Wheel caps? No idea what you mean.

Dropouts are a worry. Fedex bested mine. Bike shop will have a plastic insert to keep the forks separated. To keep the dropouts from slamming on the floor, I have tried a coupe of things. I have wrapped them in clothes I was also shipping. I also zip tied a couple of scraps of narrow lumber to the forks.

you could remove the cranks....makes it easier to fit the wheel(s) in the box.

remove the skewer from the front wheel. cut a 100mm section of pvc pipe
and secure in the fork with the skewer. bottom of fork will sit in a lovely
little nest of foam in the corner of the box.

remember to put some padding between the frame and front wheel
before you zip-tie the wheel in place.

wheel caps are throwaways at the bike shops. go get some.
only needed for the front wheel. the rear is still on the bike.
or you can zip-tie some foam padding to the ends of the hub.

Ask at your local bike shop about getting some of the shipping protection used my the manufacturers when they ship bikes to the shop. My LBS gave me a whole box of the stuff plus some of the frame wrapping material.

Foam pipe insulation makes good packing material.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...01e67f91_c.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...f76d681c_c.jpg

Interesting, all the packing videos I've seen have both wheels removed. Is leaving the rear wheel on common?

We have always left our rear wheels on when boxing the bikes.

The wheels have to come off.
Box is too small to fit a a size L mountain bike with 29er wheel attached. It is the correct size box though (for a size L MTB). I can see where it would work with a smaller frame & wheel.

geeze! get a bigger box! :p

you dinna say HOW your bikes are being sent.
you said "moving", so the assumption is by moving
van, not air....in which case you can decide on the
method of packing.

box too small? get three boxes....split one and glue
sections to the ends of the other two boxes.

or get monster-sized boxes used for fatbikes.

or custom make your own boxes from refrigerator cartons.

We always take both wheels off. When we ship via BikeFlights we hit up a local Dollar Store and buy pool noodles. $5-$10 gets you enough for 2 bikes. I'm assuming they're cheaper than the pipe insulation Doug uses? Idk. We have these large foam "bricks" we use to place under the front/rear forks and chainring. The bicycle rest on the chainring and front fork (which rest on the foam "bricks"). We take the skewers out of the tires and place them back into the forks and use giant zip ties to secure everything. If you have a Harbor Freight Tools near you then you can get a pack of 10 oversized zip ties for $1-$2.

You don't need to take the handlebars off above the fork either. You can remove them from the front and rotate the forks therefore eliminating the need for dropout protection.

We prefer to pack our own bicycles because we know how much they mean to us. It takes awhile but we know we'll take better care of them than a stranger would.

Happy packing!

No they don't not for a standard frame in a standard box. Only the front wheel.

You need to watch how big you make the box. Or just the size of box you pick up for that matter. If you go over a certain size than you pay for oversize even on UPS and Fedex.

Oversized frames will have issues. Tandem for example will pay more.

You can turn the fork around to get a bit more space. You can also remove the fork entirely. I need to do this to pack my bike case. I have also done it in attempt to protect the fork when packing in a regular box.

I want to see that one. No way I am getting my bike in a regular box with the handle bars on.

depends.
if moving van, should be no size limitation.


if airline, check the website.
i usually fly jetstar within asia. no bike fee, no sporting goods fee.
just buy however many kg (up to 40) you want to take.
can be split in 2 (max 32kg) or 3 or 4, or even 80*1/2kg cartons.
max length is 1.9 meters to fit thru the A320 cargo door.

Ah, I specified Fedex or UPS which has oversize charges just like the airlines.

Bikes come to shops well packed, go there and get all the packing they used, & the box.

I take off the RD and zip tye it to the wheel so bumping the box wont bend the derailleur hanger.

This is on ACA's website.

https://www.adventurecycling.org/res...-your-bicycle/

All bike boxes are not created equal. When packing your bike, pack it so that the box can be placed in any position because it will often be stood up on end. Sometimes it is the only way you can navigate through airports and dooorways.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4411/...81bb42d9_c.jpg

If you are driving a car, buy a bike rack and bring them with you. Otherwise, take to a bike shop and have them pack it up for shipping. Or do it yourself.

Ive never had to remove the rear wheel when boxing a bike for air travel either, or remove a rear rack.
I have turned the forks around to gain a bit of space once.

and yes, not all boxes have the same dimensions.

the last time I traveled, a bike store I went to to ask for a box very nicely removed a bike from a box and so I got to see how it was packed and as a bonus, I got to keep all the foam bits and bobs.

Bikes are being shipped with the other household goods and furniture. So that should be a relatively beign form of shipping, but I still packed it pretty good. The next couple bikes will get even more packing since they have carbon frames. I was able to get it to just barely fit by flipping the stem around.

Interestingly, reversing the fork actually made things worse because then the disc caliper stuck out further.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I still have 3 more bikes to pack. One bike is going in an air transport bag with me, everything else is going in bike boxes.

They don't stay on. They come off at the stem instead of the fork. Therefore the fork doesn't need spaces. You just rotate the stem.

much easier to the stem and bars of the steerer tube(fork). When putting your bike together use a locking spacer as your first spacer, and you do not have to worry about headset adjustment. If you have a handlebar bag mount, taking the bars off the stem gets even more complicate. If you have canti brakes the brake bracket acts as a locking spacer.

The locking spacer can be seen on the bottom of the stack of spacers. The headset stays in adjustment, and removing the bars only requires loosening the 2 stem bols, and the star nut bolt.
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With a handle bar bag mount it is much harder to get at the 4 bar bolts, and you have to loosen the bag mount in the process.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...b928f475_c.jpg

Neither of us have handlebar bags. All of our moveable points (seat post, handlebars under stem etc) are marked with a silver Sharpie. No adjustment necessary.

I can see how a handlebar bag would make it more troublesome though.

Pebbles