tommymc

Hello fellow travelers,
What do you use for frame covering when packing an S & S bike into a soft bag. I've tried the split pipe insulation but the added bulk is a problem. Something thinner would help a lot. I also use cardboard squares on the sides which don't add much bulk or weight. The obvious concern is for bare frame tubes banging into each other. Thanks, Tom

Rob_E

https://www.bilenky.com/product-page/frame-tube-covers
Pretty sure that's what I have, although I don't remember paying that much, so maybe I have something else.

raybo

I have a hard-sided case, so this might not work for you, but I use old tubes zip-tied to the metal parts.

pdlamb

Same here, although I got the covers as part of the S&S package with couplers and case.

Spokes, stems, and other loose things always manage to find the edges at the fork crown and dropouts, though the rest of the paint is in good shape.

Tourist in MSN

I am not too picky about how good my paint looks, it is an expedition bike, it is supposed to have some nicks and scrapes.

That perforated rubber sheeting sold as a shelf liner, bought several rolls at Dollar Tree, it is the green stuff in the photo.
https://www.dollartree.com/black-non...n-rolls/205932

I only use it where parts are in contact with each other, I tie the various parts together using a combination of double sized velcro and zip ties so that most of the big parts are held together as one unit that can be lifted completely out of the case.

I took the photo after the big parts were packed, but I still have lots of small loose things that get added before I zip it up.




And then I throw in the other loose stuff. I made a center support out of a couple pieces of wood. In the photo you see some masonite that I used but that cracked, since then I switched to thin plywood for my center support.




At one time on this forum I recall someone suggested Saran Wrap or some competing brand of a kitchen cling wrap to wrap around bike parts to protect each other, but I have never tried that. Not sure how well that would work but that could be another option, but that likely is a single use sort of thng where the green sheeting I am using gets re-used.

In the photo below, I have my folding bike packed in the S&S Backpack case. That has the plywood that I now use for my center support.

alan s 

Same. Also cut some coroplast from Home Despot for additional side protection.

Tourist in MSN

Yup, I cut two pieces 26 X 26 to stiffen up the Backpack Case. Bought it at the same chain.

I started with paper cardboard (the brown in the photos under the bike in the case) and later bought the Corroplast.

tommymc

Hey,
Thanks for the good ideas, especially wrapping with cheap rubber shelf liner material. I have a little trick for the open coupling ends. From Home Depot I bought four large (> 1" dia.) rubber table leg foot ends. These slip over the open couplings. I don't think that anything in the bag would damage the stainless steel but they are expensive items with exposed threads and protection costs little. For sure the sharp corners on the exposed couplings could scratch anything that bumps into them.
Tom

Tourist in MSN

I usually just use some of that shelf liner stuff over the ends, strapped on with a rubber band or velcro.

Speaking of the S&S couplings, when assembled I try to keep the road crude out of the threads. Initially, I wrapped electrical tape over the ends of the S&S "nuts" but that was a hassle to get the tape wrapped well with cables in the way. Tape in the photo below.



But later I switched to sleeves of rubber cut from an old inner tube stretched over the ends of the S&S "nuts" as in the photo below.



That keeps the crud from the road out of the threads quite well.