My understanding was that bike boxes were too large to fit through the cargo X-ray scanners and therefore had to be searched by hand. Perhaps this has changed and a few select airports now have large enough scanners... or these unopened boxes were small enough to fit through the existing scanners.

If you're going someplace interesting be aware that the last flight leg might be on a smaller plane.

Enclosed. Ultra-low maintenance. Impervious to weather. Nigh indestructible.

I would take off the disc. It is easy insurance and makes packing less of a puzzle.

I just tape the crap out of them, wrapping tape around the whole caliper. Easy solution and they aint going anywhere.

Drum brake on a touring bike? Just as good as your earlier Alfine 11 and Dahon K3+ suggestions. 🤣

Odd choice for the link used to hold the brake anchor to the chain stay, but if it was the only thing handy that fit, ... ...

steve, I can only speak for the Montreal airport, where the oversize area where one brings your boxed bike after check-in, the scanners there are too small for bike boxes, and yes, they ask to cut open your tape job on top so they can visually inspect the bike.
Ive never had them remove the bike, but I have been asked to take out my tent and sleeping bag to be either visually inspected or put through the xray machine.
Seems to me at other airports, they havent opened the box, so probably they have a big xray area.
The last 7 or 8 years flying out of Montreal they've always opened it with me there, and lent me either tape or scissors to tape it back up after they were done, and then I put it on the wide conveyor belt to disappear into the "I hope it doesnt get damaged" zone.

underlined answers
I've known some kiwis. Generally very friendly people, although they do drive like Tasmanian Devils (fast in other words), so heads up on narrow roads. They drive a lot and often have to cover large distances throughout the islands, so they don't hang about.
No, I havent been there, but have read that in trip journals a few times.

Halifax NS airport had an oversize scanner for security. I do not know if they could fit a bike box in it, they directed me to take my bags to that scanner because it had no waiting line and they changed my ticket to one where I needed to move quickly to get to the gate for my plane. My biggest bag at 26 inches across easily fit in that scanner.

I went to the LBS today and they hadn't heard of the lever locks and thought that the caliper spacers would be sufficient. I might also be concerned that the lever lock might lead to a busted lever in case of rough handling.

I started to do a test fit today in a box that turned out to be too narrow. Save it for the road bike. Finally figured it out that it is MUCH easier to do the fitting out of the box and laid down!



It looks like the rotor has plenty of clearance to the bottle cage... almost an inch.

Does anyone know where to get some of the larger (1/4" wide) reusable zip ties? These are ones that you can unlatch and use again. I salvaged a couple to tie the road bike wheels together for the Trico case but they are too short to use here.

Very surprising (and eye-brow raising) since they are standard on new Shimano parts. Even I, a mere civilian, knows about them.

The other part of this is that you may want to have them on hand when fixing a flat or working on the bike while the wheel is off. You'll want to insert them before flipping the bike over on the handlebar and saddle.

I myself would flip the front wheel over with the rotor facing away from the bike so there is no chance of the rotor gouging the frame or the bottle cage contacting the rotor as parts shift position while in transit. And believe me, no matter how well secured, they will shift.

I travel with my bike frequently and always remove the rotor, derailleur and insert a standard spacer in the brake calipers. The spacers I purchased have a clip which locks them in place which I additionally secure with a rubber band. Removing rotor only makes sense as a bent disc would be a real pain. I even bought an amazing adjustable wrench made in Japan called Lobster brand which is light but also opens enough for a hub locking tool.

Even zip tied against my frame, with some foam bits against the frame for protection, I have seen my front wheel get shifted-- so that's why I remove the bottle cages.
Even without a rotor on, the hub could ding your frame.
Id really not recommend leaving your pump on the bike, if it got dislodged, it could possibly fall out if a hole gets ripped in the box.
I put extra tape on the bottom and corners of box. Also tape around the grab holes, learned that after an over zealous baggage handler ripped one pretty good, making a much bigger hole.

I've often found it tricky finding the right position of the bars, especially with an ortlieb handlebar mount, like I've left on my bars many times.

Basically imagine side forces pushing things against other things, so I'd avoid things near spokes as much as possible.
Oh, my wheels are 26in, and even with 2.1 inch tires on, seems to perhaps fit into my frame easier than a 29er.
Make sure your fork is held in well using some sort of final spacer, just so the fork doesn't start getting loosey goosey

Ps, I envy you. New Zealand would be a super cool trip. Bloody long flight!

Have you tried placing the front wheel on the drive side of the bike? I find it helps when fitting into a narrower box

I don't pay any fees because I pack my bike well and can comprehend written policy.

You're wrong on Delta, you know it, and won't stop yapping, so welcome to my iggy list.

Imi, if you see in the photo of my bike just out of the box (or before, I forget) you'll see that I brace the tire up against the bb area of the non drive side. With some padding between the wheel and frame to stop paint getting rubbed off, I tightly zip tie the wheel at two or three points up against the frame , one up by the headset.
I'm fairly certain to say that having the crank near the wheel as you suggest would put the wheel at more danger, and take up more space---I can say with 100% certainty that I've always only seen brand new bikes just removed from a box only with the front wheel on the non drive side (a few times bike store owners have been really friendly and taken a new bike out to give me the box, so I could have the right dimensioned box--but they were going to build the ibike up anyway, so it was going to come out anyway)

If manufacturers do this, I reckon that is the proof its the most efficient and safe method.

what I like with the non drive side is that the protruding bb shell area means the wheel is fairly "flat" against the frame, so less "bending" or forcing forces going into the wheel if suitcases are piled on top of the box if it is laid down on a cart or something -- I always recall getting off the plane in Portland,Oregon to ride down the west coast of the States, and seeing out of the terminal window my bike box unloaded off the plane, placed on the bottom of a cart and then the guys piling a whole load of suitcases on top of it......

^^^ I understand, thanks. I’ve usually had the front wheel on the non-drive side, but last time I put it on the drive side resting on the cranks which were flat (horizontal). I think the whole package was narrower as the front wheel protruded less past the cassette than the space it would take up on the non-drive side (hope that makes sense, a bit hard to describe).

In May, I’ll be packing my bike again, and will do a proper comparison, looking closer at damage risk etc.

Your point about the way manufacturers do it carries weight of course! ✌️😊👍

Hey, whatever works the best. All we can do is to try to minimize the damage risk as best we can with the packing technique.
After that, it's a big roulette wheel of how the box is treated.
I've kind of learned to not worry once it's out of my sight going down the conveyor belt....

I haven't tried this scenario yet. However, I am not certain that it would make much difference as the front wheel contact points would be the front fork leg, crank/ arm, and the top of the seat tube. Bike is pretty much symmetrical side to side at these points.

I posted the photos of how Raleigh packed my road bike at this link:
Bike Bag vs Bike Box for Air travel?

They packed the front wheel on the non-drive side. And looking at it closely, they even have the crank arm (wrapped in cardboard) in between some of the spokes. I reposted that same photo here:



But, with the wheel zip-tied to the frame so it can't move around very much, there probably is no danger of having the crank arm in between the spokes. On the drive side, they zip-tied the crank arm to the rear wheel in a way that neither rear wheel or crank can turn.

I can see some method to this way of packing, but it clearly is the level of detail that would be hard for a typical traveler to remember to do if they were packing up a bike. That could be a very long check list of things to do in order.

I often have a closed cell sleeping pad which is the last layer of protection over the top and down over both wheels in the box

I have zip tied the crank in place, as I find it can turn when you are futzing with getting the bike into the box, and can derail the chain.
I don't mind taking the extra time for the details, although I'll be honest, there have been times I've been rushed and just had to get the bloody thing in the box.

This looks like the final packing configuration less the chain and RD removal. Hopefully, I can get a few more miles in on it before packing for the trip. I just wanted to get this sorted early in case I ran into issues.

As for t he front brake disk there is plenty of room between the disk and the frame. The closest spacing is to the water bottle and it will shift if necessary. I will still use a well secured disk protector on both sides of the front hub.

With the front wheel tied to the crank, fork, and stem it is not going anywhere and makes a convenient handle for putting the bike into the box. The only remaining issue is that the shift levers are closer to the box wall than I would like. I think that I'll wrap some cardboard around the bar ends to add some space. I will also add some "bike box" white foam to various bits to prevent rubbing in transit. This stuff seems to work as well as pipe insulation but is less bulky to carry with you.

Looks pretty good.

Turning the fork around to backwards shortens the package a bit, but that would also move the front wheel further aft. You might need to do that for box fit if you get a short box. I am not sure if your bars would pack as well if you move the front wheel further aft. I mention this because for one trip a bike shop called me up when they had a box the size I needed, I immediately went to the bike shop and brought it home. And when I went to pack my bike, I found that my bike being a touring bike is longer than road bikes, and the road bike box the bike shop gave me was too short. I ended up using my folding bike on that trip instead, could not find a long enough box on short notice for my touring bike.

It might be simplest to just remove the downtube bottle cage instead of worrying about damage.

Assuming you need to lower the seat to close the box, have you figured out how you will measure the height so you get the exact height right on the first try after unboxing?

Very good job on your first try.

I have never used a carbon fork, so I do not know if there is anything you need to know on that or not. If there is, I am sure someone here will comment.