There are many ways how to pack a bicycle for air travel, and each has advantages and disadvantages.
- Rigid plastic cases offer the most protection, but they are expensive, don't fit large frames (anything over 62cm is trouble), and essentially force a loop itinerary, since they cannot be shipped easily. Furthermore, they are heavy to lug around on public transport.
- Cardboard boxes are the most common choice. Cardboard bike boxes should be easily available for free from your local bike shop (although some like to charge for their waste disposal). These are cheap and offer good protection but either need to be folded down and rebuilt or stored at the other end.
Hard bike cases offer good protection, but as explained in the Bike Bag Guide above, are a real pain to stash in the back of a hire car or hotel wardrobe. - A large soft bag is an unconventional but effective option. It costs very little and can folded so it doesn't take a lot of space. Surprisingly, it protects the bicycle reasonably well: luggage handlers see that the item is a bicycle, and appear not to throw it around as much.
Packing instructions:
Tools required
- Packaging Materials
- Masking tape
- Suitable Allen Keys
- 15mm spanner/pedal spanner
- Brake spacers/cardboard
- Fork spacers
Remove the pedals by turning right pedal anti-clockwise and left pedal clockwise with a 15mm spanner or pedal spanner. Wrap the pedals in something and put them in a place where you won't forget them! Pack the spanner with them.
Remove the wheels by undoing the quick releases. Remove the skewers and carefully wrap them and put them with the pedals for packing later.
Let the air out of the tyres as airlines do not want inflated tyres on the planes (some check too)
Package the wheels using some polystyrene to protect the disc rotors from being bent and place the wheel in a wheel bag if available. Put the wheel bags to one side until the bike is ready to be put in the bag.
Insert disc brake spacer to prevent the brake pistons moving during transit, put a brake space between the pads. A thick piece of card also makes a good spacer for this.
Insert fork and frame spacer to prevent fork and frame being bent, insert a plastic frame spacer into the fork/rear drop outs. Your local bike shop may be able to supply you with these free of charge. A useful alternative is two old hubs and skewers. Both solutions prevent the bike getting bent if a heavy weight is placed on it.
Remove rear derailleur using a suitable allen key to prevent it getting damaged whilst in transit. It's also worth checking you have a spare hanger at this point too. If you have an easily removable chain e.g. a SRAM chain with Powerlink, it is worth removing the chain at this point and putting it with the pedals and skewers. If removing the chain requires a chaintool, leave it on as removing it will weaken the chain.
Package the rear derailleur and fasten it with the rear part of the frame. The frame then protects the derailleur from impact and this also prevents it from hanging loose.
Protect the chainrings by taping some polystyrene to the bottom of the rings. This stops the teeth on the outer ring getting broken or bent during transport. Taping the polystyrene in place also prevents the pedals from turning.
Remove the stem by undoing the headset bolt and the two stem bolts. Remove the stem from the fork steerer and replace the headset cap and bolt ensuring that you do not lose any headset spacers.
Package the bars so that they are protected and do not scratch the frame and forks when packed away. 2 useful ways of preventing brake levers getting bent are to either a) pull the lever towards the bars and cable tie it to the bar or b) put a cork from a wine bottle between the lever and the grip to stop the lever being moved.
Remove the seatpost from the frame and wrap the post with a suitable packaging material
Protect the frame with suitable pipe lagging or polystyrene packaging. Tape the handlebars flat to the fork and frame so that they are held out of the way
Wrap the frame in bubble wrap. This stops the other things in the box scratching the frame and adds some extra cushioning.
Get a suitable bike bag. Rigid plastic cases/ Cardboard boxes/ A large soft bag.
Put everything into the bag. Insert the frame first, then put a wheel bag down each side. Don't forget to pack the saddle, pedals, skewers, tools for rebuilding bike and bike spares.
Use the rest of the space in the bike bag The remaining space in the bag can be used for pads, backpacks, biking shoes etc.
