Boxing the bike.

August 14, 2024

This is the first time I've travelled with a bike. Fortunately I kept the box that my bike arrived in from Toronto. It's been 3 years and I couldn't remember if the rear tire stayed on the bike. Unfortunately when I put the bike beside the box it was clear that wasn't the case which means quite a bit more disassembly.

I protected the through axle and then placed a piece of wood between in the event the fork took an impact. Unlikely now because it's sitting protected.

I got the box out and cleared my work area and told myself to make sure that every part gets resecured and the everything goes into the box. I've heard many horror stories of folks arriving without through axles (that's a common mistake).

I had the little plastic protectors from the original shipment.

The front of the bike went smoothly. I pulled off the front tire, removed the rotor, and screwed the rotor bolts back into their mounts. Then I placed the brake block into between the brake pads and cleaned up the rim. I topped up the sealant at the same time so that I can start the trip with a very fresh setup. I then inspected the rim one last time and set the wheel aside.

The back of the bike was more hassle. I had to remove the rack because the tire needed to come off. The rack also needed to be taken apart to fit in the box. After getting the back tire off I repeated the same process with the rotor, sealant, and rim inspection.

Pedals off, derailleur disconnect and taped inside the chainstay.

Then I disconnected the derailleur and wrapped it up and taped it inside the chainstay. I thought I should protect the chainring, even though I have a bashguard on the bike. So I wrapped it up in a bag and taped it up and out of the way.

I then protected the through axle and I realized the bike would be sitting on the derailleur hanger and that's not good so I stuffed a piece of hard Styrofoam underneath it and taped the whole mess together.

Then I took the handlebars off and swung the levers out of the way and protected the shifter and levers as best as I could. I taped the bars to the top tube. That part was fairly straightforward.

By the this point I thought I had the frame ready to fit into the box but unfortunately even sitting on the bottom of the box the fork was too tall so I had to take the fork right off the bike, making sure to keep the bearings in place, and getting all the spacers into the small box I packed with the bike.

Finally! Time to squeeze everything into the box. It was a bit of a puzzle to get it all to fit but I managed to pack things in very tightly with the sides of the box and ends with double cardboard, and nothing protruding to scratch or damage the bike (I hope). I even had to take most of the air out of the tires.

Voila! One bike ready to ride....after reassembly :)

Now, all that's left to do is hope that the airline doesn't bash the crap out of my box and then reassemble the bike in a park in Banff. It took me 3.5 hours from start to finish and I expect it will take me that long to put it back together without a bike stand.

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