Bicycle Packing Tutorial

[New Mexico Brant]

Here is what not to do! DO NOT USE PACKING TAPE On ORIGINAL PAINT PARTS!

 

[oldfart36]

Something I do when there is no master link and you don't want to use a chain breaker on chain (per customer). Before tubing and or "Industrial" bubble wrap. Is wrap lower leg well, then tightly zip tie chain to inside of leg on chain ring. It also locks the chain ring and crank in place before it sits in the styrofoam base in box. This helps in some situations.

 

[Rob_STT🌴USVI]

THANK YOU! A thorough and excellent post. I’m just getting my feet wet on bike shipping. Have had a quick delivery on FedEx Expedited which was competitive in price. A second bike is a 1956 Corvette which has been an ongoing USPS, very slow delivery. They probably used a ship and we did have a tropical weather situation last weekend. Most of the stuff that we buy in stores is brought in by boat. It was supposed to be here on the Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

 

[queeniekozey]

For what it's worth, a few people have suggested I do a bicycle packing tutorial. Today I packed a bike, and remembered to shoot some pictures, so here we go. Choose for yourself if it's worthwhile to you. I have a lot of respect for old machinery of any kind. For instance, this one is 100 years old, and I would feel terrible if something happened to it in shipping that I could have prevented with a few more minutes of care or a couple more dollars worth of packing materials.

I make sure I have a good sturdy bicycle box to ship the bike in before I ever start taking the bike apart. I like Specialized and Trek boxes. They are very sturdy and I have a good source for them a few miles away. This one even has reinforced end handle holes. When I got this box, I grabbed a second for a spare and put it up in the garage rafters for next time. This one was broken down flat, so I re-glued the bottom with Loctite Professional Spray Adhesive. I'll do the same with the top when it's all packed and ready to ship.
View attachment 1332435
I put the bike on a stand and slowly start taking it apart - pedals, saddle and post, front wheel and front fender, drop stand on older bikes (because it's wider than the box). I usually have some kind of small box laying around that I can put the pedals, handlebar stem, front axle (I always remove it from the wheel to keep it from scratching painted parts), grips, and other little things in. I wrap them all individually inside that box.
View attachment 1332443
I rotated the bike upside down to take off the stand and front fender, because I'm old and I like to stand up straight if I can.
View attachment 1332452
I use cheap foam pipe insulation from Lowe's or Home Depot on any frame tube I can get to. It's cheap insurance (avg. $2 per 6' section). The space between the tubes is wasted in the shipping box, so I usually wrap up the saddle real well and zip-tie it in that space. I've put other things in that space, too, depending on the bike's accessories.
View attachment 1332459

When I took off the fork, I put the bearings, nuts, and washers in a baggy and put those in the box of little parts, too. Then I wrapped the fork in bubble wrap and pipe insulation.
View attachment 1332455
I roll/fold up bubble wrap and squeeze it between the back tire and the fender to keep the fender from moving if it gets bumped. And I wrap bubble wrap around the dropstand clip.
View attachment 1332456
View attachment 1332457
I bring the crank arm parallel to a frame tub and zip-tie it in place, never putting a zip-tie on a painted surface. It's always over bubble wrap or pipe insulation.
View attachment 1332458
I happened to have a pizza box from last night' s supper, so I wrapped the dropstand in bubble wrap and taped it inside the pizza box!
View attachment 1332461
I also pad the rear fender with several layers of bubble wrap, zip-tied in place over more bubble wrap to protect the rim.
View attachment 1332463
I keep leftover packing materials around for just such occasions and put a piece of dense Styrofoam in the bottom of the box to set the sprocket and bottom bracket on.
View attachment 1332462
After I set the main section of the bike in the box, then I pack the other wrapped/padded pieces around it. I put an extra thickness of cardboard or a corrugated plastic sheet between the sides and anything that might rub through. Handlebar is covered in pipe wrap, too.
View attachment 1332465
View attachment 1332475
After all the pieces are in, I fill the voids to keep things from shifting. Empty plastic jugs make great space fillers, and you can adjust them by partially collapsing them and molding them around uneven shapes. With the cap tightened, they don't collapse any further and they hold whatever shape you've put them in! Then I fill in with plastic air packets, old bubble wrap, and anything else light and padded I have lying around.
View attachment 1332476
View attachment 1332477
I put a copy of the shipping label inside, just in case the outside one gets torn off by FedEx or UPS, then I seal it up with the spray adhesive and it's ready to go.

That's exactly what I needed. Thank you for such a great and detailed tutorial. For me, traveling by plane can sometimes be stressful because a bicycle is included in the luggage. So learning how to pack a bike for air travel is an essential skill to know if you want to cycle to other places or countries. And thank you for giving me a solution to my bike packing worries.

 

[queeniekozey]

That's exactly what I needed. Thank you for such a great and detailed tutorial. For me, traveling by plane can sometimes be stressful because a bicycle is included in the luggage. So learning how to pack a bike for air travel is an essential skill to know if you want to cycle to other places or countries. And thank you for giving me a solution to my bike packing worries.

 

[Dra]

I’m new to shipping bicycles. You guys have it perfected it and will come in handy with all the tips thanks! Btw it would be great to give a lesson to some people shipping guitars

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Thank you very well done.

I hate shipping UPS/USPS,FedEx because they think they are doing you some kind of a favor. The cost to ship anything today is crazy.

John

 

[Two Wheeler]

For what it's worth, a few people have suggested I do a bicycle packing tutorial. Today I packed a bike, and remembered to shoot some pictures, so here we go. Choose for yourself if it's worthwhile to you. I have a lot of respect for old machinery of any kind. For instance, this one is 100 years old, and I would feel terrible if something happened to it in shipping that I could have prevented with a few more minutes of care or a couple more dollars worth of packing materials.

I make sure I have a good sturdy bicycle box to ship the bike in before I ever start taking the bike apart. I like Specialized and Trek boxes. They are very sturdy and I have a good source for them a few miles away. This one even has reinforced end handle holes. When I got this box, I grabbed a second for a spare and put it up in the garage rafters for next time. This one was broken down flat, so I re-glued the bottom with Loctite Professional Spray Adhesive. I'll do the same with the top when it's all packed and ready to ship.
View attachment 1332435
I put the bike on a stand and slowly start taking it apart - pedals, saddle and post, front wheel and front fender, drop stand on older bikes (because it's wider than the box). I usually have some kind of small box laying around that I can put the pedals, handlebar stem, front axle (I always remove it from the wheel to keep it from scratching painted parts), grips, and other little things in. I wrap them all individually inside that box.
View attachment 1332443
I rotated the bike upside down to take off the stand and front fender, because I'm old and I like to stand up straight if I can.
View attachment 1332452
I use cheap foam pipe insulation from Lowe's or Home Depot on any frame tube I can get to. It's cheap insurance (avg. $2 per 6' section). The space between the tubes is wasted in the shipping box, so I usually wrap up the saddle real well and zip-tie it in that space. I've put other things in that space, too, depending on the bike's accessories.
View attachment 1332459

When I took off the fork, I put the bearings, nuts, and washers in a baggy and put those in the box of little parts, too. Then I wrapped the fork in bubble wrap and pipe insulation.
View attachment 1332455
I roll/fold up bubble wrap and squeeze it between the back tire and the fender to keep the fender from moving if it gets bumped. And I wrap bubble wrap around the dropstand clip.
View attachment 1332456

View attachment 1332457
I bring the crank arm parallel to a frame tub and zip-tie it in place, never putting a zip-tie on a painted surface. It's always over bubble wrap or pipe insulation.
View attachment 1332458
I happened to have a pizza box from last night' s supper, so I wrapped the dropstand in bubble wrap and taped it inside the pizza box!
View attachment 1332461
I also pad the rear fender with several layers of bubble wrap, zip-tied in place over more bubble wrap to protect the rim.
View attachment 1332463
I keep leftover packing materials around for just such occasions and put a piece of dense Styrofoam in the bottom of the box to set the sprocket and bottom bracket on.
View attachment 1332462
After I set the main section of the bike in the box, then I pack the other wrapped/padded pieces around it. I put an extra thickness of cardboard or a corrugated plastic sheet between the sides and anything that might rub through. Handlebar is covered in pipe wrap, too.
View attachment 1332465

View attachment 1332475
After all the pieces are in, I fill the voids to keep things from shifting. Empty plastic jugs make great space fillers, and you can adjust them by partially collapsing them and molding them around uneven shapes. With the cap tightened, they don't collapse any further and they hold whatever shape you've put them in! Then I fill in with plastic air packets, old bubble wrap, and anything else light and padded I have lying around.
View attachment 1332476

View attachment 1332477
I put a copy of the shipping label inside, just in case the outside one gets torn off by FedEx or UPS, then I seal it up with the spray adhesive and it's ready to go.

I’d like to suggest putting pipe insulation over the chain also. It protects other parts from getting damaged and keeps things cleaner.
In my travels around the country on my quest to ride in all fifty states I put pipe insulation on everything to ward off damage from transportation.

 

[jd56]

 

[jd56]

How not to pack rims.
Using only a thin carton and 3 sheets of thin packing paper

Never let a bicycle shop pack the bikes. They don't care.
This was from a supposed be bike shop.
May have been done in the seller's backyard shed
If it was a brick and motor shop, they recieve new bikes all the time. And they come with a style axle stud protective plastic cap like this one.
And always add another reinforcement of cardboard at the stud side of the box.