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One thing I'm paranoid about when flying with my bike is crush damage inflicted by baggage handlers and, in the past, I usually tried to get hold of dummy axles to act as strengthening spaces between the rear triangle and fork dropouts (replacing the QR skewers)
My road bike has thru axles and the dropouts are threaded on one side so the axle itself won't add strength to resist crushing.
So I thought I'd get some PVC piping and cut it to length to fit each dropout and use the axles to hold it in place.
Ideally, I'd pad the ends of the pipe with some sort of stiff dense foam so not to damage the insides of the dropouts.
Thoughts? Anyone have any other suggestions?
Or other packing tips? List them here!
The last time I flew with a road bike (2019) I packaged it up in a road bike cardboard box from the LBS. If packaged correctly (like a new bike, bars under top tube, foam tubing, plastic QRs wedged in, etc) it ends up very well protected.
I've got a couple of wooden blocks with 6mm holes through the middle (for QR), also, another one with a groove/scrap of inner tube in it to wedge over the chainring.
I always pad the bike out with my other luggage. Never had any damage.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/3827/10689029563_56b931b144_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/3827/10689029563_56b931b144_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/hhy56a ]MTB Packed[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
and road bike
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49418727908_ff7a5c273d_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49418727908_ff7a5c273d_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ihXU5U ]Bike packed[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
The fancy evoc bag my wife has comes with plastic tubes to prevent crush damage no padding on the ends just a bit rounded. Your hub has non rounded metal ends, I don't think you are going to get damage from the plastic.
I don't have the fancy evoc, I purchased a cheap hub as a spacer for my forks.
I always used hub spacers (either the plastic bitty that bike shops get with forks or a knackered old hub) in my previous bike bags. I now have a fancy evoc bag as I needed the biggest bag in christendom to try to shoehorn my XXL bike into (and I still have to rotate the forks, take off the front brake caliper and take off the rear derailleur to squeeze it in).
I used to put pipe insulation on every tube but stopped that, and I've not had any frame damage since (touch wood).
I do park things like body armour, tools, and bike shoes into my bag though, which tends to brace the bike and fill spaces.
My main advice is get an evoc bag; they are very good (on my 3rd with the latest fancy one).
I use the thick cardboard tube which comes at the centre of a bacofoil clingfilm refill to act as a spacer. It’s nice and thick so stiff, but easy to cut to size, axles fit through the middle and it’s kind to carbon frames.
Ask at your LBS for some of the packaging spacers, protective caps and foam that come with new bikes - they usually get binned. Remove the rear mech and cable tie it to the rear wheel spacer inside the frame. If you have hydro brakes, make sure you put spacer blocks in the calipers. Remove the bars from the stem and hook them inside the frame triangle. Put foam/pipe lagging anywhere where 2 pieces touch and use straps or cable ties to hold them together in place/ stops them rubbing, particularly where you have metal against the frame/forks or paintwork.
I’ve always just cut some wood to make spacers for the dropouts. And then tried to pack stuff (kit, foam, etc) between the stays to try to make them a bit more crush proof.
One tip. Only dismantle the bike with the tools you’re taking with you.
I used expanded polystyrene insulation sheets and gaffer tape to custom make an insert for my MTB in a cheap bag when I flew to the US.
I was quite impressed to find a U.S. security inspection sheet in the bottom of the bag, with no evidence they’d even opened it.
Don't sweat it too much. 15 years of running bike holidays in the Alps, not had a client turn up with a damaged bike yet. Think worst ever is bent rotors when people don't take them off the wheels.
I also use wood for the dropouts, drilled through for the std QR or through axle. (Have had the plastic fork spacers smashed on one occasion, then slightly bent forks punched through the bag - so stuff does sometimes get broken).
I’ve seen bent chainrings, taco'd wheels and broken frames. I once watched baggage handlers unload bike bags from the rear cargo door directly onto the tarmac at Toulouse - an 8ft drop.
I once managed to get a nice bottle of Chianti home intact inserted in the bottle cage of my bike as it was the only piece of hold baggage I had on a flight back from Italy.
2 pence coins are good for brake pad spacers. 10 pence coins fit in the baggage trolleys at Geneva airport.
I once watched baggage handlers unload bike bags from the rear cargo door directly onto the tarmac at Toulouse – an 8ft drop.
F+++++k....I'm flying into/out of Toulouse...
I use cut up pool noodles over the frame sections, a tip a bike shop owner once gave me.
I once watched baggage handlers unload bike bags from the rear cargo door directly onto the tarmac at Toulouse – an 8ft drop.
I think shite handling is everywhere. I was once airside at Prestwick and saw handlers unloading luggage off a flatbed truck by walking each case to the edge and dropping from waist height. No attempt to bend down slightly to reduce the drop each case was getting.
I cable tie pipe lagging to the frame. Strengthen the box by sticking rolled up cardboard tubes the width of the bike at the corners and in the main triangle of the bike.
Everything going in the box is cable tied together so if it is inspected it comes out and goes back as one piece. No chance of losing anything.
I stick a dab of nail varnish on the stem/bars join and the seat post as a marker before packing so I get the exact same riding position when putting it back together.
I got some of that large closed cell white foam and made it into a support to go under the BB/chainring area. I taped it in place & figured it would provide some protection if (when) it got dropped. Did the same to the fork dropouts, with a bit of wood also used as a spacer/brace - same bracing for the rear triangle.
All frame tube covered in pipe lagging with removable zip ties and/or masking tape - throw the masking tape reel in with the bike so you can re-wrap when coming back.
Rear mech removed, wrapped in bubble wrap & taped inside the rear triangle.
Discs removed from wheels & taped up in a cardboard sheath.
Never had my bike damage, but did end up with a large tear in my bike bag.
Remembered what I did back when we had the cheap brandx bags. Both as a crush protection and a corner drop protection. Got a cheap yoga block, some threaded bar, nuts and big washers. Yoga block in half, piece of threaded rod through each, big washers on and a few nuts to get the correct spacing. Of course that was qr style dropouts.