Bike Box Packing

I thought I’d better have a practise run packing my bike into my new BikeBox Alan – I wouldn’t want to try doing it half an hour before heading for the airport only to find I couldn’t fit it in!

It was actually fairly easy to do

1. I first marked the position of the saddle and various handlebar elements so that I;d be able to take them off and then put them back just the way I like them. It’s taken a while to get my position dialled in on the bie so I wouldn’t want to lose that just so that I could transport my bike across the world.
2. I removed the pedals. They came off much easier than I was expecting. In fact I think I need to tighten them up a bit when I replace them!
3. Next it was off with the saddle and seat-post. Again, a nice easy task.
4. Off came the wheels and they were placed into the special wheel holder areas on the lid of the box. The frame was placed into the box as well.
5. Next it was a case of undoing the headset and removing the stem, complete with the bars and my clip on tri bars. The bars then rest in the box, still attached to the bike by the brake and gear cables but able to rotate around to take up less space.
6. In order to close the lid I had to remove my clip on aero bars as well.
7. It was now just a matter of tying things into place with the specially designed velcro straps. A couple go around the frame itself, a couple around the bars. The wheels fit into the box using their quick release skewers to fasten them in place. There are also a few extra velcro ties that allowed me to strap the pedals and aero bars down as well.
8. In with the accessories. The box comes with a little tool pouch into which I placed the tools necessary for the rebuild. Not much really, just a 10mm allen key for the pedals and a multi-tool. I also put my track pump into the box, again fastening it down with some velcro straps.
9. In with some other gear. I packed the box out with my wetsuit, helmet and a few bits of clothing and we were almost ready to go.
10. Close the box and secure it with the clasps. I took care to make things were fitted in nicely and not too squashes, but all seemed OK. Once the bike box was closed up I would have been ready to go.

The whole process probably took about 20 minutes but now that I’ve done it once I’m sure I could do it in half that time.

Here it is with just the bike and track pump

Bike Box Packing

and here is is with a few other bits and pieces for padding.

Fully packed Bike Box

I then thought it would be a good idea to weigh it. I have a  baggage allowance of 30kg for my trip to New Zealand for the Triathlon World Champs. The fully loaded bike box came to around 27kgs… Hmm, that leaves me with 3kg for clothes etc. I think I shall be travelling light!

Next of course was to unpack it and rebuild the bike. Again, this took about 20 minutes to do, taking care to get everything set up just the way I like it. Hopefully box and bike will make it unscathed to New Zealand and the process there will be as straight forward and free of hassle as it was here… Fingers Crossed.

Tags: CyclingTravelTriathlon