Right – I’m off on my jolly next weekend. I’ve got my bike bag – one of these

What’s the best way of packing a road bike?

I’m thinking of:
1. Spacers for rear and fork dropouts
2. Pipe lagging on the frame
3. Lots a padding with clothes etc.

Is it worth removing the rear mech? And if I do, presumably I can just tick it up out of the way without splitting the chain?

Any other top tips? I’m flying EasyJet from MAN to Mallorca if that makes any difference.

TIA

Defo remove the mech from the hanger and wrap up in bubble wrap and tie to stay,idea to take the dropout/hanger of if its possible, defo put a spacer in the rear stays and forks.pedals off,QRs out of wheels, and all the above you said, watch the weights as they get a bit picky on that at times

geoff, that bag is good. I wrote up something because I get a lot of people asking. I hope it helps you.

Packing youe bike for flights

Nice one Doug. Thanks for that.

If you can find an old cardboard box that can be cut so that it sits around the whole of the rear drop outs and stays, I always do that as well as a spacer between the drop outs. I don’t normally bother removing the rear caliper then, as the box is protecting them.

Rotors off the wheels, though I’ve not really had a problem keeping them on before.

as above plus
pedals off
spacers inbetween the disc pads.
handlebars off and taped to top tube with levers touching frame if possible, stem turned ‘inwards’.
polystyrene round chainrings.
i gently wedged polystyrene between the disc rotors and spokes too.
don’t forget to take a roll of tape with you to assist in repacking the bag upon your return

I’m saving these threads cos I’m going to need the info in September 🙂

Here’s one I saved earlier:

bikes on planes