Urgent - packing bike cases

[rustychisel]

We're off to USA and Europe in a couple of days, taking his and hers bikes, having bought the appropriate hard cases for travel (2 wheels off, wheelbags, seatpost out, bars turned).

But how do you pack the things? How do you get them flat enough. What are the hot tips; one wheel under? Chainring up or down? Stand on one leg and shout at the mess?

TIA

[OtayBW]

Take the rear derailleur off (stick it in a plastic bag or something); loosen the stem and turn it sideways and turn the bars under the TT; lay the fork flat. I put the drive side down. I also wrap the tubes with pipe insulation (available at any hardware store for cheap).

These are some basics. More info available on the web:
http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/boxabike.html
http://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6610,s1-5-33-1060-1,00.htm

Good luck.

[Louis]

One thing to watch: be sure that the wheels and the frame are sufficiently pressed by the padding so they don't slide around easily. My Trico hard-case was dropped such that the frame slid down until the big chainring hit the side of the case. (you can see the tooth marks in case plastic) The big thing is that the impact was enough to bend the chainring quite a bit.

Good Luck

(I've concluded that traveling with bikes is a real pita, whether they are assembled or not.)