How to pack a bicycle into a bag for transportation
When I decided to take my Surly Long Haul Trucker with me to Taiwan (yes, yes I know Taiwan is the bicycle manufacturing capital of the world but I really like my bike), I was presented with the logistics of how to pack the bicycle for transportation via airplane.
I’d already decided that I was going to use a bike bag but soon realised I’d have to think about how my big 57″ frame was actually going to come apart to fit into the bag.
Here’s how I did it.
Accessories
Usually my Long Haul Trucker has a crapload of stuff attached to it and looks like this:
Full length fenders, a rear rack, stand, AirZound air horn, saddle pack, a dynamo with mounted front and rear lights and a speedo mean there’s a lot of accessories that need to come off before I could even think about packing the bike.
Luckily this is just a matter of unbolting everything and setting it aside carefully. You can reattach bolts back onto the frame once you’ve removed the various components they were bolted to so you don’t lose them.
As for the components, I found storing them in the side pockets of the bike bag to be convenient. Just make sure you tape off any sharp edges on any of the mounting brackets.
The rear rack was obviously too bulky to put into the side pockets, so I saved that to go in last on top of the frame once it was in.
Dismantling the bike itself
Dismantling the bike presents the problem of having to decide whether to remove the saddle and then somehow remove the wheels without flipping the bike upside down, or to remove the wheels and then somehow remove the saddle when the bike is upright.
I chose the latter and to get around the awkwardness of only having two arms and trying to loosen a seat post bolt and hold the bicycle up at the same time (you can’t rest it on the rear derailleur), I pre loosened the bolt and let the post sit up against the seat itself.
This made balancing the bike a bit trickier while it was upside down but was a hell of a lot easier then running out of hands trying to undo the bolt with the wheels removed.
Once the seat post bolt is loosened flip the bike and remove the wheels. Then take off the pedals. You’ll need a pedal wrench for this as the bolt is square. Don’t use an ordinary wrench of you’ll probably strip the bolt.
Then lay out a towel or some big cloth you don’t care about (don’t use your mum’s favourite tablecloth) and lay the bike on its side, rear derailleur up. The rear derailleur is the most fragile part of the bike so don’t knock it or drop the rear of the bicycle onto it.
With the bike resting you can remove the seatpost and then loosen off the handlebar mount bolts (I think this is called the headset?). My Long Haul Trucker had four bolts holding the handlebar on but each bike might vary slightly.
Once the handlebars are loose you can either remove them (watch you don’t let the brake cables hold the weight of the bars or they might pop out), or turn the them side on.
It’s probably best to leave them side on still mounted to the bike to see if they’ll fit into the bike bag. If not it’s an easy task to remove them later.
You also have the option of removing the rear derailleur at this point or leaving it on. Despite mentioning earlier that it’s the most fragile part of a bike, I chose to leave it on.
Officially my reasoning was I planned to place two big sheets of hard cardboard from an actual bike box down the sides of the bike bag which would protect the rear derailleur (and everything else in the bag).
Unofficially it was because I was too lazy to take it off and refitting a rear derailleur isn’t something I’ve yet done. Let alone wanted to do in Taiwan where I’d be relying on the internet to show me how and missing my proper toolkit.
It’s highly recommended that if you do leave the rear derailleur on you zip tie the rear hanger (the part that sticks down and is spring loaded) to the frame itself. It should fold right up to the frame and zip tying it there means it’s not jutting out and should be relatively safe.
Fitting the bicycle into the bike bag
The first thing you want to do is to place a sheet of cardboard on either side of the bike bag. The cardboard I used was cut out from an actual bike box to fit and I slid it into the wheel pockets.
After they’re in place you can put the wheels in, one on either side. Then carefully place your accessories around the wheels with the mudguards resting on top of the wheels so they’re not in the way.
Now comes the difficult part of placing the frame in. I tried to do this on my own for about thirty minutes but between keeping the bike bag up and open, stopping the wheels from falling over into the middle of the bag and sliding the bicycle itself into the bag, found it impossible.
In the end I had to get some help so if I were you I’d definitely grab an extra pair of hands for this last part.
With the derailleur still attached my choice was to place the Long Haul Trucker into the bag upside down. There isn’t really any other choice with the rear derailleur exposed as you cannot rest the bike on it.
If your handlebars don’t fit in sideways (mine didn’t) you’ll have to quickly undo the head bolts and then get someone to hold the bars while you place the bike into the bag. Make sure they don’t let the brake cable covers bend at funny angles or get tangled or caught on anything as you lower the bicycle in.
Once the bike is in (this can take a while as there was a fair bit of shimmying to get the edges of the bike into the bag), gently place the handlebars in and make sure they are resting on the frame itself (zip tie them onto the frame if need be).
Then if you’ve got one you can place a rack on top of the bottom of the frame and your helmet sideways into the triangle of the bicycle. Slide the seatpost in at this point too, saddle upright and make sure you place some tissue or towel on the greasy bottom of the seat post.
I had ample room and also managed to fit both my rear panniers into this space as well.
Even with a strip of cut out cardboard running along the top of the bag (and along the bottom) I still felt that the front forks were a bit exposed or that they might punch through the cardboard and make a hole in the bag.
To counter this I got out the duct tape and simply taped up some cardboard to the forks.
You can apparently buy proper fork protectors but I couldn’t source any locally in time.
All in all once your done it should look something like this:
With the final strip of cardboard inserted along the top of the bag you should be left with a large’ish bag that looks like it should weigh a ton but is relatively easy to carry.
If I balanced the bag right I could place it on the top of my suitcase resting against the extended handle. Although light, don’t do what I did and see if you can carry the bag over your shoulder. Even with stretches you’re likely to pull a muscle or strain your back… don’t do it!
As always, happy cycling!
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