- You want to travel somewhere beautiful with your bike,
but you're worried that your pride and joy
will get damaged in transit.
Well, fear not because in this video,
we're gonna give you some top hacks
on how to keep your bike safe
and make unpacking it and rebuilding it easier
on the other side.
(relaxed music)
Hack one, keep packaging.
Polystyrene tube insulation is really useful protection
for the tubes on your bike.
It fits over really easy and stops them getting scratched.
And bubble wrap is really handy too.
These things, well, they don't weigh anything at all really
so they're not gonna add much to the weight of your bike
once it's packed up.
Packaging like this comes with all sorts of appliances,
but if you wanna get your hands on some and don't have any,
then your local bike shop will probably be able to
offload some for free to you as well.
Hack two, mark your seatpost.
Now if you're traveling with your bike,
you'll probably have to remove your seatpost
so that it fits into a box or bag.
And this means when you put it in the other side,
you might not remember the saddle height
that you previously had.
You could measure it and do it, but it can be a bit tricky
to measure exactly where it was.
So the best thing to do is to mark it,
and the best way to mark it is with some tape
as this doesn't damage or mark the frame in any way.
It also means you've got some handy tape should you need it.
And you can very quickly assemble your bike
and pop your seatpost into the exact right position
very quickly.
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When traveling with your bike, you'll often have to remove
your handlebars so that the bike can fit
into a bag or a box.
Now many people do this by undoing the stem bolts
and the headset and taking the whole thing off.
However, we'd say don't do that.
An easier way is to just take the bars off
at the front of the stem, and leave the stem on the bike.
In doing so, this will mean that the headset bearing
doesn't come loose, and you don't lose any bits,
and the fork doesn't fall out in transit.
It'll hold everything together.
If you loosen any bolts while taking your bike apart
for transit, make sure that you tighten them.
Classic examples are the seatpost and the stem.
The reason for this is that while in transit,
these bolts could get loose, fall out,
and you'll never see them ever again,
which can be, well, pretty annoying when you get to
your final destination.
If you loosen your stem clamp bolts off,
you should be able to then twist the stem around,
and tuck it in there next to the frame.
Don't forget to protect the frame.
And then tighten the stem bolts back up,
and that should be good.
(relaxed music)
If you have a Di2 bike, then there's often a cable
that connects to a battery in the seatpost.
Now, these cables have a really annoying habit
of disappearing down the seat tube
and into the bottom bracket during transportation.
And this can make for a really annoying,
or well, really fun game once you get to the other side
trying to fish it out.
An easy solution is to simply get some tape,
and tape the cable to the outside of the frame.
If you do lose your cable down inside your frame,
well, you probably won't 'cause you've watched this video,
but if one of your friends does, then fear not.
There are ways to get it out.
Now, a good tool to use is a coat hanger
that you can bend and put a little hook on the bottom.
But one of the best tools is actually a spoke
with a J-bend in.
Now, if you don't have one of these to hand,
then a local bike shop will be able to supply you with one.
Now, you simply pop that in there.
And fish around, and you can pull the cable out.
When packing up your bike, we'd always recommend
that you remove the rear mech hanger.
Some bike box brands claim that you can actually
pack up your bike without removing the rear mech,
but we'd say it's always better to be safe than sorry.
And it's really easy to do.
Also, if you're going on a long trip,
we'd recommend packing a spare mech hanger.
These can be purchased from the bike brand
of your respective bike, but they're often
very hard to source and unique to your bike.
The rear mech hanger is a deliberate point of weakness
that's designed to bend or break,
and in doing so, take the strain of impact.
But they can be very hard to source,
and they're often unique to each and every bike.
So, if you're going on a long trip,
it's advisable to take a spare one
so that you don't end up having to rent another bike.
(relaxed music)
Water bottles are really useful for storing and transporting
heavy little items that may move around inside the box
and damage your frame.
Say, things like your multi-tool,
or your spare mech hanger, or any other little precious bits
that you wanna put in there.
Put them inside your water bottles, and then,
put the water bottles inside the bottle cages,
as this stops the bottle cage,
if it's empty, it can get crushed in transit.
When packing your bike into a box or bag,
we'd also recommend padding it out with some clothing.
But don't just chuck your clothes inside because
if your chainset's dirty, then it'll make
your clothes dirty, too.
So simply put your clothes in some plastic bags.
And then use these to pad out the bike.
If you lose a bolt from your bike while traveling
or perhaps you snap one when you're rebuilding your bike,
then a hack you can do is to take one of the four
that make up the stem plate on the front of the bike,
and use them somewhere else.
Now, we wouldn't suggest you go
and do some max sprint efforts on a bike
that only has three stem plate bolts in,
but this is a hack that can get you home
or get you to a shop where you can get another bolt.
(relaxed music)
If you're on a budget or don't want to spend money
on a dedicated bike box or bag,
then go to your local bike shop
and get a cardboard box for free.
All new bikes come in these cardboard boxes,
and bike shops routinely throw them away,
so they should give you one for free.
I've even seen pro riders transporting their bikes
with cardboard boxes.
But remember to pack plenty of tape
so that you can tape the box back up
at the other end for your return journey.
And use plenty of padding, too.
(relaxed music)
If you're traveling with a bike
that has hydraulic disc brakes,
then be aware that once the wheel is removed,
if you pull the lever,
and that's something that can happen accidentally,
if will close the pads, and that will mean
that you can't get the rotor back inside.
The solution is to simply prize them apart,
and we have a video that shows you how to do this.
The link's in the description below.
But you can avoid this altogether
by simply using some special spacers like this.
These slot inside the caliper in between the pads
once the wheel is removed.
If you don't have these, well, fear not.
You can simply use a hack that's a business card
folded up and held in place with an elastic band.
(relaxed music)
And finally, should the worst happen,
and your bike gets lost in transit perhaps by the airline,
then a great thing to do is to have a note inside the box
with your name and address on
as this will help it get back to you.
Now, this has never happened to me.
It's very rare, but it can happen, so why not?
Right, I hope you found these hacks and tips useful.
And be sure to let us know your own
in the comment section down below.
We might include them in a future video.
Subscribe to the channel and give the video a thumbs up
if you'd like to see more hacks and tips in the future.
And for another video on how to pack a bike box,
simply click down here.