Handlebars and boxing a bike

I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane and have got a bike box
from the LBS. All the packing tips I've read mention turning the
handlebars 90 degrees but I can't seem to make them fit. The box is not
very wide (190 mm) but even the standard Qantas box (300 mm) wouldn't
fit handlebars that are still attached to the bike (even when rotated).
What else do I need to do?

Derek

Derek wrote:
I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane and have got a bike box
from the LBS. All the packing tips I've read mention turning the
handlebars 90 degrees but I can't seem to make them fit. The box is not
very wide (190 mm) but even the standard Qantas box (300 mm) wouldn't
fit handlebars that are still attached to the bike (even when rotated).
What else do I need to do?

Derek


As well as rotating bars by 90 deg, loosen the stem
were it attaches to the bars and rotate the bars there
as well. I've done this a couple of times. Basically,
the brake hoods end up pointing at the ground, one side
of the drops may end up hooking under the top tube. I
won't try an "ascii art" this! Be careful of any cables
and wires as you do this.


DeF


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Looks like I'll need a bigger box then. I tried this yesterday and it
was still quite wide. Bit of a squeeze getting the drops under the top
tube too...

If you have a quill stem, you might need to pull it out of the head
tube.

DeF Wrote:
Derek wrote:
I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane and have got a bike
box
from the LBS. All the packing tips I've read mention turning the
handlebars 90 degrees but I can't seem to make them fit. The box is
not
very wide (190 mm) but even the standard Qantas box (300 mm)
wouldn't
fit handlebars that are still attached to the bike (even when
rotated).
What else do I need to do?

Derek


As well as rotating bars by 90 deg, loosen the stem
were it attaches to the bars and rotate the bars there
as well. I've done this a couple of times. Basically,
the brake hoods end up pointing at the ground, one side
of the drops may end up hooking under the top tube. I
won't try an "ascii art" this! Be careful of any cables
and wires as you do this.


DeF


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To reply, you'll have to remove finger.

While you're at it, loosen the shift/brake levers as well. One thing
I've learned with air travel is that if you don't loosen something, it
will get bent.

Ritch


--
ritcho

ritcho wrote:
DeF Wrote:
Derek wrote:
I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane and have got a bike
box
from the LBS. All the packing tips I've read mention turning the
handlebars 90 degrees but I can't seem to make them fit. The box is
not
very wide (190 mm) but even the standard Qantas box (300 mm)
wouldn't
fit handlebars that are still attached to the bike (even when
rotated).
What else do I need to do?

Derek

As well as rotating bars by 90 deg, loosen the stem
were it attaches to the bars and rotate the bars there
as well. I've done this a couple of times. Basically,
the brake hoods end up pointing at the ground, one side
of the drops may end up hooking under the top tube. I
won't try an "ascii art" this! Be careful of any cables
and wires as you do this.


DeF


--
e-mail:
To reply, you'll have to remove finger.

While you're at it, loosen the shift/brake levers as well. One thing
I've learned with air travel is that if you don't loosen something, it
will get bent.

Ritch



Agreed, indeed, you should loosen them a bit anyway in case your
bike falls over or you have an off. Better the levers twist a bit
than bend or snap. One advantage of twisting the bars down is the
levers end up in the middle of the package, well away from any
exterior knocks.

DeF.

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--
Frank

Drop DACKS to reply
"Derek" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane and have got a bike box
from the LBS. All the packing tips I've read mention turning the
handlebars 90 degrees but I can't seem to make them fit. The box is not
very wide (190 mm) but even the standard Qantas box (300 mm) wouldn't
fit handlebars that are still attached to the bike (even when rotated).
What else do I need to do?

Derek

I had similar hassles using a bike bag a few months ago. I just removed the
stem and bars as a unit and put the lot into the middle of the frame - the
cables were just long enough. Only took a couple of minutes extra to
reassemble when I got to Frankfurt. Use plenty of padding, by the way. I put
my cycling clothes, T shirts and so-on in the bike bag and used bubble wrap
for other exposed bits. Worth dropping the derailleur off too.

One thing I reckon was worth doing is hang about until you're one of the
last to check in. I watched my bag, being bigger, heavier and clumsier than
the other passenger's, being put on top of the rest of the baggage, so my
bike didn't get crushed. Worked in Perth and Frankfurt...

Cheers,

Frank

Cheers,

Frank

Derek wrote:
I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane

And don't carry any tools in your carry-on luggage. You may have them
confiscated.

Evan Wrote:
Derek wrote:
I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane

And don't carry any tools in your carry-on luggage. You may have them
confiscated.
And don't leave your mobile phone - switched on - in the saddle bag
They really don't like that!

(no, it wasn't me...)

Ali


--
alison_b

On 2005-12-02, Evan (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Derek wrote:
I'm looking at taking my road bike on a plane

And don't carry any tools in your carry-on luggage. You may have them
confiscated.

I just heard on the news that America has seen that the security
screenings for scissors and ball-point pens are useless, and have just
stopped doing such screenings.

Australia are not going to follow suit, unfortunately.

--
TimC
"It took people a long time to figure out which machine was [mooing],
and even longer to figure out how. But for some reason it didn't take
them any time at all to figure that I'd done it." -- Paul Tomblin on ASR