Having your bike arrive safely is crucial for any cycling trip. Lost days spent in repairing or replacing a damaged bike can be a real setback. You can minimize the risk by taking care to package your bike as securely as possible. The following tips will help ensure safe transport. Keep in mind: packing tape is your friend; baggage handlers and conveyor belts are not.

1. Get a bike box. Unless you already have a hard-shell bike case, or have rented, borrowed or stolen one, we suggest you use a cardboard bike box. Boxes are readily available from your local bike shop, especially in the spring time. Ideally you want the box to be large enough to accommodate the bike with the rear wheel in the frame. So, make sure that the box is for a full-size adult road bike and not a mountain or child's bike. At the bike shop, ask them for the packing material used in shipping the new bike, such as the plastic pieces that fit in the forks and the wheel axles.
2. Mark your saddle and handlebar position with a piece of tape before you remove it from the frame.
3. Remove the pedals, and the seat and seat post (as one), the handlebars and the front wheel. travel with your shoes and pedals as part of your carry on luggage. That way, if your luggage goes astray (which, knock on wood, it won't), you'll have your shoes and pedals to use in a rental bike while you bike is tracked down. Shoes are the most difficult item to beg, borrow, or steal from other riders. Some people even travel with shoes, pedals, shorts, socks and jersey in their carry on bag to ensure they are ready to ride regardless of what luggage ultimately shows up.

4. Remove the quick release from the front wheel and tape it to the spokes. Got that handy packing tape?
5. Secure something rigid between the front forks to prevent the forks from being squished together. You can use a piece of hard plastic, a wooden block, or an old hub or front axle.
6. To protect your paint job, wrap the frame tubes in cardboard, a blanket, or foam pipe insulation. Also, since the bike box will likely get flipped and flopped during transportation, arrange the contents of the box to prevent them from scratching any painted surfaces.
7. Turn the removed handlebars parallel to the top tube and tape them along the top tube in a position that allows the bike to fit into the box.

8. Remove the rear derailleur from the frame hanger. Tape some padding around the rear derailleur. A rag or piece of soft foam wrapped in a plastic bag works well.
9. Keeping the chain on the large chain ring and the rear wheel, put the bike in the box. Reinforce any points of the box that may be pressure points, for example beneath the chainset, and at the front forks and the axles of the wheels. Again, the plastic pieces that are fitted onto the wheel axles of new bikes for shipping new bikes are ideal. Ask the bike shop for those when you pick up the bike box.As they are regularly discarded, you may have to call a few days in advance to prevent them from being thrown out.
10. There's plenty of room to pack a few extras in the box. Just remember to have them well secured. try to evenly distribute the load in the box. Put a roll of tape in the box for repacking for the return journey. Tape the box up well and run the tape around the outside of the box a few times. Write your name, address and destination clearly, in black marker, on the outside.