I am a Professional Bike Packer!

You have a new time trail bike and you don't have specific bike bag for TT bike… ...How to pack your bike and arrive at your race destination without any damage…

I have been traveling with my bike over 12 years and I think I can say I am almost a professional bike" packer". So I would like to share my experiences and tips with you:

*Remember the first time packing takes always longer, so be patient.

1. Take your bike paddles off (A good thing is to know which direction to push to take the pedals off ; so remember to turn the pedal wrench backwards direction your derailleur .)

2. I like to take use all different kind of padding material to protect the bike frame and aero-bars. I take the aerobats completely off and firmly attach them to the base bars, but cover the base bars with Brads shoe insoles which he doesn't need (his are better then mine as they are bigger :-) To easy attach the bars I use velcro tapes from timing chips :-)

3. I have "created" a protecting cup for the hand brakes again using Brads insoles :-)

4. Take off the seat post (let the saddle on) Don't forget to disconnect the Di2 cable and don't drop the cable inside the frame. Again I use one of Brads shoe insoles to protect the bike frame around the saddle insert.

5. I wrap up the bike frame with foam covers.

6. Then I take the rear wheel off and take the derailleur off and again, I disconnect the Di2 cable.

7. I wrap the derailleur and attach it to the bike tube so that the chain is not moving around.

8. Protect the front and rear front with a plastic "fork protector "

9. Wrap the "drop out" with padding material as if it would get bent during the travel your gears would not work properly.

10. Then protect the big chainring.

11. I have also my favorite pillow which I got fromBeijing International Triathlon and I use it as a extra protection for my base bars.

Very important is to keep your place clean and organized during your packing as the worst would be to realize that you have left some screws or other important parts of the bike at home on the couch :-) So I have one little bag where I keep all the little parts for my bike and then I have another LIV bag where I keep all other things like bottle cage, tools, pedals…)