Tag: Bike shipping

Learn to ship your bike, in a box or in a bike specific case.

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Austin to New Orleans Tour Planning Resources

Tour Preparation, Day Five- Packing and Shipping

Most of the day yesterday was spent taking apart Chief and putting him in his box for the trip via FedEx to Austin. Even though the thermometer outside struggled to reach 40 degrees, the garage eventually was comfortable thanks to my upgraded heat system.

Upgrade of the Binford 4000 Series Electric Oil Radiator with the addition of the Binford 3100 Fan.

The tools that I am going to carry on the ride are the same tools I used to disassemble the bike. So I am relatively confident that first, I can put the bike back together, and secondly, I can take care of any mechanical issues that might occur.

The Park multi tool has 4,5 and 6 millimeter hex wrenches and phillips and flat blade screwdrivers. And the three sided socket tool has 8, 9 and 10 mm sockets. Every fastener on the bike can be tightened with these two tools. I also carry a spoke wrench and some extra spokes taped to the left chainstay. And since, according to Murphy’s Law, the drive side spokes on the rear wheel will break if any will, I carry a small cassette lockring tool to remove the cassette. There is a small chain tool and an extra chain connecting link. And, of course, tire levers.

These tools will handle most repairs on a touring bicycle.
Two different lengths of spokes will work to replace either front spokes or rear drive side and non drive side spokes.

I stuffed as many bicycle bags and as much clothing and miscellaneous items as I could into the box. Overall the weight was about 60 pounds and it cost about $75 to send it to Austin including insurance for $3000. The box is scheduled to arrive in Austin the day after I do. So far, so good!

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Austin to New Orleans Tour Planning Resources

Tour Preparation, Day One

I leave in one week so I am focusing on those items on the critical path. Items without which the tour cannot be accomplished and which have longer lead times.

Item number one is a box to ship the bike. Rather than a softsided or other airplane friendly case I ordered a re-usable cardboard box like the one I used on the last two tours which is pretty ratty now and besides, I used it to ship a bicycle back to Rivendell last year. I should receive it on Friday. That will leave the weekend to unbuild the bike and pack it so that I can take it to FedEx on Monday. I will send it to the motel in Austin where we are staying.  I suppose I could do the same with a conventional, and more durable bicycle case but those  all cost more than I want to spend. I can do a dozen tours using 3 or 4 of the cardboard boxes and still be ahead.

Item number next is  ordering a map of section 5 of the Southern Tier from Adventure Cycling Association.  These maps are so detailed and so refined over the years they have been in use that I get a little nervous when I need to  detour from them. It’s also comforting to think of all the other bike tourists who have been along these same routes if only because of the assumption that local motorists might be more aware of bicyclers.

I also plot the route on Google Maps.

View Austin to New Orleans in a larger map
This is not the exact route but for some reason Google Maps would quit letting me make changes after some amount of time or changes.

Since the Southern Tier route only goes to St. Francisville, LA I had to find a way to get through Baton Rouge and into New Orleans. I have been spending some time on the bikeforums.net touring forum and I thought I would put the question to that group. I did a quick search of the forum for routes in New Orleans and was directed to several threads, and I found out about the Mississippi River Trail. From their website:

The Mississippi River Trail, coursing along America’s backbone, the Mississippi River, from its headwaters in Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, offers approximately 3,000 miles of on-road bikeways and pedestrian and bicycle pathways for the recreational enjoyment, health, conservation and tourism development of river communities, river states, and the nation.

I was able to plot a route, which I’m hoping is pretty decent for cycling, from St. Francisville into New Orleans.

So now I can use my maps to figure out the best places to end up each day. Since I want to go as inexpensively as possible I will be looking for KOA campgrounds and state parks with showers, and I am going to register on the warm showers website to see if I can score some free overnight stays.

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Planning Resources

Bike Touring – Another way to ship a bike

In a previous post I talked about one way to get your bike and gear to the start of your tour. This post will talk about another way to pack your bike, this time to take it on the plane. I helped a customer pack her bike for a trip to England, using the Pika Packworks soft sided bag. The packing of the bike went smoothly. There is minimal disassembly of the bike required…..removing the pedals, seat and seatpost, and the handlebars and rear derailleur. But there is no disconnecting of cables so the shifting and brakes don’t need to be readjusted before riding the bike. Here is a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGhhxdAPyL8

The size of this case  allows it to be checked as luggage and the weight should be less than the 50 pound limit, even with some other items included in with the bike. If you are worried about the soft case and the protection it offers to the bike, you can always wrap more protection material around the frame tubes and add a brace made out of pvc pipe between the dropouts of the frame and fork.