Travelling with your bike – all you need to know | Shimano

If you are travelling with your bike, whether it’s for a holiday or an event, it can be nerve wracking, you need your bike in good working order to have fun! You will want to make sure you have packed your bike safely and have everything you need. Here’s our guide to what to think about when travelling with your bike. 

Packing your bike for travel

How you pack your bike for travel and the amount of protection it needs depends on how you are travelling. Bike bags or bike cases offer a high-degree of padding so are ideal for air travel where your bike will travel in the hold with other luggage. If you are only partially dismantling your bike for car or train travel it is still really important to protect it from scratches and damage. 

Disc-pads

Without your wheels in you will need to use a disc-pad spacer to ensure that the pads remain pushed apart.  Otherwise, if you accidentally pulled a brake lever, the pistons will come out the full distance and you will need to re-set your brakes. If you don’t have a proper spacer, a piece of card will do the job. 

Rear mech 

Your rear mech is particularly vulnerable to being bent if there is any weight on it. If your bike is lying on its side don’t load anything heavy on top of it. If you are flying it pays to take your rear mech off – it’s one easy Allen key bolt – to make sure it can’t get bent. 

Pedals and bars 

Bars and pedals are the bits that stick out so for efficient packing and to save space in your car or bike bag you can loosen the stem and stem bolts to turn your bars sideways and rotate them inwards to protect the levers. Pedals are also easy to take off with a pedal spanner or the right size of Allen Key. 

Shock and tyre pressure

Airline staff will ask you if you have deflated your tyres because of the changes in pressure when in the hold. Leaving some pressure is good to protect your rims from knocks or shocks from being accidentally bottomed-out and damaged. Just don’t forget to pack your shock-pump! 

What to take with you 

When travelling with your bike it is useful to take items that are specific to your brand and model of bike. A spare rear-mech hanger is helpful as these are easily bent and as they are specific to your bike frame it can be hard to get a replacement quickly. 

How to find a bike mechanic 

Don’t worry, if something does go wrong with your bike there will be a friendly mechanic to help at your nearest Shimano Service Center.  Shimano Service Centres are a global network of independent bike retailers. At a Shimano Service Center staff are trained to service the Shimano components of road, MTB, city and Shimano STEPS e-bikes and they also carry the most common Shimano Original Parts.  Finding your nearest Shimano Service Center is easy using the Shimano Service Center locator. Enjoy your travels!