As a bicycle mechanic I have had to pack and ship quite a few bicycles. I have realized that most people have had no way to learn how to pack a bicycle for safe shipment. The easiest way to learn is to see how bicycles that have arrived safely have been packaged. I am writing this because I have seen many times how bicycles that have arrived safely have been packed. This procedure does not guarantee that a bicycle will arrive safely every time but I have seen this method succeed more often than any other. If you have misfortune with this method then either you have done something wrong or the shipper has done something wrong. This method or a very close variation is used by almost all of the companies that sell and ship bicycles. I have written this page to help anyone who would like to package a bicycle for shipping. If you want none of the responsibility in packaging and shipping a bicycle then pay a bicycle dealer to package it and pay a shipper to carry it to its destination. That way they are the ones responsible for the job that they do in getting the bike delivered without damage. If you still want to package the bike yourself, my, (and most of the industry's), method is outlined below.
Packing bikes for shipping is not easy without the correct materials and procedure. You need the proper packaging and you need to be able to take a few parts off of the bike and either pad and strap them to the frame or put them in a small box within the box that will contain the rest of the bicycle. My method uses only one shipping box as this is sufficient and will save shipping costs. One bicycle manufacturer in particular previously used two boxes, a main box and a wheel box, but they have given this up in favor of using one box to hold the entire bicycle, of course with boxes and bags within for smaller parts which must be off the bicycle for shipping.
First, you will need one bicycle box. Most bicycle boxes will be long enough to allow you to leave the rear wheel on but not the front. Be sure to ask the bicycle dealer if the box will allow you to leave the rear wheel on. You can get an empty bicycle box from most bicycle dealers. You can find a bicycle dealer almost everywhere. You should call him first so that he has time to locate an empty box for you. Don't lose patience if he says it could take days. You should always plan ahead if you are going to ask for a free box. Most bicycle dealers will give you the box free if he had no plans for it other than the trash. He may even be happy that it is being recycled.
Secondly, you will need one or two small boxes , but not so small that they would fall out, (about 4" x 12" x 10" or 6" x 8" x 9" or some similar shape and size, for small items like the pedals, lights if so equipped, saddle, etc.. These small boxes should be easier to obtain. You will also need padding. You can use pieces of light cardboard and/or flexible foam (sometimes still in the bike box), enough bags to put the smaller items in to prevent them scuffing up against sharp parts, and some long zip ties, or other method to strap or tie parts together. You should also always use a fork end shipping stabilizer. Well that's what I call it. It may still be in the box. It is a piece of plastic that is a little longer than the fork ends are separated. It has ribs lining up with the different fork widths and fits much like an axle does but it fits snug so it will stay without being bolted in. I have also seen fork end shipping stabilizers made out of wood used by other bicycle manufacturers. If you are handy with tools and careful with packing you have already taken care of the most difficult part of packing a bicycle for shipping, collecting the packaging.
Any small parts that don't look like they would survive the trip because they are jutting out or could fall off should be protected. If they simply unbolt or unclip and can be simply bolted or clipped back on at the bicycle's destination, then you should unbolt or unclip them and put them in a plastic bag and then be put into one of the small boxes. If you can't avoid putting a sharp item in with a ripable or scratchable part, you need to put one or the other in something like a wrap of cardboard or another box. You want the bicycle to arrive without any damage after what could be a rough trip for the outside box.
First, the pedals will need to be taken off and put into one of the small boxes. The right side pedal, (the one on the chain side of all conventional bicycles), loosens from the crank arm the normal way, counterclockwise. But the left side pedal, (the one on the side opposite the chain on all conventional bicycles), has a left hand thread and loosens clockwise.
Then, the saddle and seat post need to be taken off and fit into one of the small boxes.
Next, you will need to remove the front wheel. Don't remove the rear wheel. I repeat, Do Not Remove The Rear Wheel. You do not have to remove the rear wheel to have your bicycle package fit inside the box if you have gotten the right size box. If the bike has an internal gear rear hub it may have a chain or other mechanism that goes into the rear hub axle. Be sure to protect that or take it off and put it into one of the small parts boxes that you are going to put in with the rest of the bike to ship. Also protect the exposed ends of both wheels and pad or wrap the frame wherever it might come in contact with the box or anything else. But you do need to remove the front wheel. Before you remove the front wheel you should loosen the handlebar stem bolt. That is the one one the top of the stem if the bicycle is the old conventional type that we call the quill type stem. (If you are packaging a new bike with a threadless fork, the procedure is slightly different.) Most bikes will have some sort of retention device for retaining the front wheel. Some will have clips, some have bolt on plates with loops that hold the front wheel. Raleigh and Schwinn and some others have keyhole shaped axle slots in the fork ends that sleeved washers, sleeved cones, or sleeved nuts fit into the round part of the keyhole in the axle slots in the fork ends. If these retainers are on the outside they can be taken off of the axle first. If they are on the inside of the fork you must carefully move the fork end outward, not with so much force that you do damage, but enough so that the axle will slide out of the slot so that the front wheel may be removed. Then remove the front brake caliper and remove the front fender if so equipped.
With the front wheel and front fender removed, put the front fork shipping stabilizer across the fork end in the slots that the axle of the front wheel came out of and turn the fork so that the curve in the ends face the rear of the bike. The front brake caliper can then be padded and strapped to a convenient part of the frame or fork being careful not to bend nor kink the brake cable nor put the front brake caliper in a place where it may be damaged.
Next, wrap padding around the front fender and put it around the top of the front wheel. Strap the front wheel with the front fender around it on the side of the frame about opposite where you strapped the handlebar. The crank arms should be now rotated until the left crank arm is about at 10:00 position so that the left crank arm will fit between and somewhat parallel to the spokes of the front wheel. Make sure that you have enough padding around the front fender and behind the metal parts of the front wheel padding the frame and wheel rim of the front wheel. Be sure that the crank doesn't touch the rim of the front wheel and that the axle ends are not able to scratch anything or poke out of the box by either padding them or putting the plastic plugs that are made for that purpose on the ends of the axles. I have also seen the rear fender removed, padded or wrapped, and put in the box separately and this does make it more likely that it will arrive without damage especially if the bike box is set on end as it shouldn't be, but might be in shipping.
Next, the handlebar stem with the handlebars attached will need to be taken off and strapped to the chain side of the frame with padding between the handlebars and the frame. The handlebar stem can be removed from the fork if you loosen the stem bolt three turns then tap the top of the bolt, using a block of hardwood between the hammer and bolt top to protect the top of the bolt from damage when tapping it, down into the stem to release the wedge at the bottom of the bolt. You may leave the cables attached to the levers if doing so will not damage the cables by kinking them. Otherwise you may want to remove the cables from the levers, although this makes the job more difficult. To remove the brake cable from a brake lever loosen the cable at the anchor bolt on the caliper and/or squeeze the caliper so the brake shoes are against the rim to give enough slack in the cable at the lever so that you can slide the end of the cable out of the lever. Pad the frame and handlebars and strap the handlebars to the chain side of the frame in a convenient place so that they will not jut out too far beyond the frame. Remember, you are making the bicycle a package that will fit inside that box that is not too much bigger than the bicycle. Be careful that if the handlebar intertwines with the front wheel and front fender strapped to the other side of the frame that it is in a way that won't damage the spokes, fender, handlebar, nor grips, levers etc. that are on the handlebar.
Next, strap the crank arm and the rear wheel to the frame so that they won't rotate in shipping
Double check all padding and strapping. Then check that all parts are accounted for in the small boxes and tape the small boxes shut. Put the small boxes that you have small parts in into the shipping box on the bottom of the shipping box under where the bicycle will be leaving space on the bottom of the box along with the packaged bicycle. If you got it right, the bicycle will easily slide into the open top of the box.
Make sure all parts of the bicycle are in the box, then tape the box securely shut around all edges. Get the box ready to address by making sure there are no other addresses or tracking labels on the box as they could be confusing to the shipping carrier. The only addresses that should be on the shipping box should be your return address labeled as the "return address" or "ship from" address and the ship to address labeled as the "ship to" address and the only tracking label should be your tracking label. This may sound simplistic but even companies that ship out packages daily have inadvertently created a "boomerang" package by overlooking the label that had gotten that box to them in the first place and unfortunately the shipping carrier found that label and not the intended address and the box was back the next day ready to be re-shipped along with needing the total shipping charge to be paid again, after the wrong label is removed or blanked so the box doesn't repeat the useless loop to the shipper and back a second time.
Note;
There is even one better way to package a bicycle to ship and that is to use a Cannondale bicycle box. You can then put the wheels on the other side of a large piece of cardboard as Cannondale does. But that means that you have to take off the rear wheel. The preparation for shipping by doing that means the rear wheel has to be taken off and that is better left to those with experience doing so. Plus the chain has to be padded and strapped down to the frame and if the bicycle has a rear derailleur it needs to be shifted toward the frame and held in place by the strapping of the chain. That's why I chose the simpler and more popular method to outline here.
