Traveling to a foreign country with a bike is a serious effort. You want to set things up for maximum enjoyment. You want your bike to be reliable and comfortable. Test all of these things before you leave. Make sure your bike has cages for two water bottles. Use reliable, mainstream components since spare parts for these can usually be found. Past guests bringing special lightweight cranks, bottom brackets or wheels have found themselves in a pickle when something breaks and we have neither the tools nor the parts to make repairs. (A word about pedals/shoes---you ' ll likely be standing/walking around in your cycling shoes a lot, the SPD types combined with a mountain bike shoe are the best for these situations.

Here are some tips 'borrowed' from VeloNews to help you enjoy your trip.

Replace your chain. The chain is THE part through which any power you intend to transmit into forward motion must pass.

Replace your cables and housings. You hardly notice the decrease in performance that happens over time as they wear and get sticky, but braking and shifting are compromised if your cables are not running freely. You also cannot modulate your brakes well if you have to pull hard to get them to come on. If you cannot feel precisely when brake pads touch rims so that you can subtly decrease speed as needed, you might lock up a wheel and crash.

Replace your brake pads. Chances are they ' re way past due for replacement. You ' ll do more braking on descents with us in a week or two than you usually do in an entire season.

Replace your handlebar tape. This doesn't seem so important, but it is. The tape covers the part that you least want to ever break on your bike. Inspect your bar and stem for corrosion and cracks. Replace it immediately if you find any. Riders who sweat a lot or live near the ocean should consider replacing bars/stems every couple of years regardless.

Inspect your cogs, especially the small ones, for wear. Same goes for the chain rings. If you can lift your chain up enough off the cog/chaining while the chain is engaged to expose the tooth ' valleys ' it's shot. Hook-shaped teeth are a dead giveaway. Replace any that are suspect.

Replace your shoe cleats. Mark the position of the old ones first so you can put the new ones in exactly the same position. Grease the new screws when you install them and recheck for torque.

"Replace your rim strips. They can split or wear through and give you a flat at the most inconvenient times.

Replace your tires and tubes unless you've done that recently. Bring low gears. We've found it much better to have gears lower than you might need than vice/versa. We recommend at least 39 x 25/26, lower if you can get it. Think seriously about one of the 'triple' mini groups now widely available. You'll usually just need to swap the crank, BB and derailleur. We haven‘t found a guest yet who regretted bringing low gears. Make sure you've ridden with the new gear combination before your bike is packed and arrive with the gearing you'll use for the entire trip already installed.

After you have had your bike turned up, ride it for a 100 miles to make sure everything is perfect.

Packing your bike

Start by removing the pedals, (remember the left one is reverse threaded) set them aside to be packed separately (maybe in your carry on luggage along with your shoes?).

Remove the seat post/saddle assembly, (mark the seat post with a piece of tape so you can reinstall it in exactly the same place) wrap in bubble wrap (use the rubber bands to secure it), set aside. Next loosen the stem fixing bolt (you may need to tap it with a punch or mallet to get the wedge or plug to break free). If your bike has a thread less headset, loosen the pinch bolts and remove the stem after removing the top cap (a piece of PVC pipe cut to mimic the stem can be slipped over the steerer tube and secured with the top cap to keep the fork and bearings from falling free, or use a bunch of rubber bands to secure the whole works). Remove the front brake from the fork by removing the nut located on the back of the fork crown, reinstall the nut and wrap the complete caliper in bubble wrap. This way you ' ll not need to readjust the brake.

Now shift the rear derailleur into the big cog and the front to the large chain ring. You can now remove the front wheel, take out the skewer, wrap it in bubble wrap and set it aside. Take an appropriate diameter piece of pipe insulation to match the fork blades and slide one end up the fork, then slide the other fork blade into the other end, making a U shape (you'll need to trim the pipe insulation to the proper length to allow the fork dropouts to sit squarely on the bottom of the U). Further protect this area with an additional piece of pipe insulation as this will protect the fork tips from damage while protecting the bottom of your box.

Stand the bike on the floor just as it would sit in the box, leaning the front wheel against the left (non chain ring) side of the frame. Position the wheel so that it makes as narrow a package as possible. Strap it to the frame with the toe straps; you can strap the crank arm in whatever position works best as well. Remove the stem/handle bars (this is where
you're lucky that your bike shop left some slack in those ergo power control cables, if not, before you loosen the cable anchor bolts, try removing the cable stops from the down tube---just remove the little screws and pry the stops off the frame, then reinstall the screws to prevent loss, this will usually allow enough cable slack to get the bars out).

Get a buddy to hold the box open and upright while you lower the bike in with one hand while the other hand holds the detached handlebar/stem. Make sure the fork drops down to the bottom of the box. Now find a convenient spot to stow the handlebar, you might need to loosen the stem/bar pinch bolt to get it in without damaging anything. Put additional pipe insulation or bubble wrap anywhere contact between parts is likely, then note where the front axle contacts the interior of the box; here you want to add a cardboard reinforcement to keep the axle end from poking out during handling. Make sure the other end will not damage the frame or bottle cages.

Put the other wrapped parts in the box wherever they fit best and check the box for proper closure. You want some space between the top of the box and the bike if possible, add more pipe foam or bubble wrap to any potential contact areas, and then seal it up!

Make sure you write your name and airline/airport destination on the box and that you bring the small roll of packing tape in your carry on luggage in case you need to open the box for airline inspection.

Using these tips will help protect your bike from damage even while using a travel case, we recommend installing a travel axle or old hub in the rear dropouts whenever the rear wheel is removed and strapping down the handlebar assembly with toe straps so it won ' t jump around in the box and damage anything.

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