Bicycle packing and boxing for travel
Packed the way it needs to arrive, not the way that is quickest to close the box.
What the job involves
Before the box
- Tyres let downNot because a hold is unpressurised, but because a soft tyre gives the rim somewhere to move without splitting the box.
- A photo of your setupSaddle height, bar angle and lever position, recorded before anything moves, so it goes back where it was.
- Drivetrain cleanedA dirty chain marks everything it touches over twelve hours in a box, including the frame.
Stripped down
- Bars, pedals and derailleur offThe rear mech is the part that gets bent in transit. It comes off and travels inside the frame triangle, not hanging off the end of it.
- Wheels out, discs protectedRotors are easy to bend and awkward to true at the other end. They travel flat and padded.
- Axle spacers fittedAn empty fork or frame crushes if the box is stacked. Spacers hold the spacing that the wheels normally do.
In the box
- Frame padded at every contact pointChainstays, fork legs and the down tube take the damage. Each one is wrapped rather than the whole thing loosely bagged.
- Nothing looseEvery removed part is bagged, labelled and fixed in place. Parts that slide are parts that scratch.
- Box weighed and markedYou get the weight before you reach the airport, so an excess-baggage charge is not a surprise at the desk.
When this is not the job you need
A repair business that only ever says "book it in" is not worth trusting on anything else. These are the cases where you should not.
- A bike being shipped as freight rather than flown with you — that is export prep and packed differently.
- Boxes you have already packed yourself and want checked. We would rather repack from the frame up than certify someone else's work.
- Same-day requests. Doing this properly takes a couple of hours and the box has to be sourced.
Common questions
Do you supply the box?
Yes. A bike box is included in the price. If you have a hard case of your own we will pack into that instead, and the price is the same — the work is in the stripping and padding, not the cardboard.
Can you rebuild it when I land?
Not at the other end, no. But we photograph your setup before we touch it, and the build sheet goes in the box, so any mechanic can put it back exactly as it was. If you fly back into Dubai, we will rebuild it here.
How far in advance should I book?
Two or three days is comfortable. It is not a job to rush, and boxes are not always on the shelf. Message us with your flight date and we will tell you honestly whether it fits.
Will the airline accept it?
Every airline sets its own size and weight limit and they differ more than you would expect. Tell us who you are flying with and we will pack to their limit, and give you the final weight before you leave.