Au revoir, ma bicyclette

This afternoon I spent four hours dismantling my bicycle and packing it for shipping to Montreal. It will be departing almost two weeks ahead of me. If I had it to do over again I'd just rent a bike when I arrive - it would be much simpler and cheaper. Next time I'll know.

It's partly my own fault, though. I spent so much time comparison shopping that by the time I made a decision about my transport plans, many of the options had changed. For instance, I discovered that just to drive from Ferndale to the Vancouver BC airport, it would cost more than $360 to rent a car large enough to hold a bike shipping box. I ordered the eBike shipping box designed for shipBikes.com, then found out that company doesn't do international shipping. Finally I arranged shipping with BikeFlights.com, but it will cost more than $550 round-trip.

I am pleased with the eBike box, though. The flat sides are extra-thick cardboard, the narrow sides are four layers thick, and it has two parts that fit together like a sideways shoe-box, which doubles the thickness. It's much more substantial than the larger, thinner cardboard boxes used on Amtrak.

This extra-thickness also makes the inside dimensions much smaller than the outside, so fitting my bike into the box took a little more dis-assembly than I expected. I had to remove the wheels, saddle and seat-post, handlebars, pedals, cargo-rack, and the rear derailleur. The front fork and rear drop-outs of my smallish 54cm frame, wrapped in bubble-wrap, press against the box walls. My only real difficulty, though, was getting the pedals off. I put a little solvent on the bolts to loosen them up but it took a lot of muscle and changes of position to get the right leverage. I punched myself in the chin when the right-hand pedal suddenly let go. The left one was easier.