Who likes to take things apart and put them back together? Not me! But in order to take my bike on a plane, I have no choice but to make peace with the wrenches and the multi-tool and get to work!

Today I took my bike apart.

From this:

To this:

It took me a little over an hour and 15 minutes!

I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed.

Here are all my steps. Tomorrow I’m working backwards and putting the whole thing together again. We’ll see how long that will take me.

First thing is the easiest to take off. My bike lock, which is simply velcroed on.

Next: the three water bottle cages. These came off fairly easily with a hex key.

IMPORTANT: In order not to lose any of the screws, take off what you need to take off and screw them back where they were!

The bell requires a Phillips screwdriver. I have one on my multi-tool.

The rack in the back is attached to the back fender and once, using a hex key, I take off the rack, the fender comes off with it. It does have a little clip right under the seat that’s easy to unclip. But yeah, the two are a team.

Next: the pedals. These weren’t easy! But that’s because I’m a weakling.

The trick is to get the pedal facing forward and with the pedal wrench push towards the back.

IMPORTANT: The seemingly universal “righty-tighty/lefty-loosey” does not apply to the left pedal! The left pedal is threaded contrary to all laws of screw physics! You need to righty-loosey… One way to make sure not to screw up the pedal threading is to push the wrench towards the back wheel to get the pedals off and push towards the front to get them back on. Clear as mud?

The right pedal needs to go on the right side, and the left pedal on the left. Both are marked accordingly, CR-R for the right one and CR-L for the left one.

Next the gear derailleur comes off. This is when things got scary, because the chain came off! Everything inside me goes cold when I see that chain slack off the gears…

Next, with a quick release lever, pop off the wheel.

And release the brake.

Unscrew the handlebar.

Oh, look at this helpless looking bicycle…

Now, wrap the chain in bubble wrap.

And secure it to the frame with zip ties.

Wrap up the chain ring in bubble wrap.

Wrap the frame in the cushions that came with the Aerus Biospeed bike bag.

Be sure to protect the brakes!

Take the skewers out of the wheels.

Protect the gear cassette on the back wheel with bubble wrap.

And double/triple protect the chain ring.

Take off the seat.

Insert the frame spacers that came with the bike bag.

Make the wheels and the frame all nice and cozy in the bike bag. There is a space for the back rack (with its BFF, the clip-on fender) in here too!

The other components will go in a duffle bag with the panniers. The seat needs to be wrapped in paper, because it’s greasy and would dirty everything it touches. The bag has the pedals, the water bottle cages, wheel skewers and the bike lock.

• Weight of the packed up bike bag: 41.2 lbs
• Weight of the plastic bag with the extra components and the seat: 6 lbs