Guys....use your brains. Unscrew the allen key that holds the rear derrailleur and then tape it between your seat stays with electrical tape in a plastic bag with the housing attached. This way the weight of the bike is not sitting on the rear derrailleur. When you get to your destination, remove the tape, remove the bag and screw it back on...it takes 1 min to do this on either side and you have no adjustments to do.

What do I need to do...provide you guys with a "bike packing 101 article" ?????

I just borrowed this exact case from a buddy two weeks ago to go from Newark to Seattle. No charge going out... almost no charge coming back until a manager saw it and asked if there was a bike in it.

Packed up, it weighed only 27 lbs. Easy enough to sling over the shoulder. Also, I have a high seat mast and lots of carbon fiber (including wheels), everything checked out ok. I did add lots of bubble wrap and some wheel covers for more protection.

Chris

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Ganter
http://www.chris-ganter.com
http://www.transitionfour.tv
Longtime lurker, occasional ST'er...

OK, don't insult my intelligence. Not all bikes have removable derailleur hangers. Thus, my question as stated before.

Not the derrailleur hanger...the DERAILLEUR!!!! Unscrew it with the housing attached then put it in plastic bag and tape it between the stays...now it is out of the way!

I know how to remove a derailleur, I am asking about the derailleur hanger.

I found with the Akona you needed to be careful how you placed the bike on the bottom foam and then use the strap to fix the bottom bracker in place. It took me a few tries to make sure that my derailleur hanger (yes I had already removed the derailleur, dev) sat on the extra little piece of foam at the back (there is one for the bottom bracket, one for the rear triangle.

Although I didn't have the fork or seat stay protectors that Tom D talks about in his bike packing guide, I cut pieces of hard styrofoam to fit in these spots.

My only complaint with the Akona was that it didn't have its own packing guide. There is a picture on the website but that is all. There were a couple of little tricks with the bag to get everything right that were easy to figure out but would have been nice to know up front.

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