Packing your Travelers Check!

When I first decided that I wanted to try cycling through Europe, I knew I needed a bike frame that could travel light and cheap wherever I go. Lo and behold, Surly came out with a new touring frame that promised to answer my needs. The Travelers Check is basically Surly's already popular Cross Check frame but with nice S&S couplers added to allow you to split the frame into two pieces. I bought the Frame and the way over-priced travel case in time for my cycling tour of France. Let me warn you if you're thinking of getting the Travelers Check; packing the bike into the special case is no picnic. It took me a month of trying different variations before I was able to get it all comfortably into the case. Surly and S&S websites offer little or very poor examples on how to pack the bike. In the future, I plan to make a video outlining how I did it. For now, here is a picture of the finished results. A bit of advice if you plan on getting the Travelers Check and the case; you'll need to remove the crank set, back derailers, handlebars and fork. And forget about placing the front wheel on top of bike parts as suggested on the S&S website. It doesn't work. You'll need to shove the wheel into the top half of the travel case as shown in the picture (deflate both tires beforehand). After a few tries, you'll get the hang of it. I can now pack the bike in about 45 minutes.