had my first oppty to take the Swift on a trip to Atlanta. very, very satisfied.

packing instructions on the Xootr website were perfect. took me a couple of hours to pack it for the trip, but I had to remove the rear rack, fenders, and kickstand in addition to the usual steps. here is my packed bike:

and the parts of the bike that had to be removed (pedals, quickrelease skewers and water bottle)

and finally the tools I needed to do it (shouldn’t’ve needed the cone wrench, but my quickrelease pedals were being fidgety)

(I should note that the addition of a front derailleur did not impact packing at all.)

Checking the bag itself was easier than I thought it would be. I just checked my vertical 30″ Samsonite hardshell as luggage, no questions at all from the agents. on the flight down, with the water bottle and seat bag of tools included, it was 47# and 45# on the way home without those things. I had a couple of unnecessary tools so I’m guessing I could get it down to 43#. but is nice to have all the bike stuff in one case.

When I picked the bag up from the flight down to Atlanta, one of the hinges had come loose and the suitcase had opened partially. I figured out this was due to a couple of screws coming out, so I swung by the Home Depot and replaced them.

Reassembling the bike in my hotel room took 15 minutes at the most.

I was thinking it would be too much hassle for an overnight trip, and it was a pain to pack the first time, but based on how easy it was to reassemble and then repack for the trip home, I would not hesitate to do this again! only changes I am considering:

1) replace topeak rack with crossrack so I can take it with
2) get riser with mounts for water bottle
3) figure out a way to pack the bike with a kickstand. couldn’t make it work this time, but there must be a way…

Here was the 20-mile ride I took from Atlanta to Decatur and back: