Frame materials

Instructions for Packing a Zinn Cycles Travel Bike

BEFORE PACKING: Take apart the bike, separate each part, and wrap them in their respective pads. Once bike is ready for packing, continue with the following steps. Watch the video on the right for visual instructions.

Zinn travel bike assembly instructions

Putting your bike back together when you arrive at your destination.

This is how to get your Zinn coupled travel bike together and ready to ride after it’s been in its case. After you have done it a few times, this process will take less than half an hour. The http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=61846853456 (paste it in, rather than using the link, if it says your browser is incompatible) packing video shows you how to get it into the case, and you can use it to also visualize most of the below assembly steps, except in reverse.

1. Remove any padded covers from the frame members, fork, and components.
2. Assemble the frame by screwing the tube couplers together. Tighten them with your coupler wrench.
3. Install the seatpost to the proper height (it was marked with tape or with a clamp-on flashing taillight when we sent it out), line up the saddle, tighten the binder bolt and, ideally, clamp the seatpost into a bike stand.
4. Screw the stem coupler together and tighten it with your coupler wrench.
5. Install the wheel quick-release skewers into the appropriate wheel axles.
6. Bolt on the front brake and tighten the nut with 5mm hex key. Center the brake pads relative to the fork legs by eye; you’ll finalize this once the front wheel is on.
7. Install the front wheel and center the front brake by grabbing the entire caliper and twisting it until the pads are spaced equally from the rim. Check that the mounting nut on the back of the fork is tight.
8. Install the rear derailleur by tightening its mounting bolt into the derailleur hanger on the rear dropout, making sure the stop tab on the derailleur is behind the tang on the bottom of the dropout derailleur hanger (see Fig. 5.5 in your Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance book).
9. Slide your housing ends and housings into the slotted cable stops for the front derailleur, rear derailleur and rear brake. Make sure the rear derailleur cable comes from the right lever down the right side of frame.
10. Screw together the cable splitters for the front derailleur, rear derailleur and rear brake (don’t connect the male end of the front derailleur cable splitter to the female end of the rear derailleur cable splitter and vice versa; I’ve done that and it’s very confusing when you start riding!).
11. Check that all housings are fully seated into housing end caps, which in turn are fully seated into all slotted cable stops, levers and front derailleur barrel adjuster.
12. Check that the rear derailleur cable is in its plastic guide slot under the bottom bracket shell.
    Install the rear wheel.
13. Install the entire crank if it’s a Zinn-tegrated crank *(see below) or another integrated-spindle crank. Install the right arm onto the spindle if it’s a Zinn (or other) square-taper, ISIS, or Octalink crank, and tighten the crank bolt fully.
14. Install the chain, if it has a master link and has been removed. (If you don’t have a master link, you already had to untangle it to accomplish step 7). See below for instructions on master links.
15. Double check that all couplers and cable splitters are tight (couplers with a coupler wrench; cable splitters by hand). Check that all brake quick-releases and wheel quick releases are securely closed.
16. Take a test ride to ensure that the brakes and derailleurs are functioning properly. Fine tune cable tension adjustment with the inline barrel adjusters on the derailleur cables, and/or with the barrel adjusters on the rear derailleur and brake calipers. If everything checks out, you’re done.