Bike Shifting in Kumara Park East

Kumara Park East has old houses with old furniture, and the old furniture has sometimes met termites. That is the subject of our packers page here. Less obvious is that the same can be true of a bike.

Before metal and plastic top boxes became common, many families had a carpenter build a wooden carrier box or a timber rack for the back of their scooter or motorcycle. It carried the vegetables from the market, a child's school bag, the lunch tiffins, or the tools for a small trade. Some of those boxes are still in use, solid teak or local hardwood, bolted to the bike's carrier frame. Some have been stored in a garage or a back room, and some of those have been eaten from the inside.

Borer beetles and termites leave signs. Fine powder, like sawdust, on the floor below the box or inside it. Small round holes in the wood's surface, each the size of a pin head. Wood that sounds hollow when tapped. Joints that have become loose because the wood around the screws has gone soft.

Why does it matter for a move? A wooden box bolted to a bike takes the strain of the bike's movement on a carrier: every bump and turn. If the wood is weak, a corner can split, a bolt can pull through, and the box can shift or fall against the bike's body, scratching paint or cracking a panel. Worse, if the box is used for its strength to help lift the bike, it can give way in someone's hands.

So check it a week before. Tap every face of the box with a knuckle and listen. Look for powder and holes. Try to rock the box on its mounts; it shouldn't move. If it is sound, leave it on, padded where the straps go near it, and tell the crew not to lift by it. If it is weak, unbolt it and carry it separately, or leave it behind.

If you find live termites, don't take the box to the new house at all. A small colony in a wooden box can spread to new furniture.

A bike stored near infested furniture is worth checking too. Termites don't eat metal, but they can nest in a wooden seat base on very old bikes, or in cardboard and paper stored in the seat boot.

Our crew never uses a box, rack or carrier as a lifting handle, wooden or not. Bikes are lifted by the frame. If a wooden box is coming off for the move, unbolt it the day before, keep the bolts and washers in a small bag taped inside the box, and label it with the bike's number, so it can go back on easily.

The Kumara Park East packers page explains termites in old wooden furniture and leaving them behind. This page applies the same care to the wood on a bike.

Electric scooters rarely have wooden fittings, but if yours was stored beside old wooden furniture, check the seat boot and any cardboard packaging for termite signs before it moves. Tell us the maker and battery arrangement during booking.