How To Ship a Bike (Please read and contribute)

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HotRodRob said:
Gold Street Customs said:
Railrider has a nice video on the Muscle bike forum about shipping bikes, I just tried to find it :oops: to no avail
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You mean this one. I have it on my faves on youtube.
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Link didnt seem to come through?
 
FWIW, this is how thousands upon thousands of bikes typically arrive from China each year. Pulled right from the box for the photo. No extra fillers, just a small parts box along with the seat and post tucked inside. Not as impressive as you were expecting? :D


DSC02019.jpg
 
Bendix said:
FWIW, this is how thousands upon thousands of bikes typically arrive from China each year. Pulled right from the box for the photo. No extra fillers, just a small parts box along with the seat and post tucked inside. Not as impressive as you were expecting? :D


DSC02019.jpg
Click to expand...


Yeah but everything is tied togehter, protected and in a box that fits it perfectly. if it works Im all for it.... its just really hard to duplicate that without having the right box.
 
MonsterMetal said:
Bendix said:
FWIW, this is how thousands upon thousands of bikes typically arrive from China each year. Pulled right from the box for the photo. No extra fillers, just a small parts box along with the seat and post tucked inside. Not as impressive as you were expecting? :D
Click to expand...


Yeah but everything is tied togehter, protected and in a box that fits it perfectly. if it works Im all for it.... its just really hard to duplicate that without having the right box.
Click to expand...


while most shops will give you a used box, the hard part is the fact that rats/cruisers/etc often just don't really fit in a standard bike box and with the latest size guidlines you're really limited if you want to ship ups ground. sometimes it only takes an inch in one dimension to make a $40 box a $120 box :x
 
Just a foot note, I originally got a quote to ship a mountain bike from norcal (me ) to M.O. ups quoted $111 USPO wouldn't ship because it was 4" too long, So I broke it down to two smaller boxes wheels in one box ,frame and everything else in the other. UPS $64 , USPO just under $50 :wink:
 
I enjoy this topic and live it at work every day. Here is a little something to add to the list for those of you who are serious about these things.

1. Be legible,accurate and complete when filling out your airwaybill.
2. Along with filling out the airwaybill write the shippers address and recipients address on the top of the carton with a big bold sharpie (bonus, for advanced shipping 102: make sure you put the airwaybill barcodes and written addresses on the side of the carton you want up) .
3. Leave that same addresses inside the carton attached to each seperate part (yes stuff falls out, yes there is a dead letter office full of all this junk, no they wont know that is a seatpost of your prewar supemondodeluxe, yes they will call you at the phone number attached to the piece).
4. There is absoulutely positively no reason you should be shipping a bike the two weeks before Christmas. Just trust me on this one. If it isn't in transit by the 11th, do yourself a favor and wait until the 26th.
5. Make sure you have visible house numbers (If your shipper ignored number 4 above, make sure the plywood cutout of Santa isn't covering your house numbers). My favorite line as a driver when recipients would laugh at how difficult it is to find their off the grid home was simply "I hope you never have a heart attack" some of them even got the joke.
6. None of the major carriers except for one have a key to your PO box. Use a physical address or use usps.
7. A shippers arrows are a request to be followed but not required (same with "Top Load Only") package accordingly.
8. The main difference with all the carriers is service (every carrier wants your business and wants your package to make it to it's destination safely and on time).
9. Develop a relationship with your delivery driver. A cold soda goes a long way this time of year (leave a soda on ice in a little playmate type cooler next time you are expecting a delivery left at your door).
10. For the most part, weather a package is left at the door or not without a signature is what the shipper requests when they fill out the airwaybill. It has very little to do with the driver. Please don't get grumpy with the driver for leaving a package when you didn't want him to or not leaving a package when you wanted him to. Communicate with the shipper and if something was done wrong, by all means then request a fix from the company.

Thats enough for now,
Cheers,
41
 
Re: How To Ship a Bike Help I'm in Trouble

I just sold 2 bikes on ebay after estimating shipping(used 40lb and a 4ft box about $50) Packed the bikes in standard bike boxes (5ft long) both UPS and Fedex Ground want $120 to ship. The MTB box can be smaller but the cruiser takes up the whole box. Any Solutions to this dilema?
 
Re: How To Ship a Bike Help I'm in Trouble

rich56 said:
I just sold 2 bikes on ebay after estimating shipping(used 40lb and a 4ft box about $50) Packed the bikes in standard bike boxes (5ft long) both UPS and Fedex Ground want $120 to ship. The MTB box can be smaller but the cruiser takes up the whole box. Any Solutions to this dilema?
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Ya, never assume shipping prices until its packed in the box you are using.
 
I've made a couple of wooden frame boxes using wood fence pickets from Home Depot. They are cheap and light weight. One box was wide enough using the wide picket that's 5 1/2 wide. The other needed to be wider, so I used the narrow wood pickets side by side, screwed and glued together with falloff scraps off the pickets. That gets you a wooden side that's about 7 inches wide. Elmer's white glue is good and strong with bare wood. The sides, I covered with cardboard from a bike box, as previously mentioned.

Home Depot has heavy duty zip ties that are about 3/8 inch wide and about 30 inches long. With wood sides, you can drill a couple of holes in strategic spots and zip tie the frame to the inside of the box. The frame won't be able to move inside the box at all. Those big zip ties cost about 50 cents each, but it only takes a couple of them per frame to really lock it down.

Hope this helps.
 
Hi there,
Does anyone know the cheapest place to take a bike to be shipped from Sacramento to Massachusetts?

I ordered a bike on ebay, and it arrived missing parts and not as described. It was supposed to have wooden rims and they are steal, so I am returning it for a refund except I have to pay for return shipping. I

If anyone want to save me the trouble, I have an 1890's Crawford women's bike with spoon brake that I will sell for $500. You can find it under completed listings on ebay. It is missing a handle grip and pedal, no chain guard and only half of one fender. The wheels maybe wood clad with steal, but the tires are stuck on, so I can't tell for sure. The bike is interesting because the drive train is on the left side.

Anyway, the Box Store said it would be over $200 to ship. I am looking to spend around $100-$120. I appreciate any advice that you kind folks might have. Thanks, Spinner.
 
People could also get heavy guage black trash bags then put everything in the bags, after securly padding it, then after packing everything in the bike box get some of the expanding foam from Lowes/Home depot and fill in the spaces.


It will keep everything in place and have to be cut apart when delivered.

We do this with very expensive heavy tooling and never have damage problems
 
spinner said:
Hi there,
Does anyone know the cheapest place to take a bike to be shipped from Sacramento to Massachusetts?

I ordered a bike on ebay, and it arrived missing parts and not as described. It was supposed to have wooden rims and they are steal, so I am returning it for a refund except I have to pay for return shipping. I

If anyone want to save me the trouble, I have an 1890's Crawford women's bike with spoon brake that I will sell for $500. You can find it under completed listings on ebay. It is missing a handle grip and pedal, no chain guard and only half of one fender. The wheels maybe wood clad with steal, but the tires are stuck on, so I can't tell for sure. The bike is interesting because the drive train is on the left side.

Anyway, the Box Store said it would be over $200 to ship. I am looking to spend around $100-$120. I appreciate any advice that you kind folks might have. Thanks, Spinner.
Click to expand...

Having shipped quite a few bikes, I have found a couple of options that are (on average) cheaper. If shipping a regular size bike box, UPS has an over size package charge that FedEx does not. That's usually about a $15 up charge UPS won't tell you about but will be added to the price and which usually makes them more expensive. On several occasions I have both shipped and received full size bike boxes carried by Greyhound Package Express terminal-to-terminal service. It is often the cheapest form of shipping but you must deliver to or pick up from the bus terminal. Work well for me since the bus station is directly across the street from my office. May not for you if the nearest bus station is in the next town.
 
My local shipping shop showed me pictures of some road bikes that they had shipped. They did not even use a box. They just bubble wrapped the heck out of the whole bike and shipped them whole with some small parts like the pedals removed. Is there any reason why that doesn't work? Especially with some insurance....
 

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