NAH

Ok, so, some of you might recall my posting about getting overcharged on shipping for a bike. Well, as it happens it got here, and, UPS, who's sole job in the world is to move stuff from point A to point B and not break it, bent a dropout on the fork. Now, aside from venting about this, I do have a question. I'm going to be shipping bikes back and forth a fair amount the next few years, and don't care to be making insurence claims every time just so I have a working bike. Is there an actual good way to package a bike that wont: a) cost so much I will have bought a new bike after shipping it just a couple of time. and b) makes it a little harder for them to bend/break/crush/deform/or otherwise ruin my bike in transit. my primary concerns are the dropouts, derailer hanger, and where to put the handlebars (my bro. had a bike get a nice big smashed spot in the top tube from the handlebars). Any help would be appriciated.

Billy Ray

If you keep going back to the same locations, stash cheap bikes there? Might be cheaper than shipping in the long run?

Otherwise, sounds like you need a hard case.

BR

phantomcow2

so the actual drop out was bent? Wow, i never had a problem as long as the seller put those little things in between them, i always also ask them to remove the derailleur hanger and stick it in a big to prevent that from bending because it has happened to me a few times.

alanbikehouston

When UPS or FedEx has brought me a WELL packed bike, they have arrived in great shape. And "well packed" means including a "dummy" hub between the dropouts if the wheel is removed.

I got one bike that was poorly packed without dummy hubs. One fork was almost an inch out of alignment. My LBS was able to realign the Reynolds 531 fork, and it rides perfectly. An aluminum or carbon fork would have been trashed.

NAH

Well, under that definition, this bike wasn't "well packed". It didn't have the dummy hubs. Speaking of which, where can you get those? And, the drop out is aluminum. It seems that they only bent the drop out itself, though, which has me very confused. I'm always impressed with what shipping companies can do to packages. I'm just waiting to get one that's nothing but ashes in a little bag.

halfspeed

LBS should have plenty of the plastic shipping spacers for forks. They come on new bikes. Remember UPS is pronounced "oops."

bkrownd

Buy a hard case. Remember anything shipped through UPS should be packed so that it can survive a 10-foot fall onto concrete. Do not skimp. You aren't paying for the kid-glove treatment, so don't expect to get it.

Retro Grouch 

During the time that I owned my own shop, I received over 1,000 new factory packed bikes via UPS. Know how many damage claims I had? Zero. Not a one.

Go to a bike store and ask to look inside the shipping box of a factory packed bike. Do what they do. Everything counts: The little box to hold the small parts, the plastic brace that goes between the fork legs, the plastic mushrooms that go over both axles, the right size box to fit the bike, every little thing matters or factories wouldn't pay whatever it costs to do it.

alanbikehouston

The owner of the LBS in my neighborhood reports about the same thing. Sometimes a box will be dinged up, but it is extremely rare to have any real damage on a "factory packed" bike that could be blamed on UPS or FedEx.

That LBS has to "dump" a lot of those factory packing materials. When I have shipped a bike, I pay the LBS to pack it and ship it. They have the right materials, boxes, and experience. And they get a better rate from the shippers than I do. My LBS can ship a typical road bike to any of the 48 states from Texas for under $45.

And, when I buy a bike on E-Bay, I insist the seller have the bike packed and shipped by his LBS (unless dozens of "happy" buyers have provided "feed-back" proving the seller knows how to pack a bike).