Originally Posted by
rachelbrooke
[MENTION=197614]fietsbob[/MENTION] -- Thank you! I called Clever Cycles but they wouldn't ship, unfortunately. A lot of places in the US won't ship Gazelles because they are "too heavy". That's what I've run into. I definitely don't have plans to travel to Europe anytime soon, but have considered I could ask a friend over there to ship it.... I just wouldn't want them to have to lug it around an airport. That's a lot to ask of someone!
I've shipped stuff to and from China using door-to-door ocean shipping service. The delay is much longer - usually takes about a month to get your goods. But the cost is incredibly low by comparison to UPS Air freight or commercial airline shipping. They basically lease you a few square feet of space in one of their huge shipping containers for your package. It's also nice because you don't have to go to the airport - just use their door-to-door service or have your friend drop off at their local European office.
Anyone who has had to move a household overseas will probably be familiar with the various ocean freight options. My wife is from China, and when we got married she had far more stuff she needed to bring to America than we had room for in our airline baggage.
If you go this route, be sure to tell your European friend to use a ton of extra cardboard to reinforce and pad your bike in the box, and use about 3 or 4 times as much packing tape as you think it needs. And use the good tape - not the cheap stuff. And get all the shipping insurance you can.
Here are some companies that offer ocean shipping from Europe:
UPS Ocean freight
Intercargo Ocean freight (I think I've used these guys)
Freightworld also has a bunch of links to ocean shipping companies in Europe.
If you go this route, I'll bet you could easily save a few hundred dollars over the cost of Air shipping.
That Gazelle Toer Populair sure is one sweet looking bike!
