I had a regular bike shipped in its factory box to my house. It was packed with the front wheel unattached, bars and seat off. They put plastic disks over the axles, but the box still got hit in a way that the front fork was squashed in about 10 cm. Being a cheap steel fork, I just pushed it out.

I bought three motor/hub wheels last year. All had 4 inch styrofoam spacers over the axles, making the carton about 1 foot or more high. Might be a bit bulky for a complete bike to do that.