Originally Posted by
erbfarm
I agree! Thanks for that tip on UPS My Choice! I use that service all the time! So that's a great idea for both ends of the tour especially on the return since I can pick the delivery date and have it sent right to my house. I also thought about shipping to REI in SF as a possibility since I read on a previous thread that their rates are very reasonable and I"m also an REI member so hope they would be open to doing this. I guess I expected this process to kind of be an easy no brainer kind of thing, but maybe b/c I live in Portland and there are so many friendly accommodating bike shops here. Thanks for the great suggestions!
I looked into REI shipping once, and I found it to be no better, and maybe worse, than what you're encountering when trying to ship to a bike shop. They wanted to pack the bike for me, for a price; ship the bike, for a price; and reassemble it at the other location, for a price. There are situations where I could see that service as being very useful, but for the most part it sounded like it would result in paying a fair amount for a lot of wrenching that I can, and would actually prefer, to do myself.