Originally Posted by
Barrettscv
Sometimes I'm determined to a fault, and this is going to be one of those times. I'm going to bring my least valuable bike, a 1984-ish Trek 400 with a 3x10 Shimano drivetrain. I'm going to completely disassemble the bike, including separating the fork and frame. I'll put (only) the frame set in one box, the box will be as small as possible but will probably be a little oversized. I'll put the wheels and all the components in another box that will meet the 62 inch restriction. Hopefully each box will be accepted.
I'll leave the bike behind and this will allow me to have something to ride on my annual trips to Italy.
Good luck with that. If the frame box is a cardboard box, I would not be surprised if they pull out the tape measure. When they see manufactured luggage, they assume it was made for travel purposes instead of for one-time shipping purposes.
A 700c rim is about 25 inches in diameter, so the wheels could fit easy enough. If you go to a bike shop to get the cardboard to make your own boxes, I have found that a dull pizza cutter helps score cardboard so that it is easier to fold where I wanted to fold it.
You probably are aware that if you tell them at customs that you are leaving it in the EU, you might have to pay something equivalent to VAT, but if you tell them it is coming back to USA within 90 days, ... ...
Have a great trip.