I bought a nice Triumph 3 speed for a Triumph car enthusiast friend. Trouble is, he's halfway across the country in Missouri. The closest he might get is his other house outside of DC in VA.
i had saved a bike box from my wifes e bike but when i priced up shipping to the VA location they quoted over $400. Seems alot.
What is the best way to ship a bike, and what would i expect it would cost?

If you get the bike to be taken apart , it will save plenty. I usually take the front wheel , pedals , seat and post off . I trim the box ( I get mine from Trek for free) so that the bike fits snug , especially the length. I have used Bike Flights in the past but it has been a while. It should be less than half of what you stated.

That is ridiculous. Try Bikeflights or Pirate Ship; bike shouldn't cost more than $150 to ship in my experience.

The ebike box may be oversized. You want length + 2x height + 2x width < 130 inches.

I have shipped a lot of bikes to every continent except Antarctica. To get the lowest shipping cost, I take the bike apart in an effort to get the bike into a box that the post office will accept. Even then, I still end up paying $200 or there abouts to ship. The bike, once taken apart must fit into a box the size marked by the black tape on the box...



Make no mistake about it, the size of the box will determine the cost to ship. The numbers indicate the length of the box. Size of the box is length plus girth (in this case the box is 8 inches wide and 27 inches high)...


This is what the Peugeot looked like just before it went into the box...


Boxed almost complete...


Make no mistake about it, packing takes time and if you don't do it right, the chances of high shipping cost and, possibly, damage will occur. It takes me a good three to four hours to pack a bike. And another hour to drive to the post office and mail it. I also make sure that I insure the shipment. I never, when crossing an international boarder, lie on a form regarding the price (not an issue when shipping domestically).

I have shipped hundreds of bikes and of all those shipped, only two ever arrived damaged. I refunded the money for the most recent and, for the shipment that went south a long time ago, I gave the lady a better bike and paid the shipping for it.

The second bike that got damage was sold recently. The people handling the package were not at all careful with it. I pack expecting this but made a mistake with this shipment. I did not have the headset in place and the box must have been dropped on its end and damaged the head tube. I refunded the money for the bike and the cost to ship. The buyer was given the bike and, hopefully, managed to get it repaired (an easy fix but damage is damage). It took me a couple of months to get a partial refund from the post office. Pack correctly or run the risk of oops...

I have a frame going out for paint, priced it out a couple weeks ago.

Anybody want to guess if the price goes up now?

You could ship it in two separate boxes of about 39 x 24 x 8, PirateShip.com shipping looks to be about $55 for a single box that size. Shipping rates should also drop noticeably after Christmas. Making a shipping box from a larger one isn’t too difficult.

not sure about after Christmas shipping cost declines. Maybe faster arrival.
yes, the box size is important.
bicycles cost beyond their weight due to “ volume” weight.

as other have said its all about the box size.just shipped one by bikeflights.46" length was $100. jump to 47" price doubled. I used a 24" bike carton for a 26" fisher & removed both wheels+bars for a very good fit. arrived AoK after lots of foam to protect the frame.do some estimating on bikeflights.com

What iab said is the key. Cut the box such that the Length (longest dimension) + 2 X height + 2 X width =< 130"
I just tried it on Pirateship: Going from RI 02901 to MO 64903, with a box that is 60" X 25" X 10", the UPS shipping cost is only $97

If I even go one inch beyond this, to 61" x 25" x 10", the price goes up to $261. So that tells you the importance of getting the box size down to 130"

I question the shipping costs will decline after Xmas. What I will say is DO NOT try to send a bike through the post a month, or so, before Xmas. The volume of mail soars and more packages are lost during that time than at any other time, during the year. I know this from experience.

The chainrings don't look AoK in the first pic?