Hi all. As you can gather, I'm looking into getting a bike, more exactly a frame + components but no wheels, probably no bars, shipped cross country (W coast to Chicago) and am looking for any insight into pricing, as I haven't shipped a bike in probably ten years.
I gather Pirateship offers quite good discounts, and I think there are other broker/inbetween services as well.
Please let me know what your experience has been!

There are folks here that seem to have found some deals through PirateShip. I have done a handful of shipments with Bikeflights and have been pretty happy with the service, including when there was need for an insurance claim. I have gotten quotes from Pirate Ship twice and in my experience it was pretty much same numbers as Bikeflights. YMMV

Pirate Ship traditional full size road bike / OEM shipping carton / under 40 lbs Chicago to LA door to door / insured $2500. was $231.00 though 30 days later they decided to hit me with another $6 for dimm. size difference. B.S. as this is a pattern with them. Otherwise the service has been excellent.

I've been using Pirate Ship and they seem pretty good. No extra fees and easy to get the paperwork. I drop off at local UPS and the folks are good there. Smiles, MH

You may only have dealt with smaller packages, but if you sent or received anything larger, do you recall the price?

Also, my Grand Record is stripped down for an overhaul right now, I think I'll weigh it and estimate the size of a box it'd go in.

I’ve shipped a number of frames in the past year all less than $50. 25” x 39” x 8” or 24” x 38” x 8” appears to be the ideal size before shipping rates go up significantly.

https://jensonbikeshipping.com/

Jesnonusa shipping is usually $10 or more less than PirateShip, the final price will be a few dollars more than the quote but for me it’s come out the cheapest.

I also shipped 75% of a complete bicycle using the popular auction website and with fees the total was just under $35, but that requires coordination and a willing participant on the other end.

For what it's worth, I also ship quite a bit, both large and small, and have found that consistently, Pirate Ship beats BikeFlights in terms of pricing for larger items such as wheels, frames and full bikes. Of course, once you have the information (addresses, box size, weight, etc.) it's pretty easy to do your own comparison.

As a profitable commodity, used bikes of any kind are close to the bottom, compared to most other things. Especially as storage, handling and transport of bike are generally awful to deal with they just don't "package" very well, with threir odd, weildy size, things that hook on to other things and each other and the grease and grime that is usually involved. It is really a good reason for C&Vers not to let their stables ever go into runaway N+1, which we see often enough, happen to guys in this forum!

Last two frames shipped west-east coast were ~$70 via PirateShip. Bike from west-Texas $183. Like has been mentioned, keep the box size small as possible!

Full bike with extra crap from Chicago to North Carolina. Pirateship. With the box 51x29x10 - $70. With the box 51x30x10 - $135.

Watch your dimensions.

Whether it's a frame or a complete bike, the price will depend on "dimensional weight", i.e. size of the box, not the weight, and shippers do measure; so there's no point in trying to fudge that when getting quotes or purchasing a label. If a box bulges, you'll probably be charged for the rectangular prism the item will fit into without sticking out (they have lasers too). It's a business. Not a ton of experience, but I have used both BikeFlights and PirateShip, found the latter to be cheaper when I've comparison shopped. Haven't had anything damaged, but I pack carefully, avoid corners and add more layers to protect something vulnerable on the larger faces, even if that increases size a bit.

If it is what I think it is, I either cut down or build own boxes and for a smaller Colnago, I got a quote from Pirate Ship for $57 with $100 insurance. Of course you want replacement insurance instead of "the good deal one gets" insurance. I think it's $1.50 per $100. So lets call it $72.

edited

Whoa, I inserted the same friend's place in Chicago, same measurements/weight/$100 insurance.

Bike Flights is only $40.87

I've never seen that big of a difference. Add $15 for a grand of insurance!!

Robert

Make sure you cut down a box as small as possible, remove the fork and strap it to the frame. The pricing always fluctuates but I’ve generally been happy with PirateShip. they dinged me with a “box bigger than measured” once but I protested (sides bulged out some but could be compressed) and they let me slide.

I shipped a long frame recently and went wth Bikeflights as it gave the best rates. In regards to diminsion size surcharges, it's a UPS/FEDEX thing in my experience, and has been going on pretty much since they became available to ship via the internet. When you went to the actual UPS depot there was never an issue as it was weighed and mesured on the spot. The shipping services now look for any reason to surchage you. I used to have an account with UPS but stopped using when I found they were charging my card without notification for things like an address variance which basically came down to wether I input STREET as Street or ST or St. Spell check this UPS, B Y E

When in doubt as to the numbers, always round up to the next whole number.