atetrachordof3

Hello friends!

I'm moving to Toronto in a week from North Carolina. I've been riding a 42cm 2010 Surly Cross Check as my sole mode of transportation. Then I found out that I had to move...mostly by plane and USPS.


So, if it was you, would you sell, or would you ship the bike? I love this bike to death, but the info I gathered is that shipping a bike cost about $100 in addition to the cost of having it professionally boxed (did I get that right?) That's getting a little expensive, especially since I had to ship other things too.

What would you do, wise ones?

rustybrown

Ride it there.

4SEVEN3

Ship it man!!!

You love it to death, why part with it? Box it yourself....then you know your baby is packed up right with some TLC. Bike boxes can be found easily....stuff other soft items in there for some padding.

No way id sell it just to save a few bucks.....

https://www.ehow.com/how_1627_pack-bike-ship.html

DX-MAN

If you can't ride it there, ship it. Your chances of finding something like a 42cm anything after arrival is iffy. Hell, I never even HEARD of a 42cm bike until now!

'Course, I could just be talking out my backside... it's happened 1-2x before....

mikescooling

Ship it! go to your local bike shop and ask for a old bike box and a spacer for the front forks. Then, watch some bike shipping videos on Utube. Finally, I think your looking at about 40bucks shipping UPS. Would you pay 40 bucks to keep the bike you love? You have a sweet bike, if you wanted to buy again in Canada it would cost a lot more.

TuckamoreDew

Ship it. If you decide to replace it with another Surly later you'll find the Canadian prices unreasonably higher than the American price. The LHT price for instance is about 40% higher in Canada.

91MF

here in the greater toronto area our bikes are more expensive at the LBS and our craigslist sucks. ship it X1000. also, welcome to canada.

cyclokitty 

I'm with shipping group. Pack it nicely, get the dimensions and compare shipping rates between the different companies. Make sure when you are filling in the customs declaration that the bike is your personal property and you will personally use it. Don't want to get dinged with your new tax: GST and soon HST.

Welcome to Toronto! It's a great city with lots of cyclists. Luckily it's still Bike Month so don't forget to pick up your free bike map of Toronto at bike shops and municipal offices.

furballi

Remove all parts, then box + ship. Do the same to the bare frame.

Yan 

Welcome to Canada. Ship! Things are more expensive up here.

Abneycat

Ship it. You'll end up spending a lot more money to buy something like it all over again compared to what you'll save on shipping and make on the sale, when you finally miss it too much and go cave to buy a new one!

HardyWeinberg

Ship it. If you had a car you'd pay more in gas and tolls to drive it there.

Make sure you put a fork-spreader thingy in the front fork so the blades don't get squished together.

How are you moving yourownself? Are you flying? Take the bike as large luggage. Even if it costs $200, you can just give them the whole bike intact in a big plastic bag (that the airline may even provide), and pick it up ready to go. If you're taking bus or train, they take bikes too.

ratell

Can't you box it and take it as luggage on the plane? Not sure it's any cheaper nowadays, but another option.

velocycling

Take it with you!
You will regret it, if you don't. First it is not that hard to box a bike. Go get a bike box, some shops will even give you one for free. Look on the web for youtube boxing vid. Taking it on the plane is easy, but check the websites first, airline varies in cost if you have not booked then a slightly more expensive ticket may be cheaper if the bike cost is less. If not call different shippers, may find a slow cheap one if you have to much stuff fo the plane.
If you sell it, how are you getting around in TO. taxis , bus, car rental? all have costs too. Like other said the sizing may be hard for you to replace.
Have fun that place has a great bike culture.

Azreal911

Ship it! Toronto downtown is very bikeable and bikes easily outrun cars during rush hour down here. Tons of cycling commuters and you'll feel silly and out of place trying to put one feet in front of the other to get somewhere

jyossarian

Don't do it! BBQ in Toronto suuuuuuuucccckkkssss!!! Also, no grits! It's almost impossible to find! As for riding, just watch out for the street car tracks. They're grabby.

Yan 

Streetcar tracks are the most frequent cause of cycling accidents in Toronto, according to a recent survey. This only applies if you live downtown.

DataJunkie

Take it. Costs are ridiculous in Canada. For instance, in Vancouver $70 in food would buy me almost 30% less food than here in Denver.

wunderkind

That's why there's less obesity problem here in Vancouver.

J B Bell

+1 on shipping. Also +1 on costs. I'm a dual citizen, been here (Vancouver) about 10 years. I am rarely tempted to move back. There are other compensations for the reduced buying power.

jyossarian

Doesn't explain the rest of Canada.

tulip

$100+ won't buy you another Surly...Like everyone else said, ship it!

gerv 

Yes like having less useless (but attractively priced) crap doing nothing in your basement.

DataJunkie

No kidding. So many skinny folks.
I'm headed back to move my gf next month to Denver. I love Vancouver. However, at least it rarely rains here.

cooker

It's a no brainer - the cost of replacing the bike is way higher than shipping, and Toronto is a great biking city. I've bike commuted for 19 years. I confess, I take public transit on icy days, but many people ride year round, especially if they live downtown. What part of the city will you be living in?