Shipping a bicycle?
 

Have finally decided to sell the TCR1.

If it does not sell locally, what are my challenges and options for shipping it?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

Have it "disassembled" and boxed at your favorite bike shop. Sometimes they'll handle the shipping too. If not, UPS or FedEx can pick it up at the shop and send it on it's way.

I used one of these to transport a bike on an airpalne and it seems to be a sturdy sipping container

http://www.shipbikes.com/ebikeassembly.html

If you get lucky you can ship it via Amtrak. Need to have a station near you and one near the buyer :( But if you do it is relatively inexpensive and very easy, take the pedals off, turn the handle bars, roll it into the box and tape it up.

That being said...I box my own and ship via FedEx. I use foam pipe insulation to pad the tubes, and put blocking in the drop outs along with stiffeners across the box to guard against crushing. Takes me a good 3/4 of an hour to pack a bike for shipping.

Aaron :)

UPS knows the size of a standard bike box. With that, their rate drastically increases. My local UPS agent and I took 1" off the height of the box and saved me a ton of money.

Use plenty of foam plumbing insulation around the frame tubes and bubblewrap everything else. Plenty of zip-ties, too.

easiest way is have your LBS do it for you & pay them!

IF they are competent. I have had two bikes shipped to me that were supposedly packed by a "professional" at an LBS. One was a total joke, the second they didn't put anything in the drop outs or bridge the box to protect against crushing, in both cases the bikes were damaged to the point that they were unusable. I have several other bikes shipped by individuals that were packed much better because they took the time to do it right.

Unfortunately it is a crap shoot. FWIW I ship FedEx and cut the boxes down to just under the size they start gouging at, however that only works on bikes under a certain size.

Aaron :)

Actually, bike boxes come in sizes. The more compactly the bike fits into the box the better. Go to a bike shop and ask to look at a new factory packed bike in the box. Try to mimic that. EVERTHING the factories do when they pack a bike is for a reason. Even the gear the chain is in matters.

During the time that I owned my bike store I received over 1,000 factory packed bikes via UPS with zero damage claims.

I'm aware of that.

When the UPS agent put in the exact H/W/L dimensions, it spit out an astronomical fee. We changed the height by 1" and that reduced the amount by ~$35. UPS ships enough bicycle boxes that I'm pretty confident they have all the dimensions entered into their system with a "flagging" ability for the system to recognize and charge a higher rate. They may not charge a higher rate to the shipper/manufacturer, but, they wouldn't have a problem charging the average consumer.

Do a search in C & V. There are a number of threads there and some really good tips on packing. \Some of those guys ship bikes & parts all over the world so they have some experience.

If you plan on doing the shipping yourself, stop by your lbs and ask them for a box or boxes. They are usually more than happy to get rid of them and all the foam and little plastic dodads for packing a bike. Some company's are actually starting to ship in two separate boxes. I could be cheaper to send two smaller boxes than one large.

I just shipped a bike (that I bought while working in California) back home to Kentucky, and I shipped from Staples via UPS and it cost about $145.00.

Of course when I bought the bike I had it in mind that I was going to be shipping it back, so I kept the box and all of the packing materials. I disassembled the bike and packed it up myself, then just took it to the Staples store for shipping. Your biggest challenge may just be obtaining the box and packing materials. Having the bike shop provide the box and do the disassembly and packing may be your best bet.

Yeah, ask your LBS for a box. You might not get an appropriately sized one the first time though.

This thread from the C&V forum has some really nice pictures for packing (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ack-a-bike-101)

I shipped my bike through FedEx from Texas to California for about $60-70 one way.

On the end /beginning of several popular touring routes, the local shop does that often.

Boxing, dismantling and packing, labor is charged, and the free packing materials,
saved from new bikes received, is used..

a labor savings of doing it yourself and boxing it, with provided materials
is also possible.
then credit card account is billed for actual UPS charges. they pick it up.