Packing boxes- Quality Differences??
 

Looking toward our European tour this year and will need to pack our bikes.
I was wondering if there are "better" quality boxes,ie. thicker cardboard. I see a brand/company called Uline.
Also my most recent idea is to wrap the bike in bubble wrap then put it in the box.
Thoughts about both of the above?
Thanks!

Television box - see here:

This box protects your $3,000 bike during shipping - Oct. 3, 2017

On a trip to Italy, I stored my box at the hotel for the return home. Apparently someone got POed that it was there and punched it full of holes. I went around the corner and picked up another box at the bike shop. I slipped the ruined box inside the "new" box. Turned out to be a really great idea. I still have that box to this day. I like it so much I only use it on a loop trip.

Bike boxes seem to come in two sizes. Standard and large. The large one exceeds the limits on FedEx an UPS so you pay a penalty. With the airlines, you should not be penalized for taking the larger size box. You might consider that.

I have a bike case that I love. But too heavy for shipping. And a pain if the trip is not a loop trip. If you are willing to drive down to pick it up and return it, you are welcome to use it.

Team Bike Case - Performance Bike

It would cover at least one bike. The bad news is you have to remove everything including fork and rack but it will get you bike there secure. I added straps and extra clasps to make sure it does not pop open durning transport.


Bubble wrap is a good idea but I prefer the pipe insulation you get at Home Depot.

If you pick up a box at a bike shop, remember to ask if they have not yet discarded the plastic spacer that usually is in the front fork dropouts during shipping.

When I worked at a bike shop decades ago, there were many sizes of boxes. It would be a good idea to estimate the box dimensions you need first before you go to a bike shop.

I considered buying a non-bike box at U line, they had the exact dimensions I needed but they only sold them in a quantity of ten.

Yes, "CrateWorks" boxes are designed for repeated use. For domestic use their dimensions are just under the oversize limits for UPS and FedEx. They do require both wheels to come off.

https://www.crateworks.com

Do you carry Trek at your shop? The Madone bike box is supposed to be really great. Shops are charging for them. Even if you don't handle Trek you might be able to call in a favor to another shop that carries them since you work at a shop.

Thanks for recommending a specific box. I live near a Trek store, I might go over there and ask for one.

I am doing a van supported ACA trip in April but i am undecided if I should take my S&S bike on the plane with me or instead ship a different bike ahead of time in a bike box. Even if i did not use it on this trip, it might come in handy some day.

I second; getting All the packing materials that are wrapped around a new bike.. and extras..

when you re assemble your bike you might want to be near a dumpster, to take all that plastic foam and such.

Hopefully you know them well or can drop the name of the shop where you work because I have heard they charge at least $100 for those boxes.

Again you are welcome to use my case.

If inside the US, I would ship ahead hands down. It opens up more options on your flights as some airlines are charging a fortune these days. Even when it is reasonable fee it can lead to a fortune. SW only charged me $50 on my way out to Spokane. The woman at the gate in Spokane was pissed because she did not want to check my case. She was going to charge me $400 for over size and over weight. I showed her it was a bike and SW charges $50 (or did) for bikes. She said it did not qualify because it was still over weight. It was over by 2 lbs! I was able to off load some gear and got it to a pound below the limit. She was forced to take the bike for $50 but she still wasn't happy about it.

Plus there is dragging the bike through the airport and worrying if it will make connections. Nope a lot better to ship. I ship with twice the time they say it will take to get there. That way if there is an issue, there is still time to straighten it out.

I stopped by the Trek store, they said their dumpster was just emptied but that they should build up another Madone or similar high end bike within a week or two. No charge for the box. And they said they will call me when they have one. If they do not call within a couple weeks, I think I will stop by again.

Trek company is in a small town less than an hour drive from here, so a lot of Treks are sold here as the company is considered local and has a good reputation. They also sponsor a couple bike charities here, etc. The store I went to is a Trek store, all they sell is Trek. The gal that helped me has flown with her bike in a bike box several times, she agreed that some boxes are better quality than others so she understood what I was talking about.

I have four options for my trip of roughly 370 miles. It is van supported so I just have to carry my water and lunch each day. Am flying on Southwest Air which charges $75 one way if one of your two free checked bags is a bike in a bike box. Options are:

1. Take my S&S expedition bike as one of my checked bags. But it is quite heavy and there are some serious hills on this route, so I am not too enthusiastic about a heavy bike. Would be free to take it on the plane in the S&S backpack case.
2. Take my foldup bike in the S&S case as one of my free checked bags. I am seriously considering this, but I am however not sure if I really want to ride that bike for 370 miles. It does ride nice as foldup bikes go, but it is not a rando bike. I would want to take it on some rides locally and think hard about whether or not I really should ride this bike on that trip.
3. Take a full size non-coupled, non-folding bike on the plane for $75 each way. A friend of mine that is also going is driving his mini van to the airport, at the other end of the flight the motel has a free shuttle van, that should be able to hold a bike box. My friend however wants to take two bags on the plane, he plans to use Bike Flights.
4. Or ship a full size non-coupled, non-folding bike by Bike Flights, cost would likely be comparable to the cost of taking it on the plane, so it becomes a convenience thing. Motel does not want to recieve the bikes from Bike Flights, they only have a small luggage room. So, it would have to be shipped elsewhere. My friend however wants to take two checked bags on the plane, he plans to use Bike Flights for his bike, was talking about having it shipped to a bike shop or to a Fed Ex store.

So, options 3 and 4 need a box. Options 1 and 2 are free on the plane in the S&S case, but the bikes are not the ideal bikes to ride on this particular trip.

ACA said they can store flattened boxes in the trailer, they should also be able to store my backpack S&S case because I can collapse it down to be pretty thin. So box storage is not a problem.

Right now I am leaning towards the foldup bike in the S&S case, but I plan to get the Trek box to have it even if I do not use it on this trip.

You mentioned weight of your bike in a bike box, I always carry a luggage scale.

Thanks for the advice, I have a couple months to decide, I might still take a full size bike in the Trek box.

Wait somehow Tom's thread got hijacked. ;) I did not notice. I thought I was responding to him. Tom lives about 2 hours from me and comes into Pittsburgh once in a while so not a big deal for him to stop by I guess. Plus Tom works in a bike shop so he could drop names to get a Modonne box.


I am surprised they aren't charging you for the box Tourist. Last time I checked, ours was charging but I might just stop by again and see if they have one.

Do yourself a favor—don't get any of the Taiwan Giant boxes (that goes for Trek, too). They may be slightly more dimensionally favorable, but they are much more fragile than the boxes coming from the mainland China factory. The Taiwan boxes are a bit more yellow than your average cardboard box.

IMO, with the price of those boxes posted earlier, there is little reason not to buy a Serfas case, or the like--they can often be bought used for around that price.

If you're doing a RT to and from the same destination, and have a place to store your box, then there are always plastic boxes available.

They show up on Craigslist from time to time, and presumably can be re-sold.

https://eugene.craigslist.org/bop/d/...462323877.html

Of course that is less convenient if you are doing a multi-point trip, or have no place to store stuff.

I've bought a few bikes on E-Bay. One came in an extra fat box that parts were strapped down inside. I may still have the box laying around here somewhere. The bike came to me in good shape, but I still would have preferred that the seller had invested in some foam pipe wrap, and isolated the parts better.

Keep in mind that S&S coupled bikes, or folding bikes (Bike Friday) may save on shipping costs, but would have a higher up-front cost.

I would second just use split pipe insulation for the bike frame. Works great. Easy to modify. Reusable. Cheap. Definitely use bubble wrap for the real derailleur.

Oops. Sorry.

So I found a local company that handles/ makes cardboard boxes and such. They have bke boxes on their site rated at 275#. Will call them and get more info.

It is a good way to protect the bike before boxing.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...1f483a4c_c.jpg

Fork Brace
 

Nice Doug. Don't forget the front fork spacer

+1, or those foam pool noodles which are generally a bit more convenient for me to find.

I just cut off a small piece of the foam and use it around the RD too.

And you can replace parts that get damaged. I have flown (domestically and internationally) and shipped mine loaded numerous times. It's great if you have a large frame like mine (60cm). The box can hold my bike, racks, stove and fuel bottle. The helmet and some other stuff would probably fit as well.

Get 2 or more free ones, stiffen them.. make rolled cardboard tubes as cross braces. etc.. lots you can do..

Check at a few bike shops--a common axle protector for derailleur bikes clips around the axle just to the right of the cassette, and is zip tied/taped/tied to the derailleur housing, after the derailleur is shifted/placed into the lowest gear. It has a large, buttressed piece of plastic that creates a flat surface for the box to lean against.

Big plug for both Crateworks corrugated plastic boxes, and Bike Flights. We've got out trips down to a science: Disassemble, pack and ship bikes—with Bike Flights—along with whatever camping gear we can fit into the box, to our kick-off motel about a week before the start of our ride (no one's ever said "no.") If it's a round-trip, we get the motel to store the empty boxes; if it's a point-to-point trip, we ship the boxes to the endpoint motel, and then take the bikes apart, pack them, drag them down to the front desk, and call for a pickup the next morning as we fly home. My big innovation is to print all the Bike Flight labels for all legs of the trip at once, and tape them to the bike boxes in a stack, peeling off the label for each shipping leg as it's completed. (This saves the trouble of hunting down a computer and printer, which can sometimes be a challenge in the bargain motels we always seem to end up at.)
My CrateWorks boxes have lasted decades, 2-3 trips a year. They get pretty beat up, but they still do the job. I only last summer finally bought a whole new one, after about 20 years of use. Not bad for a couple of hundred bucks.

+1 on Bike Flights. I have used them on several occasions. I also used the following as a template to make my own bike box:

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/...c_id=6740&v=3G

This is worthwhile if you can store the box for a return trip. It is sturdy enough to use for a couple of trips. It is pretty simple and inexpensive to make the internal wood frame. I suppose you could also make the frame out of pvc pipe, but I haven't tried that.

The fork crossbeam keeps the dropouts suspended, which makes it easier to protect the dropouts. I used a couple of discarded bike boxes to skin the frame. One benefit is that you can make it as big or small as you need. When using Bike Flights the box size, rather than the box weight (up to a certain weight), determines the shipping cost. Once you determine the box size you want, you can cram the box with camping gear, shoes, helmets etc.

Thanks for the replies!
Though I like the last idea posted it seems too large and heavy for a flight to Europe.
The solution I think I will go with is to buy ,from a package container business, some bike boxes. Also some heavy duty cardboard sheeting. I will "line" the interior to obtain a bit more thickness. Also I will fabricate some "spacers/supports" that will go side to side.
Then lots of packing tape. The kind with the string/fiber. Also some integrated handles so maybe the baggage handlers will be a bit more kind!