spinnaker

I know that REI will ship your bike. Has anyone have actual experience with their service? I have seen a post where someone "thinks" it is $75 but no concrete information.


I talked to the local REI Wrench and he told me REI would want to pack it up. They charge $40. I really don't need them to pack the bike up for me. I told me can do that on my own. He said that because of the insurance and all, they would want to pack it. Do you really need to pay the packing charge? The packing charge is $40.

He said it would be the $40 packing and cost of shipping. He would not give me even a guess on the shipping.

FedEx ground is $45 from Pittsburgh to Mill Valley. Is this all they would charge me or would they charge for shipping on top of the $40 packing charge?

NeezyDeezy

Unless you just bought the bike from REI, they would definitely charge you for both the packing and shipping, so you're looking at around $100.

sumguy

the website says shipping for an adult bike to your house is $11.99 plus a $60.00 oversize fee. shipping to an REI store is free and the bike will be assembled for you and waiting for you to pick up. The website also says shipping to a store may take longer than home shipping and that it will have an estimated arrival date.

valygrl

I don't know about that $45 fed ex ground charge - i helped someone ship a bike last year and it was around $120. did you look at fees based on the size of the box, as well as the weight?

BlueDevil

If you can get the size of the box under the "oversize" limit (linear inches of 90" I believe) the price drops substantially. I plan on packing our bikes in boxes that are 48"x30"x8" (86 linear inches), but requires some disassembly of the bike. The quote I got on shipping from the east coast to Montana is ~$65.00 insured.

roseyscot

i've shipped from boston to montana via FedEx ground and insured for $2500 and it was roughly $65. that was summer 2007. i'm planning to take my bike and trailer (both in boxes) on the plane with me when i fly to vancouver to start my tour. cost to do so is only slightly higher (alaska air) than shipping it ground and that way i don't have to ship in advance or worry about it arriving at an address before/after i do.

BlueDevil

The only thing you may want to consider-

The airlines will not be held responsible if anything happens to your bike- damage, loss, complete destruction. If they kill your bike, you pay. At least with shipping the bike, you can purchase insurance.

spinnaker

I did an estimate on FedEx's website. I had to put in the dimensions of the box so I would assume it was smart enough to adjust for oversize items.

My box is roughly 53x30x8.


Thanks for all of the advice but the whole purpose of the post was to get concrete information on REI shipping. Anyone with that experience?

ernok1923

go back to rei and talk to a different person. get a manager if you have to. think about it: if they were going to charge you for the shipping, they would have to figure out how much to charge in the first place. while getting down to the nearest penny probably isn't that important right now, there is no reason that they should not be able to provide you with an estimate.

worst case scenario, have them 'ring you up' and then have them void the transaction. (tell them this first, otherwise you will probably piss them off.)

dalilamahimself

.

i am looking to do the same thing this summer (NYC to Montana) and I can't find any prices close to as cheap as this? How did you do this? Through REI? Did you purchase the bike through REI? Did you pack it yourself? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks big time...
d

Losligato

In preparation for our tour I took the Comprehensive Bike Mechanics course offered at our San Diego REI. The Master Tech who taught the course told me about the REI bike shipping policy. I seem to remember $75 as the amount they charge to ship a bike using the REI distribution system from any store to any other store. He explained that I could box the bike or they could box it for me for a fee. At the time we were flying to Seattle on Southwest which charged only $50 per bike so we used them rather than REI.

You might give a call to REI corporate and get the scoop then tell the local guy what you want and what they tell you.