The Chainlink

Shipping a bike-- experience?

I've looked through 3 or 4 old threads but didn't really find the level of info I need, and/or the person asking about shipping didn't post any follow-up to let us know how it went.

I may have a buyer for my road bike in NYC.  Whet I've put together from old threads is that FedEx is probably the best option.

Anyone have reasonably recent experience? Bike arrived undamaged? Nothing goofy happened when they measured or weighed the box? General price? Better to ship directly or have it delivered to a bike shop?

Here's what fedEx site spits out, although I don't know if I'm in the ballpark on weight and box dimensions (minor variations seem to double the shipping price.)

Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by mark stetson on December 6, 2011 at 10:39pm

I shipped a complete  50cm road bike to NYC a little over a year ago.  UPS was cheapest, and that's what I used.  I shipped direct to the buyer.    Bike got there with no damage.  It was around $45.  Guys on other bike forums seem to prefer FedEx.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on December 6, 2011 at 10:42pm

Thanks, Mark.

Can you say a little more about how you packed it? Did you drop it off or have it picked up?

Permalink Reply by mark stetson on December 6, 2011 at 10:56pm

Best packing is foam pipe insulation, really speeds things up.  Cover every tube, may cost $10.  Put spreader in  the fork, leave the rear wheel in the frame.  Put  a ring made of cardboard in the center of the frame triangle to spread the center of the box, keep it from getting pushed in.  Axle caps on the front wheel are a good idea.  Make sure the front wheel and any loose parts can't rattle against the frame.   LBS should have the fork spreader and axle caps from shipped bikes.   Note UPS actually states that things have to be double boxed with packing between the boxes to collect on insurance.   Nobody does this with bikes, as it adds so much weight and size to the box.  But people have told me of frames that did get damaged, and they were still able to collect the insurance even though they didn't double box the frame.  I've also been told that businesses that deal with the shippers regularly have an easier time collecting than the guy off the street.  So if you have access to a business that ships, you might run it through them.   I dropped it off. 

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on December 6, 2011 at 11:44pm

Great info, thanks!

Anyone know about the box dimensions?

Anyone know of shops that will pack and ship for you?

More personal experience appreciated.

Permalink Reply by John S. on December 7, 2011 at 2:08am

Try Ship Bikes.  A local business right here in Oak Park.  These people know what they're doing when it comes to shipping bikes. 

Re: Shipping with UPS.  I do a ride across Iowa each year (RAGBRAI) and I've had a couple of conversations with people that had their bikes damaged by UPS.  In both cases, they had a very difficult time collecting on the damage.  In one of the cases, it took two years to finally get UPS to come through.  They claimed the bike was improperly packed.  It was a brand new bike, shipped from the bike shop.  When the bike arrived in Iowa, the top tube was crushed.  These aren't third party, I heard it from a friend who heard it from their cousin's uncle conversations.  UPS used to be the official shipped of RAGBRAI.  Now it's FedEx. 

Permalink Reply by Elwood Gruschow on December 7, 2011 at 2:37am

 Fedex has some sort of over size charge that kicks in near the size of a shipped bicycle.  I rode the TOSRV in Columbus OH this spring.   I built a box of lumber, 5mm luan plywood , screws and glue all from Home Depot for less than $30.     With bike ,63cm English 10 speed , and some other stuff inside it weighted  68 pounds.     The exterior dimensions were   55 x 30  x 7 and 3/8.     I screwed some webbing  inside to  secure major parts to sides of box.  I taped and padded anywhere parts could touch each other.   I walked the box over to the Fedex office in the Hilton.  It cost me about  $55 to ship to a business address in Columbus.   I took Megabus to Columbus and went on the ride.    I used same box to ship it from a Fedex Office in Columbus to my home here in Chicago.    It cost about $30 to ship it home.      On the return trip it was a Monday morning drop off and box arrived  Wednesday morning at our door here on the fourth floor.   Box had marks and scratches, contents were perfect.    I used Fedex Ground both directions.

      Fedex  allows decimal inches entries on the website but  only whole inch entries at the store.    Dig around on Fedex website and it says they round down from as much as a half.    If my box was   55 x 30 x 7 and ¾ inches  they would enter  55 x 30 x 8 and cost would be $94, because it triggers some sort of oversize rate.   It was  55 x 30 x 7 and 3/8 so they entered  55 x 30 x 7 and cost was $29.   One half inch more width and it would have tripled the price.   Make your box fit their rate.   There was some sort of weight surcharge, hotel  premium  or backdoor bribe added to shipping outbound from the Hilton. 

   Three  random  shipping notes.  Same trip I rode Megabus  for  $18 each way.  It cost twice as much to ship the bike as it did to ship me.   I have been wondering if I could fit a bike into a life size doll , buy two fares and carry her on the bus for next trip.

  I bought a used Klien mountain bike.   It was packed by a Denver area bike shop in a cardboard box and shipped to my door via UPS.   It arrived in a beat up box with a dent in the head tube. 

  Four years ago we lived in a central Illinois small town.  I bought a tandem on ebay from Wisconsin.  I got the green card saying to pick it up a local postal office.   When I arrived there was the bike minus front wheel , no box or padding,  The address label and postage was taped to the luggage carrier.  I asked if they had seen a wheel and they produced one from another room.    According to the shipping label it was less than thirty dollars to ship a tandem. 

Permalink Reply by dan brown on December 7, 2011 at 10:00am




   Three  random  shipping notes.  Same trip I rode Megabus  for  $18 each way.  It cost twice as much to ship the bike as it did to ship me.   I have been wondering if I could fit a bike into a life size doll , buy two fares and carry her on the bus for next trip.

this is classic !

  I bought a used Klien mountain bike.   It was packed by a Denver area bike shop in a cardboard box and shipped to my door via UPS.   It arrived in a beat up box with a dent in the head tube.

 

ugh. that sucks. kleins are nice

  Four years ago we lived in a central Illinois small town.  I bought a tandem on ebay from Wisconsin.  I got the green card saying to pick it up a local postal office.   When I arrived there was the bike minus front wheel , no box or padding,  The address label and postage was taped to the luggage carrier.  I asked if they had seen a wheel and they produced one from another room.    According to the shipping label it was less than thirty dollars to ship a tandem. 

WTF ???

Howard - I was at WTB two saturday's ago and one of the guys there was packing up a bike (including the pipe foam insulation) to ship it. can you use them ?  Or I am sure rapid transit on Halstead could do it for you as well.

good luck

dan

Permalink Reply by rascaltwitch on December 7, 2011 at 11:36am

I shipped a frameset and some other parts via UPS a few months back. The price was right but several days after dropping it off I got a message from UPS: my package was deemed "improperly packaged" and would be returned to me at my expense. The parts were packed in a cardboard frame box, everything was wrapped in foam and I packed the empty spaces with newspaper. When went to pick up my stuff, I was surprised to find that UPS had repackaged everything in a new box. When I opened up the new box I found out why: the original package had been run over by a delivery truck. There were tire marks all over the original box and my beautiful columbus-tubed frame was flattened. I called UPS and was told it was my fault for insufficiently packing the frame. So not only did they run over my bike, but they were blaming me for it. Needless to say, I went up the call center chain of command until I got to a manager. They finally agreed to reimburse me for the shipping charges and cover up to $125 in damage (I didn't buy the shipping insurance), but I had to provide proof of value. I ended up going into the UPS store 3 times with different kinds of documentation before they agreed to pay me. The whole thing was a complete disaster and I will never ship via UPS again if I can help it. Oh, and I've since received a smashed package from UPS, complete with tire marks.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on December 7, 2011 at 12:53pm

I agree that FedEx is the best option.

My tips:

See if you can fit the bike in a BMX box to save cost.

Make sure somebody pays for insurance, or that the buyer agrees to accept the liability.

Shipping to business is cheaper.

Put a ring made of cardboard in the center of the frame triangle AND fill other negative space with other smaller boxes to prevent crushing.

In general, prepare for the worst. The buyer will be really happy with you if you take 110% care and really package the bike nicely. Explain this to them in advance and they'll likely foot the bill for the extra precautions

I've never had frames damaged in shipping, and some of them were extremely poorly packaged, (like no padding whatsoever). It's a treat to unwrap a nicely packed bike :)

Permalink Reply by mark stetson on December 7, 2011 at 10:09pm

I think it's a bit of a crap shoot.  Hopefully the package you ship doesn't cross paths with the disgruntled employee.  Maybe statistics exist to tell which company has the least of those. 

 

I can only speak of my own experience.  I've probably recieved 30 frames or complete bikes from UPS or FedEx.  Only 2 had anything that looked like possible shipping damage.  Both of them should have been packed better, both looked preventable.   I've seen boxes with holes poked in them, but no damage to the contents.   It's not hard to find examples of problems, but it's hard to say what percentage of packages are delivered without issues.  I  would guess that 99+% of my incoming deliveries have been totally without isues.   I have not had anything come in that was obviously damaged by the shipper.    I'm not saying it doesn't happen, and I hope you have good luck shipping your bike.   

Permalink Reply by Joe Torres on December 8, 2011 at 1:07am

Lots of good info here to ship a bike.

I shipped two bikes to NY this year and they cost me $165 to ship each. It's not exactly the weight its the size of the box that is the most costly. Find a good LBS and ask if they do bicycle shipping and packing. Or ask them if they have any bike boxes and shipping frame foam laying around that you can have.

Go to a UPS store and check if they have shipping discounts. The one by me (Homer) gives a coupon book with great discounts on packing and shipping, 10% - 15% off. UPS stores are independent and they can run those specials.

They even do USPS and if USPS pricing is cheaper than UPS they will match the cost of USPS.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Bedno on December 12, 2011 at 8:09pm

No experience, but also recently ran across Ship Bikes (as mentioned by John S above).  They send (sell?) you a choice of special box, then FedX (drop-off or door-to-door). Prices vary "from $40" but presumably much higher. Personally, I like paying extra to not have to sweat any details. http://shipbikes.com

I've always assumed if I needed a bike in another state, I'd buy or borrow there.

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