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Moving with Bikes

Old 03-16-21, 10:48 PM
  #1  
jp911
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Moving with Bikes

My wife and I are moving to another state in May and I'm fretting a bit over trusting the movers with our bikes. Between the two of us we have 8 in total. Should they be boxed up as if we were shipping them and then loaded in the truck? Just ask the movers be careful and load them in without boxing them up? Or be really anal and rent a van or Uhaul trailer and move them myself?

Thanks for any experiences or opinions.
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Old 03-16-21, 11:03 PM
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I'm moving mine myself. My rack holds 4 bikes and I have 12+ bikes including hers. Since I am keeping two homes for a while, I move some each time I go to the new house. I wouldn't trust anything expensive to the movers.
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Old 03-16-21, 11:10 PM
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If it was me I would move them myself, especially if I was already going to be driving my own vehicle. I have some bad experiences moving items that can be potentially fragile or susceptible to damage.
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Old 03-16-21, 11:18 PM
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box them.
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Old 03-16-21, 11:23 PM
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Either ship them, carry them yourself, or pack them up for the mover.
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Old 03-17-21, 01:43 AM
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I'd move them myself too, just to be safe. I've had good experiences with movers and some really bad ones, but I'm not even sure I'd trust the "good" ones to move my bikes. They mean too much to me and I don't want to have to deal with a moving company if something were to happen to them - not to mention the amount of money I've spent on them. I'd lose my mind if something happened to any of them.
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Old 03-17-21, 01:49 AM
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Factored into the overall expense of the move, renting a trailer or enclosed truck to move the bikes yourself would be a small percentage of the overall cost and a wonderful peace of mind. The fact that you're asking here tells me it's already stressing you out.
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Old 03-17-21, 05:19 AM
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Are you not moving other valuable items and personal heirlooms?
What are you doing with them and why would the bikes be any different?
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Old 03-17-21, 06:36 AM
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Box them and have the movers ship them. They are just bikes and will be insured.
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Old 03-17-21, 06:42 AM
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If you are present when they load the truck, you can make sure they are stored safely. They have insurance if THEY break something. So be sure they can't blame yo for them breaking it. Not sure how good that is in practice, though.

What is the worst that can happen? A bent RD? If so, the potential damage is cheaper than any of the shipping methods above mentioned. and independently shipping the bike, or attaching to your car, also has a small probability of damage of loss. Unless you have super fragile bike with AXS RD, I wouldn't worry too much.
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Old 03-17-21, 08:16 AM
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When we last hired movers, they were incredibly professional, and they wrapped my two MTBs in pads/blankets and packed them into the truck. (We took our two road bikes in the back of my truck.) There was nothing wrong with either when everything arrived.
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Old 03-17-21, 08:24 AM
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rent a small u-haul and drive them yourself. They will be ready to ride when you get there
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Old 03-17-21, 08:57 AM
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Depends on the bike and value I guess, but personally I would box them up myself and have the movers move them, or just move myself on my car if that made sense logistically.

I'm sure most movers are careful and insurance covers stuff, but moving is already stressful enough. If I can eliminate a concern about my bikes ahead of time I'm going to do that.
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Old 03-17-21, 09:07 AM
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On a 4 day move/drive across the US, I disassembled and boxed my 4 best bikes, and just loaded the other 2 (whole) into the moving truck.
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Old 03-17-21, 09:53 AM
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Originally Posted by jp911
My wife and I are moving to another state in May and I'm fretting a bit over trusting the movers with our bikes. Between the two of us we have 8 in total. Should they be boxed up as if we were shipping them and then loaded in the truck? Just ask the movers be careful and load them in without boxing them up? Or be really anal and rent a van or Uhaul trailer and move them myself?

Thanks for any experiences or opinions.
I’ve done it both ways. One time the movers spent a couple of days loading up the truck, I got on well with them, explained my concerns about the bike, and they essentially carved out a “save space” where nothing could fall on or shift against the bike, I strapped it upright to the wall of the truck. We met the truck at the other end and I extracted the bike in perfect shape. Other times we put the bikes on the car and transported them ourselves. Of course, one such time I managed to “garage door” the roof-mounted bike, so in fact I have inflicted more damage than any mover ever did 😟
with 8 bikes, if you have a hitch, a bike-dedicated U-haul trailer wouldn’t be a bad idea. Take as much time as you need to pack the bikes carefully so you know they’ll make the trip safely. Just don’t take your eyes off that trailer!
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Old 03-17-21, 10:12 AM
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Move the most valued bikes yourself, and have the movers do the rest. If they are professional movers, they will know how to pack them better than you will, they will have insurance, and they can do stuff like pack them where they are least likely to get crushed by shifting loads. Theft is probably a bigger risk, especially if you are moving them yourself.
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Old 03-17-21, 11:33 AM
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I was shipping a frame to a friend but I just wanted to post this pic so you get the idea.

You can buy pipe insulation for pretty cheap or pool noodles. And I buy Zip ties from the dollar store. It will help save your bikes from being scratched and dented up.

I will try to find a pic from a BMX collector who used pallets to hold the bikes upright.
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Old 03-17-21, 11:46 AM
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I borrowed these pictures from the bmx museum.





One guy used straps to hold the bikes upright. And the second guy used pallets. Why not do both?
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Old 03-17-21, 12:31 PM
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Go over what your insurance policy covers with your agent. Double check with the movers how and what they do for damage claims specifically about bikes.

Don't worry so much.
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Old 03-22-21, 08:13 AM
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Originally Posted by downhillmaster
Are you not moving other valuable items and personal heirlooms?
What are you doing with them and why would the bikes be any different?
Good question. Easy answer: valuables and heirlooms are small and can easily be packed in the car with us, while the bikes are...bikes.
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Old 03-22-21, 09:14 AM
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This is a timely question for me. My wife and I are considering a 1600-mile move sometime in the not-to-distant future. I have been pondering how our ten (10) bikes will be moved. I'm thinking that a properly boxed bike that is transported by a moving company is safer than the same bike transported by me even if boxed and in a trailer. 1600 miles means one overnight somewhere, and theft is a consideration.

Boxed seems safer than unboxed regardless of whether the unboxed bike is tied within a truck or carried on a bike carrier. In fact, a hitch-receiver bike carrier seems to be the most exposed to potential damage. Plus, the bikes would need to come in to the hotel in the evening.

Good discussion on this thread. I'm fairly convinced to box the bikes and have our movers do the transporting. However, if we were to drive some time prior to the move, we might bring one or two bikes with us.
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Old 03-22-21, 09:47 AM
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Agree! Great discussion and helped me land on a plan. I've decided to take the 2 most fragile (carbon road bikes) in the car with me, and then box up the rest for the movers.
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Old 03-20-22, 06:24 AM
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We moved two month ago. I hate to make changes really and especially moving, but this time the process was easy as pie. My neighbor recommended the guys from expomovers . They helped us move the contents of the entire house, including 5 bikes from Central NJ to Saint Louis . Nothing was damaged as a result. Highly recommended for people who are looking for transportation company.

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Old 03-20-22, 12:19 PM
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Reminds me of my move from Vicenza Italy back to the world in the 70's. The Italian contracted movers were to move our Household Goods packing them into military wooden containers. First they admired the two custom Gino Liotto road bikes. Then they set to fixing them into the containers. First they affixed hooks into the top of the containers then using old bicycle inner tubes suspended the bikes from the handle bars and seat at the top and from the wheels to the floor at the bottom. They then packed all the soft goods around them and closed the box up. Sure enough, I got the bikes back in excellent order only 4 months later in San Antonio Texas.

The point here is that by suspending the bikes from the top of the container more floor space was made available for goods.
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Old 03-22-22, 11:36 AM
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it's been said: "moving is the best best to clean your house" or similar. maybe regardless of your solution, this will be a good reason to trim the fleet? meaning, if you sell 1/2 of them, you'll have less to move
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