Seabass_First

just sayin'

Oldpeddaller

Why **********

Spoonrobot 

Did you cut through and damage the paint?

Seabass_First

Its a first world problem: Eagerly unwrapping something you got in the mail, with this combination of packing materials is akin to murder by paper-cuts... Slow, painful and annoying.

Seabass_First

Not today. But many times is the past.

oddjob2

Styro peanuts are worse. While they can be reused, they crumble over time and make a mess.

Spaghetti Legs 

I once made a lengthwise cut through the plastic inner sleeve of a Campy bottom bracket because of that stuff.

mobilemail

D'oh!! I'm busted....

Velognome 

If your shipping C&V it should be with hay and cordage

crank_addict

Complete with feathers from the chicken coop. My Raleigh DL-1 was not shipped but I did pick it out of a barn dressed with bird happ.

Salamandrine 

IIRC Italian super bikes in the 80s came packed with exelsior on occasion. That stuff isn't far from hay.

Wrapping the tubes and things up in cardboard and paper shipping tape worked then, and still works now.

PeregrineA1 

I actually just threw away a bike box full of excelsior. That's what the bike arrived packed in. More correctly, everything was recycled. I decided I didn't need to have ten bike boxes and packing material for same on hand at all times. Storage space thanks me....

Related to excelsior, many many years ago I did taxidermy and excelsior formed the basis for all of my live mounts. I'm that craft has moved on as well.

Lascauxcaveman 

Remind me not to check in for surgery at any hospital where Dr Seabass is holding the knife

RobbieTunes

Yep, I hate unwrapping a well-packed bike.

gugie 

Let's flip this. What's the best way you've had a frame or bike shipped to you?

I've received, ahem, a few frames and a couple of bikes via shipment over the past few years. My favorites are the ones that use a piece of pipe insulation around the tubes with just a couple of pieces of masking tape (easy to tear off) holding them on the frame, and a cut down cardboard tube between the front and rear dropouts, tie wrapped into place.

It's not just protecting the frame, it's about less crap to drop off at recycling. And I prefer everything to be recyclable.

RobbieTunes

Frames:
I had one from a BF member shipped to me in a crate. Yes, a crate.
I've also had one from a BF member shipped to me in box. Yes, just put in a box and shipped.

Bikes:
I've had one shipped that was shrink-wrapped, then foam tubed, then bubble-wrapped, with wood pieces between the dropouts. Superb.
It took forever to unwrap, which is fine if your wife is not home and the pup is in the garage cage.

I've also had one shipped that had the front wheel removed and just put in a box with the bars taken off and stuck in next to it. No packing.
After several emails, I had to send the seller $50 to send the front wheel, and yep, it was just stuck in a box. No packing.

I once sold a Pinarello Montello, and I put in the eBay ad that it would be disassembled and shipped, and a real mess to unpack.
I shrink-wrapped, foam tubed, then bubble-wrapped, tied the frame /wheels together with zip ties. I bubble-wrapped and ziplocked the parts.
Then I put everything in the box, filled it to the top with packing peanuts (that hopper at the Fed Ex place is so cool).

The buyer thanked me for an undamaged bike, and sent me a picture of his garage that looked like a grenade had gone off inside the box. Packing everywhere, packing peanuts all over the place. He said it took him an hour to unwrap, and by then, he was so frustrated, he put everything back in the box and took the bike to an LBS to assemble. It's still hanging on his wall in Chicago. I charged him $125 to pack and ship and he said it was worth every penny.

rootboy 

Foam pipe insulation and tie wraps. Or zip ties as some call them. Which hold the foam in place well.

stardognine

Yep, zip ties is how I call 'em. Easiest way to remove them, is with small pointy wire cutters.

easyupbug 

Wow, I love a well packed bike, I go over the top as well due to having received some disasters and having had to deal with claims. The USPS can make you hate cycling in general by the time you are done, or should I say you give up.

due ruote 

There probably are some applications where it would be a felony, or at least a misdemeanor. But I don't think that's what you're talking about.

fender1

You will be happy with your package that is en route........

jimmuller 

If it means not receiving a box with pieces rattling around loose I'll deal with bubble wrap any day!

T-Mar

I hate seeing zip ties / ties wraps on bicycles. If they are cinched down securely without a protective layer under them, it is easy to scratch the frame with cutters. If the the ears have been cut off with generic cutters, the remaining nubs can rip though flesh almost as easily as an Xacto blade.

T-Mar

When I tape, I fold over the end, so that there is a convenient pull tab.

daf1009

My frame packing is...every tube covered with foam insulation, secured by zip ties (cinched enough to hold, but not so much that they are hard to cut; also, I do not trim the excess...as @T-Mar said, it rips flesh!). Fork is removed and packed the same way, then zip tied to the frame. After that, I use bubble wrap to cover the bottom bracket area and the top of the seat tube, couple layers secured with either tape or zip ties. For the rear gap, I secure it with either a piece of wood, or some custom fit cardboard. Finally, I use a controversial part...house insulation (i.e. pink fiberglass)...to make a "pillow" around the entire frame (layer at bottom, each side and top)...while this is not the most dense material, I think it adds a layer of "softness" and/or "absorption of shock" around the frame...some people have liked it/others have not.