jkinner

Anyone know of a bicycle shop near SeaTac that will pack and ship my bike following a tour? Thanks in advance!

indyfabz

Call REI and ask. I’ve used their Missoula, MT store several times. Whatever shop you use, it’s always a good idea to get on the schedule, or you might have a delay in getting your bike back.

woodway

I don't have a direct answer to your question. But I can tell you what I did on a tour I did last fall from San Diego to Phoenix- maybe it's helpful?

I bought a box from bikeflights.com and made arrangements with one of their partner bike shops (listed on their website) in San Diego to receive the bike. The bike shop charged me $40 to reassemble my bike and had it ready for me the day I arrived. I asked the shop to hold the bike box for me.

I picked up the bike and box, broke the box down to it's shipping configuration in my hotel room and took it to the lobby - the hotel had agreed to hold it for UPS pickup. I had the box sent to my destination hotel in Phoenix - I had called that hotel and they agreed to store the box until I arrived nine days later.

At the destination hotel, I repacked the bike in my room, arranged the pickup/shipment with bikeflights and carried the box down to the lobby where the hotel held it for UPS to pick up (bikeflights uses UPS).

It was a pretty painless process. The hotels were very accomodating and bikeflights was great to work with. My bike arrived home safe and sound a couple days after I did.

I could have shipped the bike for free as luggage on Alaska, but did not want to hassle of getting a big bike box to/from and through the airport on both ends.

jkinner

Thanks for the recommendations. I think I'll go with Woodway's recommendation of BikeFlights, though likely more costly, less headaches.

indyfabz

Bikefligths is basically a discount broker for UPS shipping. The shipping chanrge shoukd be less expensive than the shop or you going through UPS alone.

woodway

Nice. I would use bikeflights again next time I tour, they were super helpful.

Make sure to ask the shop that receives your bike to save the box and all your packing materials. I was able to get all the packing material (mostly pipe insulation that went around the frame), a pack of 3M Tape Sheets, some tie wraps and a tool to remove the centerlock discs into the broken down bike box when I shipped it to the destination hotel. Was super handy when re-packing my bike.

zacster

Bikeflights sounds like a good idea to me too, but if that doesn't work out you can use the light rail to get to the airport and use any bike shop along that. Seattle has plenty of local transportation, and lots of bike shops.