regfman

I want to ship one of my bikes from california to florida. I do not own expensive bikes. The bike in question is at least 15 years old, maybe 20, bought for about $500 at the time. It's a street bike, not a road bike.

Anyway, I am setting up a bicoastal life style for a while and I since I have two bikes, the other is of similar value, I figure I'll send one to Florida rather than buying one there.

I went into UPS and the guy there remembered some previous experiences and had it on a chart and gave me these numbers: 57" x 7" x 26", up to 45lbs was $152.46. I came home and put those numbers in the UPS online calculator and it came out to $148, or something like that. In the same range.

I went to a local bike store and asked them if they had any boxes and the one they had at the moment has printed on it 53" x8.5" x 30". I took it home. When I put those numbers in the UPS calculator the price is close to $300. It does not take 8.5" so I had put in 9". When I drop it down to 8", it goes back to the $150 range. So it seems UPS does not like greater than 8" width boxes.

A few questions: does this agree with others experience? Can I find 8" or 7" wide boxes. The bike store guy said the box he was giving me was one of the smaller ones.

I took off the wheels, the pedals, the seat, and have the handlebars out of the stem and dangling in that 53 x 8.5 x 30 box. It just barely fits. If I am having a hard time fitting my bike in the 8.5" box I would think it would be really hard in a 8" or even 7" box. Although while did take off the pedals I had not taken off the crank arms. I probably have to do that too to get it thinner, but I am wondering if I can find an 8" or 7" bike.

Are there less expensive ways to ship the bike?

indyfabz

ShipBikes.com

Bikeflights.com

I have used the latter several times, but service declined and cost went up when it switched from FedEx to UPS. The former still uses FedEx last I checked.

Iride01 

The one time I shipped a bike was about 2013 from Mississippi to North Dakota. FedEx was much less for shipping a bike back then and I remember the FedEx being less than $80 or so including insurance. UPS wanted just over a 115 bucks.

The dimensions of the box made a big difference on FedEx too. I was able to cut down the bike box I got from a LBS and get a lower rate even though the weight was the same. You'll have to play with their shipping calculators to see if that is still true.

If you ship in a cardboard box, make sure you put a brace or spacer across the fork ends and dropouts. Also make several spacers to put from one large side of the box to the other so when they stack a heavier smaller box on top it won't crush your box and bike.

Don't expect it to be treated like a fragile glass piece of artwork. Someone won't pay attention or care no matter how big you write FRAGILE all over the box. Pack it like it's going to be roughly treated. If you don't have confidence to throw the box with the bike 10 feet from you then don't ship it.

You might find a box from a retailer of large kitchen appliances or bath tubs. Those sometimes are pretty strong cardboard that you can cut down and size to your own needs. Some even have large honeycomb sections of carboard spacers that might be useful.

BobG

L+(2xW)+(2xH) cannot exceed 130" without paying oversize (up to 165" max)

57+(2x7)+(2x26) = 123"
53+(2x8)+(2x30) = 129"
53+(2x9)+(2x30) = 131"

Will a 29" high box work? Cutting 1" of height off your 8.5" (rounded to 9") box will make it 129"

https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-cente...e-overize.page

regfman

BobG, those three size examples explain perfectly what is going on. Thanks.
Now to figure out where I can get an 8" box for free, and I assume I'll have to take off the crank arms to get it to fit.

Iride01, yes, adding some protection in there is going to be necessary and i'll make sure to find some extra styrofoam or something.

EDIT: I wonder, even though the UPS pricing calculator doesn't allow me to put in the 8.5" dimension, if I go with what is printed on the box - 53" x 8.5" x 30" - that does come to exactly 130, which is probably why they printed it on the box. I'm pretty sure I'll need to take off the crank arms and repack it a lot better but maybe I actually can use that box that I got for free from the bike store, doing a seriously better job of packing.

indyfabz

The services I mentioned are basically discount marketers/brokers for bike shipping via FedEx and UPS, respectively. Once you get an idea of size and weight you can get quotes using their websites. (And yes, size, not weight, is the major price driver. I once priced the same size box at weights from 40 lbs. to 70 lbs. Price quote did not change.) Doubt you will get a comparable rate by going through the shipping services directly.

If you are worried about damage, have a local shop pack it for you. And keep in mind that the expensive CF bikes you see in stores could have easily come from Asia via truck, boat and rail.

regfman

Watching videos I dont see anybody taking off the crank arms. hmmmm.

Doug64

This is a post from another bike packing thread:

zandoval 

Don't kill me on this but considering the cost maybe you should consider just buying a cheap bicycle when you get there. Maybe take a few tools too, especially if you get it from walMart. Or maybe telephoning a few pawn shops so they can set aside a fair bike for you and then you can pawn it back when you leave. I have purchased and shipped a few bike frames. It was not cheap. I consider FedEx the best carrier... Just a thought...

regfman

That has occurred to me but I am trying to be efficient and get more use out of things rather than buying new stuff at my age in life. It's going to cost me but hopefully I'll have the satisfaction that I am using up some of my possessions, and clear a little space in the garage.

jaxgtr

I've used ShipBike's several times and it has been flawless. I shipped a bike from Florida to California for $48.

https://www.shipbikes.com/ebike-assembly/

indyfabz

Nothing strange about that. My bike and racks after being shipped back from the west. Wheels go on top. Box top goes on top of that. And that is a 60 cm, fairly long wheelbase bike. Reassembled with just allen wrenches.

dedhed

Bill often has tips on his FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/BillsVintageSteelBikes

Iride01 

Oh, the pic of the box in reply #8 reminded me that I put hand holds in the box I re-built to ship my sons bike to him. I reinforced them so they wouldn't tear out. One each side spaced at whatever I felt was a comfortable spread for the weight. And also one on each end.

Part of my thinking was that if I made it easy to pick up that maybe they'd handle it better. Perhaps it just gave them the ability to throw it 20 feet instead of 10 feet. But the bike made it to Bismarck in fine condition.

Phil_gretz

My wife and I used shipbikes.com to send two road bikes to TX from VA back in June. Mine required a slightly larger box than hers. The average cost through shipbikes, who use FedEx, for each bike was $68, insured. I did the packing using standard bicycle industry methods, and dropped each at our local FedEx distribution center (not a Kinko's storefront location). Both arrived flawlessly and on the date promised (fourth day that FedEx had possession). I was very satisfied. Highly recommend.

indyfabz

I want to try them next time after being disappointed by at least my last Bikeflights experience. One major advantage is that the LBS I use to pack my bike is around the corner from a FedEx/Kinko's location. When Bikeflights used FedEx the shop would walk the box around the corner and drop it off. Saved me the pickup fee.

Also, when I used Bikeflights back in 2019 I priced the same return shipping using Shipbikes when I got home. It would have been noticeably cheaper. The other change with Bikeflights when it switched to suing UPS is that shipping time went from X calendar days (excluding weekends, of course) to X business days, and that X increased by at least a day. As with your Shipbikes experience, shipping with Bikeflights when it used FedEx was four days. Now it's longer. IIRC, X went to 5 business days, so unless you ship on a Monday it's not going to arrive until at least the following week. That's important if you are trying to coordinate assembly with a LBS at the destination so your bike is ready when you arrive. I need that certainty when I ship the bike for tours because I hit the road early the morning the day after arrival.

Darth Lefty 

I'm on board with "buy again there," it will cost about the same and be about the same hassle. Except maybe that Florida seems to eat bikes worse than California. But also I've had no trouble with bikes like that just going in the moving truck.

PJay120

So, let's say your bought-for-$500 bike would take $300 to replace, if you shopped craigslist in FL.
So, shipping would prevent you from having to spend $300. But shipping would cost you $75.
So, shipping would only save you $225.
You could sell your bike for $200.
Now, shipping would only save you $25, versus selling the bought-for-$500 bike and buying another similar bike for $300 in FL.
I think I have the ship-versus-sell/buy logic set up the right way.

regfman

Checked out the Shipbikes site. It's much better pricing than UPS and using the shipbikes calculator even when I round up the 8.5" width to 9" for the box that I have, it still comes out to be 60% of the price that UPS is quoting with their calculator for when I round down the width to 8". I will definitely try shipbikes and report back when this is done.
Now I am on to learning how to pack it correctly. Yes, none of the videos show removing the crank arms so I will not do that. I have removed the bike wheel axles and disconnected the derailleur from the frame and now everything fits nicely in the box. Now to make it safe with padding.

jay4usc

try Greyhound. I have shipped car bumpers with them in the past.

jaxgtr

Pipe insulation is your friend for your bike tubes. I also left an old seat post in to help protect the clamp area.

This is a pic on a frame I sold.

Phil_gretz

Wait. Rear wheel stays installed. Derailleur cables intact, but derailleur removed and tucked inside right chainstay and taped in place. Front wheel removed and zip tied to non-drive side diamond frame. Handlebar removed and zip tied to drive side around top tube. Fork rotated backward along with stem, fork tines blocked with spindle simulator. Saddle/seatpost removed. Pedals removed. Bottle cages removed. All these wrapped and packed into the dead spaces.

This makes the smallest contained box that is secure for shipping.

regfman

That sounds more efficient and thought out than how I have started to pack it. What size box do you use for that? and where do you find that box? The bike store I went to didn't have smaller bike boxes than what they gave to me.

indyfabz

See my photo above. No way I could get it that compact without removing both wheels. And bottle cages stay on.

Phil_gretz

^to all the comments above. I simply pack the bike the same way that bikes come to me from the factory. Nothing different. Is this the smallest or cheapest? Who knows? For $68 shipped, I'm not complaining. The box size is whatever I have on hand or what I can scrounge from my friends at the bike shop. I don't worry about box size that much, as long as the frame can fit with the rear wheel in and the fork reversed. The rest is simply arranging, zip tying, and packaging.