International Bike Shipping

I'm leaving Whistler after a year and have a lot more stuff than I came here with, most importantly a bike. So now I've got to get it (and another pair of wheels) back home to the UK. Paying the excess fees the airline are going to charge me is going to run to nearly $300.

Has anyone shipped a bike over the Atlantic and can offer some advice? Is it going to cost a fortune? Any companies to reccommend?

You also have to consider the cost of a flight case if you are taking it on a plane.

I think you can get boxes with inserts designed to be shipped, and just post it. Or you could just ask a bike shop for an old bike box, wrap up your bike, and post it.

Steer clear of UPS. They will rape you with their fees.

why not ship it? dhl, fedex, canada post…

There is no cheap way to do it. I looked into it a lot. The only way you can do it is if the airplane company you fly with offers a deal for bikes or sport equipment. Sometimes you get away with 0-50$, depending on the company. I asked friends of mine to bring me bikes over when they visited me.

Shipping (plane or ship, doesn't matter too much) is 300$ - 500$.

The best thing to do is perhaps sell it. You could also try to find somebody who has room in a moving container (perhaps try craigslist) and ships stuff from Vancouver to the UK or Seattle to UK.

good luck

Yep just suck it up and pay the excess baggage fees with the airline. It's the cheapest option. You'll be unlikely to ship a bike commercially for less than that - use the online shipping calculators (like the one on ups.com) to see what I mean.

Get rid of everything you can and accept that your getting to and from airports is going to suck alot and be very expensive.

Beware that sometimes they'll hit you with excess weight charges that compound the cost (especially if you jam the bike box full of other stuff like armour or clothes). Those Dakine boxes are awesome but will add to the total weight - some airlines have maximum weights for single items as well: phone your airline to double-check if this is the case. You might want to print your airline's baggage policy in case you need to argue with the check-in people.

But sadly, bringing stuff with you on the plane is the cheapest way to go. I just moved to Australia temporarily and went through this. Now there's stuff I left at home that I can't afford to have shipped. I'll just wait for a friend to come visit so that they can play mule.

Taking it with you on the plane is the cheapest option you have. $300 isn't bad at all, compared to shipping it UPS, or even ocean freight using a forwarder.

At least it will be with you when you get there. Hopefully… Get travel insurance, just in case. The airlines won't cover much of it, if any, if it goes missing on the way.

One thing you can try, is to take your bike completely apart (if it's a dually). -[HTML_REMOVED] remove swingarm, suspension, etc, and try to get it into two seperate suitcases. If your hoops are pooched, remove them and relace upon arrival with new hoops. That'll save a lot of room, and you won't get dinged for an oversized bike box.

airlines won't generally accept over 32kg for a piece of sports equipment because of manual lifting regulations (they can get sued if an employee hurts their back lifting a 34kg box or bag)

if you need to get bike weight down, dump your tires, tires are cheap in the UK (pair of Maxxis 2 ply is [HTML_REMOVED]#163;45)

watch out for the Da Kine bike bag, its awesome in terms of protection but very heavy and if not careful will push you over the weight limit (I ended up taking my rear coil shock, pedals, seat/post,etc. off and them putting into hand luggage to get the bike bag under 32kg)

my advice would to be get a cardboard bike box from a local store, then you can stuff more into your bike box and bring more stuff home, and the cardboard box will offer good protection if packed right ;)

I would try not sell your bike, If I were you. They just cost so much more in England.

we went air transat last year YVR to Gatwick and we didnt get dinged for the bikes ,they were hardtail mtb's ,one in a cardboard shipping carton and one in a heavy bike case

make sure the bike is clean (agriculturaly contaminated dirt??) and the tires are deflated ,they actualy made me open the box to prove I had deflated the tires ,I hadnt …so sue me for lying

carry on is one piece of luggage with no weight restrictions so LOAD it up just be sure nothing you try to carry on is a weapon or tool of highjackers … the 2 heavy U-locks [HTML_REMOVED] zip ties were confiscated in manchester but the foll of packing tape was not so go figure

but do your homework cuz every airline is different

Paying the excess fees the airline are going to charge me is going to run to nearly $300.

Seems fair enough, same cost my customers will pay for a 20 lb postal box to get over their reasonably quick!

I'm actually surprised you've not picked up the fine shape used SC's or at least one other quality bike to take a couple back. I've come across repeated folks at Whistler that came here to ride for a spell/ bought bike here/flew it home expecting to sell for good profit.

The full dissassembly aspect does intrique me somewhat, more so if you've got more time than money in your balance. On a wheel/spokes etc I'd guess it easier to sell the wheels of and just replace their. Then again I don't build wheels.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Shipping to Europe. I sold a bike to a guy in Sweden who told me to ups a package to this place called Jetcarrier who would forward freight via ship to urope.

JetCarrier 33840
Att: [HTML_REMOVED]shipping name of recipient[HTML_REMOVED]
601 W Linden Av Suite 33840
Linden, NJ 07036

Hi,
we moved back from Vancouver to Germany in June this year. We used: World Wide Overseas Moving Service Inc. 8238 Swenson Way, Delta, B.C. V4G 1J6 Canada Ph: 604-582-3721 www.highland-worldwide.com
Send an email to Anne Haug: [email protected]
They seemed very reasonable. We shipped only boxes. The boxes were picked up by a driver and then delivered to our new home her in Germany. No extra cost or other hidden fees. The price you get is the price you pay. And they charge you only for the "real" cubicfeets you ship, no extra costs, as others do. I don[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;t know about the price for only 1 bike box, as they have a base fee, but for our 14 boxes in total (including 3 bikes and a kids trailer) they were half the price as others!! Our shipping took 8 weeks in total.
Just give them a call and see, how much it is. Maybe you can save a buck by driving the box down to their warehouse in Delta. It[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s just under the Alex-Fraser-Bridge. And maybe you can also save costs, when you pick it up at a warehouse in the UK, so no home delivery?
Good luck and save trip!!

^^^ exactly

don't air-ship (ie UPS, FedEx, Canada POst etc…). Use a logisitcs or moving company to send it by ocean. It'll be like a 1/4 of the cost. If you can pack and palletize it yourself or put it in a crate you'll save even more. 6-8 weeks is normal total shipping time.

you could even talk to guys like Prior and see if you can consolidate with one of their shipments to the UK