Domestic bike shipping question

[LegendRider]

I'm headed to Colorado this summer for a week of riding with some friends. I need to get my new Colnago C50 to my friend's house cheaply and safely. Any comments on the following options?

- I can borrow a hard case from a friend and use it for the Delta flight. It appears it will cost $80 (for excess size) plus $25 (for second piece of checked luggage - new policy as of May 1). That's $210 round trip.

- I can use a bike shipping company like www.shipbikes.com. But, between the purchase of the AirCaddy and the round tripping shipping, it could be close to $300. On the other hand, there is the convenience factor - no dragging a hard through an airport, etc. The bike shows up at the house.

- I can borrow my friend's hard case and ship it via UPS or FedEx ground. I presume they'll accept a hard shell bike case.

Any recommendations or alternatives?

Thanks in advance.

[jimcav]

wrap tubes, zip tie front wheel to bike's left side, remove RD, remove left side crank, saddle/post, cages if wheel hits them. bars, secure bars to fork or headtube--however it fits, secure RD to brke bridge. put crank arm/cages, saddle post in bubble wrap or such, put bike in the box, slide other box over

send fedex ground
repeat at end of trip
should run about $100-120 total you can get a free myfedex.com account, i know DHL does similar, saves on the rate

jim

[PaulE]

If so will they mess up your tidy packing job and scratch things up or worse?

I have heard stories of things gone missing as a result of this, maybe urban legend?

I know that FedEx ships hard cases and would opt for FedEx ground or UPS of the hard case with full insurance on the bike, tools and any other contents of the case plus the cost of the case itself.

Take this FWIW from someone who's never done this. Good luck.

[taylorj]

Not sure if your LBS rents hard-case bike boxes, but shipping "Shop to Shop" is cheaper than to a residence. I usually find a shop in the area where I am going and ship it to them.

[Pete Serotta]

As JimCav says....FEDEX or UPS is a TRICO case (well wrapped). Allow a week shipping even though you are going from ATL. PETE

[ClutchCargo]

I'm headed to Colorado this summer for a week of riding with some friends. I need to get my new Colnago C50 to my friend's house cheaply and safely. Any comments on the following options?

- I can borrow a hard case from a friend and use it for the Delta flight. It appears it will cost $80 (for excess size) plus $25 (for second piece of checked luggage - new policy as of May 1). That's $210 round trip.

. . .

Any recommendations or alternatives?

Thanks in advance.

LR --

The airline may charge more than that -- if the weight of your bike case exceeds 50 lbs, they can charge you for that as well. The Trico and similar hard cases tend to weigh in the range of 30 - 33 or so lbs, so you can easily overshoot that limit. In my experience, whether they sock you with that extra fee can depend on how much you are over the limit and on whether the baggage checker is having a good day.

And I think one of the above posts is right about the possibility of the case being opened and the nice people at airport security not taking the same care that you did when they close it up again. (I have visions of a Lucy Ricardo sitting on top of the case trying to get it to close!)

have fun in CO, at any rate !

[markie]

I just flew American with my MTB.

I got charged $80 one way and $100 the other. I used a cardboard box that was oversized and packed with some of my camping gear, overall weight was 55lbs.

It was great getting the bike straight away and being able to ride, no lost time before or after the trip wondering if the bike would turn up.


Previously I have shipped my bike to my destination and paid between $35 and $60 each way, but that is over a year ago.

[Bruce K]

Having just returned from my LBS where they were trying to repair the rear dropouts on Shawn Milne's (Team Type 1) Orbea Orca that had been crushed by UPS, coupled with my (so far) good experiences traveling with my bike, I would go with taking it with you.

As long as your local ground transportation will have enough room.

I have successfully done this about a dozen times fo far on Delta and United.

I am flying with my bike to CO in late July for The Copper Triangle. Southwest is $50 each way and no fee until you get to 3 bags (their new policy).

BK

[PBWrench]

FedEx and Trico, for the last 6 years, no complaints. Ship ground and keep insurance down to save costs. Shipping from FedEx shop is much cheaper than shipping FedEx from a MailBox kind of place or bike store who will usually add an additional cost.

[djg]

Sort of interested in this too. Most of my travel-with-bike happens by car, but we're flying to Colorado at the end of June for a week at Keystone and I'd like to have a bike. It's probably not pointless to contemplate future possibilities, and probably equally pointless to contemplate lots of them in the near future -- I know that the kids are too young for me to manage glorious cycling excursions in Italy with the H brothers and I'm way too old and, frankly, lousy, to race nationally. Do the less expensive cases stink? Anybody try the Thule? The performance jobs?

[Charles M]

Unless I get a voucher, I ship my stuff hard case only everywhere.

For every dollar I have ever saved trying to be clever/frugal, I've lost 10.

Bike box shapes are just itching for damage. no way I ship something I own in anything but a hard case.

[Louis]

If you have a few extra days turn it into a road trip and drive:

Atlanta GA to Denver CO: 1,404 mi – about 21 hours drive time according to Google Maps.

If you don't have the time, pack it carefully in a hard case and ship it via Fed Ex or UPS - they're probably equally bad. Many folks around here bad-mouth UPS, but I've had Fed-Ex drop my Trico Iron-Case so hard that the frame slipped inside and came smashing down onto the big ring, bending it. You should see the tooth marks in the side of the case. Despite the replacement cost of a Campy big ring I didn't even bother to file a claim because I knew that they would either a) claim prior damage, or b) claim that it was incorrectly packed.

Good Luck

Louis

[pdxmech13]

As someone who travels a fair amount with a standard bike this is my take. Shipping it via the brown bus or someone else is great as long as you can be without a bike if you don't have a second one in your stable. Most package carriers will back up a bike with insurance while airlines won't. How many times have you lost luggage or had it damaged will be my next question as this is a rule of of chance for most. The biggest pain about traveling with your bike is traveling with it, weither getting it into a car or to the airport. Don't forget that airlines are feeling a squeeze right now and will charge what they feel at the time to get your bike on the plane. In one weeks time I was charged $50 going and then $100 plus a $25 additonal baggage fee. :crap:

[KeithS]

PBWrench, you gotta come over to my side of town. My LBS treats me really well, packed by a mechanic I trust, shipped with little up charge. Shipped to an LBS in FL. They put it back together for a fee, they f'd up the packing for the trip back, goofed up the dimensions when the filled out the paperwork. I was charged $60 (that's shipping and $5K in insurance) for shipping to FL from MN, but with fubar on the ship back part they tried to charge me a couple of hundred.

Here's the way I was treated well on the ship back, accidental genius, my LBS (here in MN) suggested we use his shipper number for the return. With mistake on shipping part he fought it with Brown and they fixed it for him, because it was on his account. The bonehead in FL wouldn't return my phone call when I called to tell him what his guys did, had it been on his shipper number - prepaid with my credit card, he woulda told me to pound some nice Marco Island sand.

Oh well. Kinda bad but mostly good. Pretty lucky too. I will do something like this again, but probably ship to someone else.