Shipping a Bike Overseas

[ChampionTier]

Odds are favoring an overseas move for me this summer and I may have little choice but to ship my bike. Any recommendations on what to pack it in? My instincts (and past experience with other items) tell me that trusting the movers is a bad idea. Would FedEx or DHL be a better choice?

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[consularrider]

I’ve had mine packed by the local bike shop (most recently Bikenetic) using standard cardboard bike boxes. The bike then goes into the lift van with our other household goods. Only once was there something I couldn’t deal with on reassembly. For our moves back to the US and from Kyiv to Frankfurt I did my own packing in an original cardboard bike box. I also had Bikenetic re-pack up my fat bike in its original box to take with me on the plane back to Kyiv.

For me the big issue was the amount of time I might be without the bike during shipment. Luckily for the five moves when I’ve been the most active on my bike, I was able to drive to three of them (Juarez to DC; Bucharest to Madrid; and Kyiv to Frankfurt). For one I arrived seven months after the shipment and for another I had a left behind bike to use.

I’ve had overseas movers (UK and Argentina) wrap up bikes a couple of times when I didn’t have the bike boxes and suffered no damage to the bikes.

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[ChampionTier]

@consularrider 175550 wrote:

I’ve had mine packed by the local bike shop (most recently Bikenetic) using standard cardboard bike boxes. The bike then goes into the lift van with our other household goods. Only once was there something I couldn’t deal with on reassembly. For our moves back to the US and from Kyiv to Frankfurt I did my own packing in an original cardboard bike box. I also had Bikenetic re-pack up my fat bike in its original box to take with me on the plane back to Kyiv.

For me the big issue was the amount of time I might be without the bike during shipment. Luckily for the five moves when I’ve been the most active on my bike, I was able to drive to three of them (Juarez to DC; Bucharest to Madrid; and Kyiv to Frankfurt). For one I arrived seven months after the shipment and for another I had a left behind bike to use.

I’ve had overseas movers (UK and Argentina) wrap up bikes a couple of times when I didn’t have the bike boxes and suffered no damage to the bikes.

Thanks, this is a reassuring track record. I don’t have the original box but I’m sure I won’t be the first person to move a bike w/o the original container. Being away from the bike for a few months would make the N+1 case that much stronger, now that I think about it.

[Sunyata]

While I have not shipped a bike overseas (yet), I have shipped bikes across the country before. Having a bike shop (locally, Bikenetic) pack up the bike in a regular cardboard box (like a new bike comes in) and shipping it via Bike Flights (FedEx) has been a seamless and super easy experience. I have also never had an issue re-assembling (or dis-assembling and re-packing to ship it back home) the bike once it arrives at our destination.

[Author]

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