Transporting a bike

[ginacico]

@jeffp 164579 wrote:

I’d rather ship it. Looking for recommendations and advice.

I’d use Bike Flights. They’ve pretty much become experts at packing and shipping bikes of all types, and should give you a decent rate.

My experience with UPS lately has not been good.

[Vicegrip]

Not to look the gift horse in the mouth but you might want to check the value, condition and the 2 sizes of the tandem before you go all in. They don’t shrink much when you take them apart for shipping. After boxing, shipping, parts and work needed you might be upside down or have a bike that does not fit you and your stoker. As with single bikes they range widely in value from little to $20,000 for a top end machine.

[Judd]

@jeffp 164579 wrote:

A friend has a tandem that she wants to give me. The problem is that it is in Columbus, OH, and I am in Wheaton, MD. While that might be a nice long ride (about 50 rolling hours!) I’d rather ship it. Looking for recommendations and advice. My first thought was to find the LBS and ask them to box it. Then send by UPS or somesuch.

Thanks!

I’d personally use it as an excuse to visit and pick it up by car. As Vicegrip pointed out, it spends on the value of the tandem. I see low end ones on Craigslist for 200 bucks sometimes, but I also see nicer ones that go for a couple thousand.

[dasgeh]

@Judd 164590 wrote:

I’d personally use it as an excuse to visit and pick it up by car. As Vicegrip pointed out, it spends on the value of the tandem. I see low end ones on Craigslist for 200 bucks sometimes, but I also see nicer ones that go for a couple thousand.

This. And most tandems fit in most minivans without much fuss. (Our triple fits in our Honda Odyssey with the fuss of taking out the middle thingy in the front.)

[drevil]

As another datapoint, I have a Trek T900 tandem, and it fits in my Honda Fit when I take off the front wheel and front seatpost/saddle/bar assembly. My wife has to sit in the car tandem, i.e., behind me. This helps prep her for the bike ride

Tandem Fit by ricky d, on Flickr

I also have 1UpUSA hitch racks on both of my cars, and I put the tandem on there nowadays because it’s easier than taking things apart and stuffing it into the Fit. I use one ratcheting strap to help hold the bike in place. Although it sits a little wide, I don’t think it extends past the mirrors, so I’m not too worried about it.

[Judd]

@drevil 164596 wrote:

My wife has to sit in the car tandem, i.e., behind me. This helps prep her for the bike ride .

Here’s Jo Jo stoking a Honda Fit:
Tandem Car by bundokbiker, on Flickr

[anomad]

Sounds like an awesome weekend road trip. I rented a car over the eclipse weekend and they had the little nissan mini cargo vans at DCA.

We sold our full sized van after moving here. One of the mini cargo vans is high on the list for our next hauler.

[drevil]

@Judd 164600 wrote:

Here’s Jo Jo stoking a Honda Fit…

LOL! That pic was from about 4 haircuts and 7 years ago.

[Author]

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