Shipping questions

K

kdc

Member
Hi all,

Looking to ship my S40 but can't find a lot of information on what people use for box sizes or companies. The LBS is saying it will likely have to go in two boxes but I'm pretty sure that doesn't have to be the case.

Any info would help - bikeflights and shipbikes.com is what I'm looking at right now. Any others?

Thanks in advance!
Kevin
 
Mathew Fy

Mathew Fy

GRU
I bought a V20 frame from someone on the forum. He taped together two boxes to make one, pieces protected with bubble wrap. Sent via UPS across country for about $50.
 
Mathew Fy

Mathew Fy

GRU
I will be doing a bike ride this fall with America By Bicycle, sending my bike to the first host hotel and then home after the event. ABB states:
“If you don't own a shipping case for your bicycle, check out AirCaddy K-9100 from www.shipbikes.com/buy/. It is relatively inexpensive, reusable, and protects your bike much better than a standard cardboard box. As for the actual shipping arrangements, BikeFlights.com, has become very popular. It is a company that exists solely for booking, managing, and tracking bicycle shipments. We've found that they have a stronger customer service presence with phone support available seven days a week. They also have more experience in international shipping arrangements. BikeFlights.com does not sell AirCaddy's, however, they do handle shipping arrangements for them.”
 
K

kdc

Member
Thanks for the info. Yes I've looked at boxes from both shipbikes and bikeflights which look promising. I just wanted to make sure the S40 will fit before ordering. As well, if the local bike shop will use their own box can I tell them with some authority that using one box can be done?

Cheers!
 
chicorider

chicorider

Zen MBB Master
I recently sold a complete S40, and was able to fit it into a medium bike box with proper padding. It was a tight fit, which is actually a good thing, and it took me a while to puzzle it all out, but it did work. Then I shipped it through shipbikes.com.
 
K

kdc

Member
Yes, I'd be curious about dimensions too.

Shipbikes.com makes a box specifically for recumbents (XL bikebox) but I guess I keep thinking it can pack up into a larger, regular sized bike box? Shipbikes also sells the Aircaddy listed above, of course - @Mathew Fy did you confirm that your V20 would fit?
 
Robert Holler

Robert Holler

Administrator
Staff member
If you are looking for a box to send a Cruzbike and don't have the original one we use - a larger box from a bike shop that sells mountain bikes or bikes should work.

Robert
 
paco1961

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
Definitely don’t ship ups by itself. Shipped s40 via ship bikes and it cost 1/3 what ups would have charged, even though ship bikes uses ups to ship. Crazy. I went the route of 2 mtb boxes and it worked great. A fair amount of work but all was fine
 
chicorider

chicorider

Zen MBB Master
I don't have the dimensions of the box that I used. It was a box for a medium sized Norco hardtail mountain bike--your standard bike box. The shop had a the full size run, and the box sizes from the small to the X-large weren't that different. I had asked the shop to set aside a "large" box; they set aside a "medium," and it still worked.

And yes, even though Shipbikes uses UPS, the cost is significantly less that going straight to UPS. Must be a contract thing. The same goes for Bikeflights, only they use FedEx.
 
billyk

billyk

Guru
Can't advise about the box, but can tell you that an expandable foam product called Instapak protected an S40 from Seattle to Nairobi perfectly, in an ordinary cardboard box (original box from cruzbike).

Instapak are small bags with two chemicals that mix and expand in a minute or so, molding themselves around any irregular shape. Easy to use, 10 or so of them will build a strong cushion around the bike. Cost about $3/bag on Amazon.

One time use only ... well, I suppose you might be able to save them and rebuild the setup exactly on the way home ... or just put another 10 unexpanded in the box to use on the return trip.

They turn a cardboard box into a solid container, much like the purpose-shaped molded foam used for electronics.
 
K

kdc

Member
My LBS ended up using two boxes - I guess they just didn't have larger boxes on hand. We'll see! Fortunately, however, the cost using bikeflights.com was about the same as using one bigger box.

Also, I may be wrong but I think bikeflights uses UPS and shipbikes uses FedEx for anyone who prefers one over the other.
 
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