Early Retirement Extreme Forums

What have been your experiences with shipping bicycles? Which service did you use? How much did it cost?

I spoke with a friend who has had mixed experiences. Sometimes it goes well. But one time FedEx lost his bike for several weeks and then it was delivered to his home. He was never able to use it while on vacation.

When I used the shipping calculators on Fedex.com and UPS.com I was shocked at how expensive the shipping is. Since I'm tall, my bike is over the 130" (L+2W+2D) size limit for normal shipments and is charged as oversized which means the shipping charge is calculated using a "dimensional weight" calculation. $150 is too much, especially for a roundtrip vacation.

The League of American Bicycles has a membership benefit that is a 10% discount with http://www.bikeflights.com/ and it seems that they get better rates than retail by aggregating. $72 instead of $150 for my MTB. Has anybody used them? Are there other similar services?

About roadside assistance, does anybody have or has anybody ever used the bicycle roadside assistance from http://www.betterworldclub.com? Either for commuting or touring, I would imagine.

learning

Roadside assistance for a bicycle? I didn't even think such a thing existed. What would it be used for? Using a small saddlebag toolkit, you can improvise a fix that will get you to the nearest city for everything except a cracked frame.

I have shipped a bicycle in a special bicycle case on an airplane. The airline fee for this was $75, so a round trip would be the same $150. That assumes you fly as a passenger. Plus you need a special case to put the bike in. That is not a low cost purchase either, but I don't know how much because I was able to borrow a case. If you drive, why not attach your bike to a bicycle rack?

For a vacation, it pays to look into renting a bicycle for a week or so. Local bike shops will frequently let you rent. Ends up being cheaper and without risk of damage to your bike during shipping.

I have not heard of roadside assistance either. A small storage baggie under the saddle seems like the most reasonable solution for repairs.

You might be able to get a cardboard case for free at the LBS. They'll usually just throw them out.

In any case (ha!), if you need to travel with a bike but not on a bike often, it makes sense to get a folder.

Greyhound makes it possible to ship bulk items very cheaply. I've heard some lost-luggage stories though.

Roadside assistance for a bicycle would be useful if you ran your bike into a pole, bent the frame, and put the kickstand through your calf.

Just a hypothetical example

I don't have roadside assistance, but my butler is always on standby with the limo in case I get fatigued or need a glass of mineral water.

You will never need road side assistance if your acquire and learn to use these tools;

• 2 x Spare inner tubes, and for worst case scenario a tube repair kit.
  
  A mini-pump, pro tip, wrap some electrical tape around it for bodging repairs, really handy for securing broken spokes etc.
  
  Zip ties of various sizes, I carry at least 4 at all times, these saved my bacon when I recently crashed and sheared my rear mudguard from it's housing, two pins had ripped out and it was flapping freely and would have made getting home very treacherous.
  
  Chain repair tool and spare chain links and pins in case you break your chain from home, without these you will be stranded.
  
  Cash, I always carry a £10 note and coins in case I break down and need a bus/train.
  
  Spoke key, in case you wheel buckles, learning to true your wheel is essential in case you lose a spoke, if you run rim brakes, you'll be glad you have this.
  A basic set of allen/hex keys, and any other tools required to make adjustments to your bike, if you want to be fancy a multi tool saves space, but I prefer individual tools.
  
  First aid kit (I don't carry one, but I'm building one up as I find good deals on the various components)

I am sure there are others that I have forgotten, but these alone (should not weight much at all) will save you from most failures.

I might look into using Spinlister rather than ship a bike for short term use. It's essentially "airbnb" for bicycles:

https://www.spinlister.com/

I have not used it yet, but have considered whether to be on the renting side. Might make a nice side gig for some enterprising ERE-ers.

I shipped once using UPS. I think it was $70 about five years ago but I'm not sure. I shipped it from my house to a friend's and he shipped it back when the trip was over. It was a size medium hardtail 29er with a rigid fork. I got a bike box for free from a shop. Everything went well but I wasn't that worried since it was a cheap bike and I didn't mind if it got scratched up.

If you want to do a trip but don't know anyone to ship to at your destination you can sometimes pay a shop to receive it and ship it back out when you are done.

If it's a short trip consider renting.