# Shipping Bike Cross Country



## Zilla (Aug 17, 2009)

Hey guys, 

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience this with a bike-shop in the San Diego area?

I called Bicycle Warehouse, and they will professionally package for and find a carrier.

I want to ship my bike from SD to Pittsburgh in the safest way possible. I drove it cross country, but I'm flying back. 

Thanks!


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## mattotoole (Jan 3, 2008)

No experience with shops in San Diego, but I've done this a bunch of times between Virginia and Southern California. I usually box the bike myself. Fedex Ground has always been the cheapest, at around $30. 

Bike shops may get better rates from UPS, and may have more success dealing with damage claims. It may be worth the extra cost to let them handle it.


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## Clay L (Jul 3, 2010)

just ride it there..........


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## e34john (May 31, 2010)

They have multiple locations, I've been to a few. Some employees are better than others.


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## Black Bart (Dec 6, 2005)

Having worked for a bike manufacturer, I can tell you that short of having obvious signs of a fork lift crushing the box or tire tracks across it, the shipping company will blame damage on improper packaging. Even in those cases, they will try to blame the packing.

Safest and easiest way I've found is the AirCaddy. It costs $100 but you can pack the bike yourself with minimal effort. Remove front wheel, pedals, seatpost. Loosed faceplate and rotate bars down. Pack. Drop off @ or have FedEx pick it up.

You can also easily pack your helmet, shoes and other items inside. I've even used a beach towel to roll up a bunch of shop tools and tied that to the top tube for shipping. When I used mine to ship my bike across the country I overloaded it with spare tires and tubes, and then unloaded them one by one on the FedEx scale until the case was at the flat rate limit (60lbs I think) Unlike the hard sided bike cases, you can break it back down flat to store it under a bed, in the back of a closet, etc. If you use it a bunch and wear out the cardboard, replacements are like $30-35 (the plate the fork mounts to is metal and will outlast the box).


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## TJ3 (Aug 4, 2011)

I'm Shipping my bike from OC to Savannah GA. I have a box my friends bike came in and a bunch of bubble wrap. Will that be good? I think I'm gonna ship it with FedEx. I want to throw a bunch of tools in there too and helmet, shoes, and as much as I can safely fit. Any suggestions?


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