Pack a bike for shipping
Bicycle Tips
* Shops will gladly give you free cardboard bicycle boxes for shipping.
* ALWAYS remove or cross-out old shipping address labels on boxes.
* Check for any airline or shipping company container size restrictions.
* Most bike shops will professionally pack your bike for you at a cost.
* For more rugged packaging, TWO cardboard boxes of slightly different sizes placed one inside the other, gives you a stronger, double-walled box.
* To fit bike into shipping box, remove pedals, handlebars, seats, and front wheels, sometimes rear wheel as well.
* Very sturdy, strapped-shut, foam-filled, ABS hard plastic bicycle shipping cases are excellent for fast, easy packing, and safe shipping.
* Tie or tape parts securely so they don?t shake around inside the box.
* Consider packing bicycle gear and/or re-assembly tools inside the box.
* If you?ll need to re-ship your bike home, pack a roll of tape inside the box.
* Use plastic packaging or strapping tape to seal the outside of the box.
* To SIGNIFICANTLY strengthen the box, wrap plastic packaging tape in a cross-hatch pattern a few inches apart around the box vertically and horizontally to help prevent shipping damage box holes from enlarging.
* You can minimize possible costs, carrying hassles, and other problems by shipping your bicycle (by UPS, RPS, FedEx, etc.) to its destination a few days prior to your trip, and then home again. Check price comparisons, shipping time, and for a ?ship-to? location where you can pick-up your bike.
* If unsure about your mechanical abilities, arrange for a bike shop at your destination to (inexpensively) re-assemble your bike. If you?ll later need it disassembled for shipping home, ask what they?d charge to store your box and re-pack your bike.
BE AWARE: Some airlines charge a high, extra fee when you take your boxed bike on a plane. Try to check it as luggage or ?sporting goods,? NOT as a bicycle (but pack it WELL!).
