Shipping bike to the US

Sadly, I'm moving and was wondering if anyone has any handy tips for shipping a bike to the US?

Trying to find an affordable option as I can't take it with me on the plane. I have packed bikes before so that bits not a problem.

pip - can you take it as a piece of luggage? i just bought back one from the US and it was considered as a single piece of luggage - 1 of the 2 piece allowance (if you can afford only taking one piece of luggage)

Hard bike box? Get one off eBay.

You could always pack small items of clothing etc. in the gaps in the box and then just sell the box once you get to the states again. Either take it on the plane, and risk baggage handlers and customs opening it, or get a friend to send it via international courier with insurance once you're in the states.

I kinda took it as he couldn't take it on the plane since he'll be busy carrying everything else.. you tend to take a lot of crap with you when you move across the ocean :D

Shipping with an international courier is probably the best bet, but likely to be veeery expensive. There are a few companies that take stuff on boats.. I'm pretty sure it ends up quite cheap but takes ages though.

Yeah, probably already taking one bike on the plane. Just trying to work out what to do with the other. One boxed bike is a PITA to move around, two would be ridiculous.

We're looking into sea shipping but its proving quite expensive to ship the same stuff we bought from the states back. As some folks here (Roberto, Jos etc.) deal in secondhand stuff I just wanted to see if there were any alternatives that I hadn't considered.

i wanna come too

Roberto: Cheers for the advice. Have travelled internationally with bikes so thats not a problem. I just don't think I could lug a box/bag with two bikes around + other baggage to Heathrow and then around Chicago, hence the shipping question.

I also agree with you that flying is the best option, have used old bike boxes for this on numerous occasions.

So it looks like no-one has any good suggestions/tips for shipping to the US. Guess I'll just have to work it out myself or sell the second one.

Thanks for all the input though.