I've found the best way to ship frames overseas for a reasonable price is to:
chock the rear dropouts
take the fork out and bubblewrap it
lay the fork longside the frame.
bubblewrap the lot.
cut the sides of a cardboard bike box up so they are roughly the same shape as the package and sandwich the package between the two.
mummify the lot in some packing/gaffer tape.
The odd/non-cuboid shape means it's as small as possible, harder to estimate the volumetric size (so the estimate from the shipping company tends to be lower based on a volume measure) and - the odd shape makes it hard for freight handlers to pack - so they leave it to last and put it up top with all the lighter, softer bags and parcels rather than underneath everything else at the bottom.
But I'm probably preaching to the converted, right? :)
Appreciate the effort you're all going to.
I've found the best way to ship frames overseas for a reasonable price is to:
The odd/non-cuboid shape means it's as small as possible, harder to estimate the volumetric size (so the estimate from the shipping company tends to be lower based on a volume measure) and - the odd shape makes it hard for freight handlers to pack - so they leave it to last and put it up top with all the lighter, softer bags and parcels rather than underneath everything else at the bottom.
But I'm probably preaching to the converted, right? :)