Sending / Posting / Shipping a bike to/from abroad / overseas by post / courier

I could do with a bit of advice on this one.
I know quite a few forum members have experience in this subject.
I was looking at selling an old bike on eBay, (nothing fg/ss related) and know you are cutting out a massive proportion of the market by offering 'collection only'.
I've no experience with sending anything bigger than a shoe box.

So how would I go about sending a bike?

Break it down?
1 or 2 boxes?
Pricing?
Post Office or Courier Service?

Any help / advice would be muchos appreciated ;-)

edit: on looking again, interparcel have changed the system, so they dont offer as many options as they used to

you should be able to pick up a box free-of-charge from most bike shops. be warned, i bought back a bike from NY recently as luggage (in a bog-standard bike carton) and the front wheel seems to have come out a little buckled, so factor this in when you're packing and who you use for delivery.

just put a stamp on it and jam it in the post box.....thats what i done

cheers for the info guys...

aidan just put a stamp on it and jam it in the post box.....thats what i done

YouTube - Trigger Happy TV - Help me please I'm stuck

edit:haaaaaaa

hahaha :)

One thing worth getting hold of/making are fork blocks to go between the fork ends and rear drop outs/ends (if removing rear wheel).

Also found making some braces out of styrofoam/thick carboard and putting them in the box helps protect the frame.

Oh and always pack a bike like its yours. Don't skimp on the wrapping etc.

Just wrap it all over with several layers of bubble wrap, too. Then parcel tape.

Being sent within the UK yeah? Customs opening it would be a pain in the arse.

maybe send it with an armed guard preasent.......you just cant trust the post office these days:(

pip One thing worth getting hold of/making are fork blocks to go between the fork ends and rear drop outs/ends (if removing rear wheel).
.

VERY important, I had a frame that was a bitch to coldset after some numpty sent it zip-tied, bubble wrapped, boxed and shrink wrapped. all useless once someone has jumped on it, road bike dropouts especially are very fragile without a hub or spacer

Sold my bike online and need to send it to France. Would anyone recomend a company?
Thanks

haha soeone got fished

Hi...i just sold a frame to someone in Germany...the problem is volumetric weight.....can be very expensive...not based on actual weight...but dimensions of the box then divided by 5000....I used parcels2go......www.parcels2go.com they use DHL etc and you can pay for insurance...eg £250 for £12.50......but and be warned....the headset on my frame was damaged in transit and it was a struggle to get the £25 from them......they have a list of things that are not covered...so email and ask explicitly if your bike will be covered and tell them exactly how you have packaged the bike and take pictures of the internal and external packaging....cos they asked for that and neither i or the receiver took any pics...hope that helps....alternatively...stick the bike in a bike box and take it over on easy jet and have a couple of days in France!!.....

my bike was sent to me in two boxes, one box with just the frame and drops and some other bits and one box with the wheels, he did this to make sure it would arrive safe and to keep costs down

I've recently moved from Australia to London and am tossing up between having my bike shipped here versus buying a new one. Has anyone had any experience doing this? If so what was the cost and were there any problems?

I'm moving countries soon (England to Germany) and I concluded that my bikes were not special enough to warrant the price the excess baggage company was quoting. I'm selling both of them.

Only ship you're bike if it is absolutely amazing.

What about shipping bikes as freight? Anyone had any experience shipping bikes that way to Oz?

Is it worth it?

does anyone have any idea what it will cost to ship a frame from new york to london?

Just frame & forks, I'd say around £80/100

cheers thanks for that

Have UTFS'd to no avail. I bought a bike off ebay the other day. The seller has contacted me to say that he's just spent an hour taking it apart and packing it into a bike box he got from his LBS but that Parcelforce have told him it's 3.1M total and their limit it 3.0M so they won't take it !?!? I'm quoting him there so please don't ask me exactly how he/they are measuring the thing! Anyway he's suggested finding an alternative courier. Anyone got any recommendations? I don't want to have to pay a lot as it's not an expensive bike - just going to turn it into my winter beater.

Cheers!

ps. the bike's 'oop north' somewhere, sending to London

I used Interparcel for a big package 9not a bike) they were the cheapest and fast too.

I am sure royal mail do bikes.

http://www.interparcel.com/quote/

Cheers Strangler. The whole Royal Mail thing sounds weird to me too. Anyway will check out that recommendation. Ta.

Make sure you get the exact dimensions and weight right, it makes a big difference in price the odd cm here or there.