It isn't all that uncommon for bike shops to pack up and ship bikes for you.

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Don't hold back

It is here in Australia. I called 8 bike shops this morning and none of them had ever shipped a bike overseas.....

Maybe you could be the first? Another option is to get a bike box from one of the shops and use ups. You can check out size and rates online. http://wwwapps.ups.com/calTimeCost?loc=en_AU

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Don't hold back

Thanks for the link.
$553 seems excessive. There must be a cheaper way....

Why can't you bring it on the plance? Just curious, I have to ship my bike from Canada to Perth for IMWA in Nov, want to know if I'll have the same problem....

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I'm not flying direct. Doing a bit of traveling on the way back and don't want to be lugging the bike box around with me.

You could try sending it as unaccompanied baggage through the airline that you are travelling with, I did this a few years ago with Qantas from Oz to the UK, It took 10 days but allowed me to take in Bali etc without lugging a bike about.

The charge is a lot less than excess, they deposit at a shipper in Canada who will clear it through Customs etc

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Trizilla...My local bike shop a few thousand Ks away


Speed Hurts ...How fast do you want to go

UPS or DHL are probably the best ways, but you probably want to find someone who does a fair amount of business with them, as they get better rates (casual rates are pretty high as you found out). Had a friend send a bike from Australia to germany (I think), and it got lost, then the box appeared, but full of wood - so stick with a reputable company and get some insurance!

Good question. The shipping is relatively strightforward but quite expensive. Expect $350-$450 US via the major air carriers such as UPS, Fedex and DHL.

Here's the big concern: Customs. We have had a number of shipments detained, seized, lost, stolen- whatever- somehow diverted from their normal shipment routine. I would suggest there is a logistical problem with 50% of Pacific Rim shipments, at the very least, a significant delay.

I'm not certain about personal belongings being shipped, but I know that the Customs paperwork must be filled out in meticulous detail. One error- including bad penmanship- bang, quarantined.

Our primary problems have been with Australia and New Zealand. However, since you are shipping out of Australia perhaps the likelihood for a delay may be reduced.

Canadian Customs have experienced some on-going labor (labour?) disputes that occasionally result in Customs "slow downs" when the inspectors maintain verbatim compliance to written procedure in an intentional attempt to slow things down. This is an on-again, off-again circumstance. In general though, our experience with Canadian Customs is that they are fully competent.

I guess, ultimately, be sure you fill out the forms correctly, ask a lot of questions and pack your bike for the long haul. If you try to ship it through a bike shop that appears to be inexperieinced in international logistics you may be better served to do it on your own.

Best of luck!

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Seth,

Are you flying to your "event" and then want to ditch the bike, i.e. sent it back home?

Drop Sports Express an email; they're shipping my bike from Austin, TX to London, 1 way for around $375 US (including insurance). They fill out the customs forms for you, and then send them to you to give to the "out-sourced" carrier (in my case FedEx) who ships it.

DHL & FedEX direct estimated around $550.

I'm not sure what they could do for you for, but worth an email…

http://www.sportsexpress.com/

John

PS. It's all in theory… bike gets picked up on Tuesday & arrives 7 to 10 days later… but the service & response has been excellent – plus they're from my hometown Durango…

We had to ship our dual bike box from IMNZ back to the states, and it cost me about $400 + $35 terminal fee for air freight (box was ~120lb with 2 bikes, wheels, bottles, race clothes, etc). Look through the phone book and call a shipping or moving company. Once the box arrived in Austin, I had to gather paperwork from a shipping company the box was shipped to, take it to customs at the airport, and then return to the shipping company with $35 cash and the filled out customs blessed forms. Not a big issue, however, shipping it to the race would add some additional stress that I would not want to deal with this way.

There are only a couple of ways to ship a bike and they’re all more or less in the same price range. The exception might be BRI Australian freight services which is considerably more than other methods. Most will use a specialized trailer that secures the bike before transport, or enclose it in a crate and ship it with other vehicles/cargo.

I'm not sure about the logistics of a bike specifically, but I've been buying clothing and bike parts specifically from overseas importing into Australia without any issues. There have been some delays due to distribution slow downs from a slow down in air freight, but I don't think Covid itself is causing problems, it's been more around slow down in distribution.

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