Hi, rather than travel around Europe while vacationing prior to IM Switzerland, I’d like to ship my bike separately straight to Zurich. Does anyone have any advice for how to accomplish this within reason (one site I found online quoted $1700 for this). Thanks!
International shipping is VERY expensive. I usually FedX domestic but took with me on plane ($150 one way) in September to London due to outrageous fees. I’m not aware of any reasonable rates. Don’t know of your travel itinerary but if you could take on plane and have your hotel store it while you are traveling around, that might be most cost effective. Good luck.
It’s a pain and takes some major tear-down, but if you can fit your bike into boxes that meet the USPS shipping dimension you can do it relatively cheaply. Wheels in one box, rest of the bike in the other. I’ve shipped a 61cm P3 to Germany and a 61cm Specialized Crux to Germany that way. Less than $200 via Priority mail for each of them.
Some rail stations in Europe have storage.