Bike shipping

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Permalink Reply by Shane Dunleavy on January 16, 2011 at 4:58pm

I bought a Trico case and ship my bike across the county frequently with Fedex ground - usually runs about $75 with $2K insurance.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Hicks on January 16, 2011 at 4:58pm

Matt, Jetblue from Logan to Long Beach, CA.  It's a little bit of a drive but you'll only pay $50 each way on Jetblue.  Besides, you'll probably have to rent a car anyway.  Also, the only restriction for bike cases is the total weight has to be less than 99lbs and it will count as your one free check bag.  Sooo, fill that sucker up with all your stuff.

 

UPS Ground is going to be more than $100 each way unless you have a sweet deal.  The problem is the box is oversized and they apply a volume weight.  I went through this when we went to Nationals and taking it on the flight was a lot cheaper.

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Permalink Reply by DStudley on January 17, 2011 at 11:09am

When traveling with your bikes knowing the airlines that won't screw you makes all the difference.  We always fly via Southwest ($50), but will use Virgin or Frontier if we can't get a Southwest flight. 

Shipping simplifies things around dragging the case to the airport (shuttles, rental car limitations...), but there is the need to have an address to ship to, extra time to get there, and extra work of getting it shipped outside of actual travel time.

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Permalink Reply by Jared on January 16, 2011 at 6:48pm

I recently bought a Hen House bike case after paying all the over-sized fees. 

 

check them out

 

http://www.rustersports.com

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Permalink Reply by hellbelly on January 17, 2011 at 7:23am

Fedex Ground is the ticket. They are safer and more reliable than anyone. The Iron Case is the bomb too. I have packed things loose it and had them stay put flying thousands of miles. It is a very sound investment if you travel with yr rig and want it to be protected beyond anything else out save a professional custom Anvil case which would cost more than a grand. Fedex or not get a good case and know how to pack it.

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Permalink Reply by David whitlock on July 7, 2011 at 10:30am

I bought a used Thule bike case and travel quite often with it. On my list flight Continental charged me $150 each ways - bastards! I've used a cardboard bike boxe in the past (gleaned from my LBS) and FedEX shipping, only to have the box arrive punctured completely through and my frame gouged. If your're going to ship use a plastic bike case (I really like the Thule BTW) and throw in an assortment of tools for reassembly and maintaince. Also, the Thule is within FedEX dimensions for shipping so you can pack it, have them pick it up and it should be at your destination when you arrive for less $ than the airlines fees. The case is a litte unwieldily because of it's size, but you can pack A LOT of additional stuff inside (helmut, shoes, bike cloths, tools....) and it will fit into any car with fold down seats, a full size trunk or roof top racks.

Good luck

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