Has anyone shipped a bike?

[Adrian W]

My son has sold his mountain bike on Ebay, and assumed(wrongly) that Parcel Force would take it, In disbelief I called them, they say only in a special bike box that they dont supply and then they wont give a price untill they see and approve it.

I then called several carriers and most said no!

Can anyone offer me some help?

Thanks

Adrian

[mowog]

I've shipped many bikes using Parcel2Go without incident!( parcel2go.com - they use all the major carriers ). Go to your LBS and ask them for a cardboard bike box (one that a new bike comes in) - they're usually happy to let you have one. Remove front wheel, bars/stem assembly and seatpost/saddle assembly. Try and brace the front forks with a piece of wood or similar. Put everything in the box and pack around the bike and loose parts with any odd bits of packaging to stop the bike rattling around too much. I sometimes wrap the frame tubes in bubble wrap as well as the rear mech. Finished it should weight c.20kg and will cost c.£20-£25 to send anywhere in UK, tracked 3 day service.

Good luck!

Edited by mowog on Monday 12th July 16:39

[P-Jay]

Have a nice word with a local bike shop, unless they do a tonne of internet/telephone trade they'll have tonnes of bike boxes laying about they'll be paying to get rid of.

They'll usually let you have one for free.

Pedals off, bars turned or removed, depending on the size of the box you might have to remove the wheels too. Get wrap up the delicate bits (fork stanctions, frame tubes) and seal it all up.

Once it's like that you should be able to walking to any Post Office and they'll take it, they do at my local one anyway.

Last bike I sold I sent via UK Mail in work, boxed it up and they collected it, cost £15 as I recall for upto 15Kgs

[rich1231]

Adrian

where in Essex and whats the max dimension?

[Adrian W]

rich1231 said:

Adrian

where in Essex and whats the max dimension?

Hi Rich, it's still built up but i reckon packaged as above i can get it down to 1.5 x 1 metre and about 16 kilos. I live just outside Harlow and work in Witham.

[Dudd]

Cling film is great for wrapping around bits. It costs nothing and its dead easy. Loads of layers and nice 'n' squidgy.

I sent my bike bag home after wrapping it in layers and layers of cling film.

ETA: Still put it in a box though.

Edited by Dudd on Monday 12th July 22:29

[a11y_m]

Dudd said:

Cling film is great for wrapping around bits. It costs nothing and its dead easy. Loads of layers and nice 'n' squidgy.

Binbags (Tesco Value) are great for that too - cut the bottom off them so they spread out further, a great thing to wrap parcels in.

Whenever I've sold bikes on ebay or classifieds before I've just used a cardboard bike box from my LBS and sent it via standard parcels Royal Mail service (up to 20kg), with added insurance. Never been a problem for me.