Bike transport from Inverness

[millen]

A small group of us are planning a Scottish Isles tour in September, ending at Inverness.
We're looking for suggestions for returning 3, maybe 4, bikes back to M25 area.

The Caledonian Sleeper train is one option, but we gather it can be hard to guarantee a bike reservation.

EasyJet Inverness to Gatwick is another option - means boxing the bikes but we should be able to do this with help from one of the Inverness bike shops in cardboard boxes + bubblewrap. (Standard bike carriage is £42.) Possibly too much risk of damage?

Looking specifically at couriers in Inverness (we would sort passenger rail or air tickets as normal):

http://www.johnogroatsbiketransport.co.uk/bike-cou... have a depot in Inverness and seem popular with LEJOG riders. Price c. £77 per bike; maybe we'd get a discount for 3 bikes to same address?

Capital Carriers is an Inverness firm - I haven't contacted them yet.

TNT look expensive for a single disassembled bike (£150?).

DHLLitNow might give us a quote of £120 for 3 bikes disassembled and packaged to 120x80x80cm.

Any other bight ideas or advice please?
Many thanks

[R1gtr]

There are companies that hire out bike boxes( hard travel cases) for about 6quid a day, you could get them delivered to a bike shop in Inverness and collect/pack up bikes and take with you on the flight.
Other option is to ask one of the good bike shops to pack up the bikes and post them to you using their normal courier, they will probably get cheaper rates for postage and probably covered for Insurance.
There are a few really good bike shops here (I live near Inverness) so I imagine one may help you out.

[OliilO]

My sister and some of her friends rode LEJOG last summer and they got one of the bike shops in Inverness to package and courier their bikes back home. I think it was quite reasonably priced (maybe £40 all in?).

Alternatively, I have had a bike couriered from Inverness for about £25 before.

[millen]

Many thanks R1gtr and OliilO.

I will phone Highland Bikes and Bikes of Inverness to see what services they can arrange. Might try Monster Bike Shop also, though their website is down currently.

Another thought if we fly from Inverness would be to get a couple of the £12 CTC Plastic Bike Bags delivered to one of those shops.

[R1gtr]

If you have no joy with those bike shops try Orange Fox Bikes (about 8 miles away from Inverness)
http://www.orangefoxbikes.co.uk
It's a fantastic shop, they could not be more helpful, it would be my first port of call.

[SuperNiceBig]

6 of us riding the North Coast 500 in June. Similar predicament to you. We have hired a long wheel base VW transporter, £780 for the week. Driving up from Kent to Inverness, parking up the Transporter for a week, reday to return home a week later. Many travelling options, but this suited us best.

Have a good trip.

[OliilO]

I've asked my sister who they used and it was Highland bikes, about £40 per bike apparently and they packaged them up.

I used Menzies and it was 25 quid to post a bike from near Invernees, so for lack of hassle the Highland bike options might be easiest!

[millen]

Thanks again for the tip, OliilO.

I spoke to Highland Bikes and Orange Fox - both will pack and courier a bike for £35-40 so this seems the natural choice whether we return by train or by EasyJet.

JohnOGroatsBikeTransport were helpful also, but have no flexibility in their £77 pricing, even with 4 bikes going to the same delivery destination. They said it's a flat fee to anywhere in UK mainland, swings and roundabouts etc.

Large van hire was a nice idea, and a small group in the club did this for a French trip last summer, but not viable for our trip where we start from Glasgow and finish in Inverness, via Arran, Mull, Skye, Lewis/Harris. We're finding hostels are getting booked up for September, even at this early point in the year.