What do you pay for Shipping a Bike?

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KZ1000

KZ1000

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Ok, I have shipped several bikes, and frames. I start with an actual bike box and will cut it down as much as I can if possible. I am getting quotes of $78+ to ship to AZ, CA, WA, areas. Others say they are shipping and paying 40-$50. I usually use UPS and NO I have never had problems. They charge a special rate because of the size, regardless of weight. The Post Office wants $100. +

Couple weeks ago I shipped 2 bikes to TX for just under $80. each. 54"x30"x8" box. weight was 32# but it didn't matter.
Now I have a box 48x30x8, 24# to WA, UPS is over $79. USPS is $110. 01438 to 99301 Is that right, or are others full of it that they can ship for 40-50.
 
I purchased a new cruiser from Cali and the shipping was 40 bucks. I am taking about a fullsize heavy cruiser.. I have heard of 50 dollar shipping. There is definately a trick to it. Hopefully one of our RRB brothers will enlighten us.. lol
 
The stuff I send long distances via FedEx seem to range more in the $60-$80 range for full-sized cruisers.

If I were shipping a BMX bike it would be more in the $40-$50 range.

I always play with the shipping calculator on the FedEx site and adjust sizes to see if it knocks the price down.

Sometimes an inch can really drop the price.
 
I ship fedex. As long as the length and girth (width x 2, height x 2) is under 144", it's $35 to $65 per bike. Sometimes (like when I shipped the Felt Vintage Iron) it was cheaper to ship the bike in 2 smaller bike boxes than one extra large box.
 
I usually pay $35-40ish for a complete bike a few states away. Last bare frame I had shipped was $14 through USPS. They key is to avoid oversize if you can.
 
Does a certain companies bike type or size also have an effect on the price for the whole bike, just the frame & so on like Muscle bikes because they were definitely different from each other companies bike in actual design and so forth compared to the standard frames stlyes that are mostly used?
 
I have found out an inch makes a big difference my dad also said an Inch is the difference between a queen and a King :D
 
Hi! I've shipped a lot of bikes, a lot of frames and a lot of parts and I can always beat UPS & FedEx rates using USPS. BUT, I am unemployed and I can take the time to construct custom boxes any size I want out of full size bicycle boxes I get from my LBS. With USPS they use a size calculator and the number you want to stay under is 108". They arrive at that by adding the Length x 1, the Width x 2 and the Height x 2, kinda odd but that's it. You can't ship a complete bike through USPS cheaply unless you break it down into 2 boxes - still cheaper than 1 box UPS or FedEx. If you use this as a frame box - 40" long, 8" thick and 20" high you can easily get any full size ballooner frame in this box with the front fender inside the rear triangle and other parts as needed and still come in under that 108" mark. For the second box you put the rear fender over one wheel and then make it just big enough to get both wheels and fender in. There is plenty of space left in the two boxes for the remainder of the parts including springer forks and rear carriers. I've shipped complete bikes to Puerto Rico cheaper than some of the quotes you guys posted here. So that's my story and I'm stickkin to it! Have fun! Robert
 
I checked UPS vs USPS again, and it's the same as last year. If you can keep your box at 44 x 24 x 8 or smaller, parcel post at USPS is the way to go. I've shipped frames and parts in bike boxes I have cut down to size. Bike shops have plenty of boxes, and you can use them if they have been broken down already. It's appoximately 20 bucks to ship that size box. You can't get a whole bike with wheels in there, but two of those boxes would still be only around 40 bucks. I've gotten everything except wheels in a box that size. I've got a thread here on how I modded a regular bike box.
 

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