I’ve been aware of bike shipping services for several years. In fact, seven or eight guests have shipped bikes to our Upper Peninsula tours at various times. I’ve just send one of my older bikes to my son in New Jersey, to be his commuter bike, and here’s how I did it.

The basics are simple:

In total this took about half an hour, including 15 minutes at the bike shop, and 15 minutes packing. I had to remove the seatpost and clean it, pull off 2 pedals, and remove the front wheel. I taped the skewer to a spoke for the trip. One screw held the handlebars, and they were quickly off and fastened to the top tube. After a few minutes with package tape, the box was sealed.

The box was 58″ x 33″ x 8″, and 35 pounds according to my bathroom scale. I searched three online sources for shipping cost from Detroit to New Jersey: An internet based broker (about $253); a name-brand parcel delivery service (about $162); and ShipBikes.com , just $48.10! It took only minutes to create the account and purchase shipping labels. The package was delivered to the local FedEx drop off only a half mile from home, on a Monday morning. They delivered in New Jersey just 2 days later!

Let me recap that: a free box, $48 fee, two bolts to remove the seat post, one screw to take handlebars off, remove two pedals, and pull off the front wheel. Piece of cake! Adam sent a report from New Jersey- no damage during shipping, and less than 10 minutes to assemble the bike.

This is a very powerful bit of information if you’re considering a bike tour at a remote location and you wish to avoid renting a bike.

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