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Shipping a bike overseas

My 500-dollar bike cases' wheels were completely shot after one trip to the US....

OTOH it's been through several trips to Okinawa (with a friend, not me) with no issue.

American baggage handlers SUCK.
 
My 500-dollar bike cases' wheels were completely shot after one trip to the US....

OTOH it's been through several trips to Okinawa (with a friend, not me) with no issue.

American baggage handlers SUCK.

My wheels were damaged on the way back from Aus.

If you have decent travel insurance, they will pay the cost of repair or a new box, depending which is cheaper.

In my case I got the cost of the box.

Still using the old box sans wheels...

Andy

https://www.facebook.com/biketrainingandracinginjapan/
 
I replaced the wheels with new ones from the dealer. They said next time I really needed to warranty them with the maker....
 
I usually fly Delta and I could have sworn they said that bikes aren't protected. You basically sign a damage waiver. Do you mean extra travel insurance? To be honestly I only ever flew with my bike once since it wasn't worth paying $300 to barely ride my bike...
 
It's not the bike that is damaged but the luggage?

You can get insurance to cover your luggage, be it regular suitcases, boxes etc.

Our insurance is tied up to the credit card, so I always use that card for flights etc. and we are covered automatically.

So suitcases, boxes, baby buggies, everything is covered.

Worth looking into.

Andy

https://www.facebook.com/biketrainingandracinginjapan/
 
As I noted in a different thread (thanks again for all the advice and help), I just used a Scicon bag to fly to the US. This was going to be my first time traveling with a carbon bike, so I was definitely worried. Moreover, I had a transfer in LA, which is usually just an awful experience. I have to say that I was impressed by how all of the baggage handlers dealt with my bag. It is definitely bigger than normal luggage, so it makes sense that they charge extra (I paid $150 because it was a bicycle, but would have had to pay a similar amount for oversized). They treated the bag as oversized, which meant that it wasn't just thrown onto the conveyor belt, as is often the case with normal baggage. Both the bag and the bike look great. The bag protected the bike well and the bag itself does not have any obvious signs of wear. I am sure that people will have different experiences with baggage handlers, but in my case, they seemed familiar enough with how to deal with bicycles and handled it carefully (at least while I was around to see!).

Also, in case this is useful to anyone in the future, the Delta gate agent said that she wasn't sure, but she thought that even if the bike bag was a third piece of checked luggage, you would still only pay the $150. She wasn't certain, however, so I would definitely recommend anyone interested in this option double check with someone from the company. This probably wouldn't be useful to people going on a short trip, but could be useful information for anyone moving abroad.
 
@leicaman where did you get the box that could fit that standard? was it a bike specific or just a generic one? I'm trying to see if it's worth just sending Wilier to Europe and leave it there for when I go over rather than selling it. 300cm for the whole circumference, plus the longest side means I'd need at least two boxes for the full bike, or just ship the frame and parts, and buy some wheels online for EU delivery separately......
 
@leicaman where did you get the box that could fit that standard? was it a bike specific or just a generic one? I'm trying to see if it's worth just sending Wilier to Europe and leave it there for when I go over rather than selling it. 300cm for the whole circumference, plus the longest side means I'd need at least two boxes for the full bike, or just ship the frame and parts, and buy some wheels online for EU delivery separately......

I just used a non-bike related box I had lying around and cut it down to size. It looked a right mess by the time I finished with it but it got to the UK and back to Japan fine. I think there is a company that sell boxes online for shipping bikes. They are fall just inside the 300cm limit for EMS but I can't find the link at the moment 😞
 
I've found some where 3 sides add up to 260cm, which seems to be some national standard for shipping within Japan but won't work for me. Thanks for sharing this anyway, I'm not in a hurry for now just looking. I'm going there mid October and hope to sort it out by then
 
I think there is a company that sell boxes online for shipping bikes. They are fall just inside the 300cm limit for EMS but I can't find the link at the moment 😞

Sorry for the grave dig but wondered if anyone has found a box that fits the 300cm EMS limit? A cardboard box for a frame only certainly fits but wheels won't fit in the box as it is too short. Thanks for any help.
 
This summer when I was home in the states I ended up picking up a new bike. I was running into a lot of the same ridiculous quotes for shipping it back to Japan. My family and I had flown in on JAL, when I checked their website it said ¥20,000 for oversized luggage/packages. I thought it was a steal and just boxed the bike up and took it to the airport with us. We were flying out of Seatac (Seattle) and I was then truly, truly shocked when as we checked in, the agent looked at his computer and asked about the oversize package that we had noted in the online check-in. We showed him the bike box, he slapped a sticker/claim ticket on it and said "take it over there, please. And have a nice flight." They never charged us for it at all. Got to Narita and had to use Kuroneko Yamato to ship it to Aomori. All told, between JAL and Yamato I got it to Aomori for a total of ¥6,900.

Moral of the story, use JAL.
 
I think it's worth mentioning that the cheapest way to take a bike overseas is to bring it with you on a flight. $150 each way.

From Los Angeles to Shizuoka airport on Sichuan Airlines one way $285. They did NOT charge me extra for the bicycle. The boxed bicycle was included in my allowed 50 lbs of check in luggage. It was the only thing I brought.
 

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Hello here!
Thanks for the good information I could find on this thread!
I just moved to Japan in december and I'm trying to send my bike (except wheels) from UK at the moment, in order to discover this beautiful nature around!
Do you have some courier to recommend?
Is there anyone flying from Europe who would bring it on his/her flight? would be sooo nice and easier! I'm dreaming here ;)

thanks in advance
 
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