# So..What do you guys think about BikeFlights?



## badbob (Mar 26, 2019)

So,, What do you think about Bike Flights changing carriers from FEDEX to UPS?


----------



## Jesse McCauley (Mar 26, 2019)

Wwwhhhaaatttt?! When?! Gotta get on the computer 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## bricycle (Mar 26, 2019)

Well.... your stuff will get there quicker (if it gets there). Yes, UPS ground is definitely quicker than fed-ex ground. (I ship for a living)


----------



## badbob (Mar 26, 2019)

Effective 3-27-2019


----------



## Jesse McCauley (Mar 26, 2019)

call in to Bikeflights and the customer service rep "cannot confirm or deny" what the company will be doing in the "future"

Some of that bullpoop

- Scathing email sent to Bikeflights, not concerning the shift but concerning the method of keeping customers in the dark intentionally.
I planned on shipping a number of bikes today, how can I do that in good faith with the suspicion that they may change their service over completely at midnight tonight or something?

Dissapointed in Bikeflights.

EDIT part 2:

I received a call back from the rep I spoke to at Bikeflights apologizing for her lack of transparency. 
She confirmed the switch, and that they had entrusted that information with only top shippers for a major announcement to the public tomorrow.


----------



## Autocycleplane (Mar 26, 2019)

Wow, that’s a drag. UPS has a horrible reputation for shipping bikes, and going direct to FedEx for a label is cost prohibitive. This is another blow to the hobby, exorbitant eBay fees being another.

I can’t say I’m not surprised about this though. I can’t imagine how they were making money or building a strong partnership with FedEx with their business model. I’ve been baffled as to how it’s survived this long. I fear this switch will only delay the inevitable - it’s likely not a viable business but I hope I am wrong and they go back to or include FedEx as an option.


----------



## rustystone2112 (Mar 26, 2019)

badbob said:


> So,, What do you think about Bike Flights changing carriers from FEDEX to UPS?



Bike flights is 0 for 5  with me ,  all five bike delivered damaged


----------



## 100bikes (Mar 26, 2019)

At one time it was explained that the UPS material handling system max out just short of adult size bike boxes.

It was a crapshoot for the boxes, and if the didn't make the gates, the box would be hand "handled". Horizontally, vertically, 
inverted or some combination.

And then there are the drivers who just don't care a whole lot.

I did hear that if you label your boxes as large screen tv's , they get better handling.

Hmmmm.

Anyone use Fastenal shipping ?


----------



## bricycle (Mar 26, 2019)

Fastenall I believe has good results, but expensive. They wanted $160 to move a Doodle bug or such with no engine. Not even across country.


----------



## tryder (Mar 26, 2019)

badbob said:


> So,, What do you think about Bike Flights changing carriers from FEDEX to UPS?



All the more reason to only purchase items from people who know what they are doing.
Beautifully packed tv boxes from Perrysburg seem like the way to go.


----------



## bricycle (Mar 26, 2019)

LOL message I recently received from Fed-Ex ground Tracking:
6:00 am  On FedEx vehicle for delivery
2:13 pm  Delivery exception
No attempt made, delivery scheduled for next business day
I'm on the "Pay NO Mind List"


----------



## ABC Services (Mar 26, 2019)

I have not used them but I have heard good reviews for " Shipbikes.com "


----------



## GiovanniLiCalsi (Mar 26, 2019)

The last time I had UPS ship a mint porcelain Coca-Cola fishtail sign, it arrived at the buyers home and had been driven over by the UPS truck! The plywood container had tire tread marks on it and UPS denied any wrong doing.
It took a month of phone calls to get them to cover it. They settled by refunding the buyer and giving the sign to him. I will never use UPS, ever again!


----------



## fordmike65 (Mar 26, 2019)




----------



## prewarbikes4sale (Mar 26, 2019)

ABC Services said:


> I have not used them but I have heard good reviews for " Shipbikes.com "



And they use Fedex!


----------



## RUDY CONTRATTI (Mar 26, 2019)

*Well I guess in this world we live in,,there is no longer such a thing as The Right Courier,simply because people sit on there lazy butts,,hit some keys, and order what they want from ,,Amazon,,Food Stores,,ETC..,, with Free Shipping,clogging our roads with beat up ,Brand New Sprinter Vans to get you your goods on time,,In todays world ,,the care and *integrity *of shipping has gone down the drain,,they are all in a rush,there demands are so *overwhelming* they can give a rats ass if the box says FRAGILE..let alone a 50 to 60 pound bike.Its up to the packer and sender to no the item is gonna get beat up ,,so pack them well and add some $ for that pack job.And I always thought  UPS stood for OPPS ,WE DROPPED YOUR PACKAGE
And it appears in this day and age
WERE ALL GOING TO HEAVEN ON A HARD DISC DRIVE,,and cant wait for whats coming in the mail *


----------



## TieDye (Mar 26, 2019)

@47jchiggins  This doesn't sound good.


----------



## Nashman (Mar 26, 2019)

rustystone2112 said:


> Bike flights is 0 for 5  with me ,  all five bike delivered damaged



Bummer, I've had great luck on all 6/6 bikes in the last year. If UPS takes over, disaster. Allot depends on how stuff is packed...but....


----------



## bikewhorder (Mar 26, 2019)

This woman perfectly described how I feel about this switch


----------



## Balloontyre (Mar 27, 2019)

It's out of your control, get over it.


----------



## Sven (Mar 27, 2019)

Sounds like more road trips to me.


----------



## tryder (Mar 27, 2019)

Necessity is the mother of invention.  The creme will rise to the top.  It's never easy but this is what makes our country great.
What I liked about bikefligts as a low volume purchaser besides that they used FedEx is that their system allowed me to print a lable and send it to the seller.
This way allows me to get on the case of the party responsible for handling the package directly and not the person who did me the favor of selling me the bike.
I have had good results so far.  I have found FedEx to be very responsive and the packing of all of the bikes that I have purchased through the CABE to be top shelf or better.  I am not kidding.
One of the many reasons why I keep coming back.


----------



## piercer_99 (Mar 27, 2019)

shipbikes.com uses fedex, and their prices are a little lower than bikeflights.com

With that in mind, I just used shipbikes for the first time Monday, fedex picked the bike up from my house, for a very small charge, 5 dollars us.  The $5 fee for pickup was a deal for me, the closest fedex dropoff to me is 15 miles away, through nightmare highway construction.  Takes about 35 minutes to get to it.  Well worth the $5 to me.

I have used bikeflights in the past for shipping bikes, shipbikes rate was about 10% less, their customer service is really easy to deal with, so far.


----------



## Krakatoa (Mar 27, 2019)

I've been keeping up with this for over a month. A friend clued me into a Facebook post about Bikeflights raising their prices when it happened. Now this news. I'm changing my business model as we speak.


----------



## fordmike65 (Mar 27, 2019)

I've noticed the price increase as well. A few months ago I had a bike shipped from Texas to CA for $55. Just a couple weeks ago I had another shipped from Oregon...$104:eek:


----------



## Nashman (Mar 27, 2019)

bikewhorder said:


> This woman perfectly described how I feel about this switch



What, she didn't see the Simpson's episode in 2000?


----------



## KevinsBikes (Mar 27, 2019)

So with UPS is the price going to change drastically? I see people freaking out but there isn’t much that says what will be different. I drop off at UPS instead of FedEX, and what else?

I’ve sent 100+ full bikes with BikeFlights and another 100+ parts packages and never had a damage claim against a single shipment. Any high end OG or restored bike ship the wheels separate. 

People probably said at some point an Internet website dealing with the exchange of classic and and antique bikes would ruin the hobby...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## rustjunkie (Mar 27, 2019)

Have shipped and received  bicycles old and new since the 1990s using FedEx and UPS.
From my experience the vast majority of damage  is the result of poor packaging.
As far as price: do the research, factor in time and all expenses then go with what works for you.


----------



## bricycle (Mar 27, 2019)

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5335809022&icep_item=153369072433


----------



## Jay81 (Mar 27, 2019)

I might have to give shipbikes.com a try.  I too have noticed bikeflights prices creeping up lately.


----------



## Archie Sturmer (Mar 27, 2019)

Most damage seems to be at the pointy ends; either the head tube or the rear drop outs.
My last shipment had 3 delivery exceptions, until I went online (no paper notes); maybe the seller requested the signature confirmation. 
I recall checking, and I thought that it only read, on top line, delivery will be attempted on the next day.
Because it was already 3 days, and I did not have a printer capability, I just signed my own note with the tracking number and taped to front door.


----------



## razinhellcustomz (Mar 30, 2019)

FED  EX GOOD!!! UPS BAAAAD!!!!


----------



## bobcycles (Mar 30, 2019)

rustjunkie said:


> Have shipped and received  bicycles old and new since the 1990s using FedEx and UPS.
> From my experience the vast majority of damage  is the result of poor packaging.
> As far as price: do the research, factor in time and all expenses then go with what works for you.





agreed.  Although I do believe FedEx treats the packages a bit better....it's up to the packers.  MOST packers suck at 
packing bikes... especially those unfamiliar with the task.  It's nerve wracking getting a NICE bike shipped from a 
total stranger, Ebayer, Clister etc ...  Even some folks who have been in the hobby for ages never learned how to 
pack a bike.  You can always insure against damages by going the extra mile packing the bike or item right.
Laziness, flakiness and plain stupidity and ignorance ares the causes of most damages...NOT the carriers


----------



## Bikerider007 (Mar 30, 2019)

BF is' cheap but you get what you pay for. They rarely answer phone, the web site has issues. 

Last, problem solving communication is poor. I learned this the hard way when a package I shipped was damaged (Fedex) and you have to pull teeth to know what's going on.


----------



## New Mexico Brant (Mar 30, 2019)

Sent my first three shipments this week using Shipbikes.com.  Was easy to get two different people on the phone from the company to answer questions.  The rates were very fair in comparison to what Bikeflights has been recently.


----------



## pedal4416 (Mar 30, 2019)

I just found out about this yesterday when I went to ship a bike from my friends Shop in Wisconsin to myself in Texas and it was $110!!! It used to be half that max! I’m pretty bummed because I have a few more bikes up there!!


----------



## prewarbikes4sale (Mar 30, 2019)

New Mexico Brant said:


> Sent my first three shipments this week using Shipbikes.com.  Was easy to get two different people on the phone from the company to answer questions.  The rates were very fair in comparison to what Bikeflights has been recently.



I just scheduled one with them.


----------



## piercer_99 (Mar 30, 2019)

Update on my experience with Shipbikes.com

The bicycle was delivered, safely, with no damage to the outside of the box, or to the bicycle inside the box.  Also, it was delivered a day earlier than originally stated.

double win.


----------



## kreika (Mar 31, 2019)

My favorite thing about these third party shippers is you can enter whatever dimensions and weight you want. Shave a few inches here, drop a few pounds there. Watch that final price get mo better. Since your dropping off pre-labeled packages, nobody knows the difference. Disappointing they switched. I’ll be checking out Shipbikes as well. Thanks for the tip! 
Never had any damages with any of my shipments either. Of course I completely disassemble the entire bike and pad the heck out of it. Now on the other end, I’ve received some pretty paltry packaging over the years. If your not going to do it right, don’t do it all please.


----------



## Jeff54 (Mar 31, 2019)

The last bike I shipped via Bikeflights IDK 2017 or so. , first use for them just because they quoted the best price. Too Phoenix and it turned into a hassle as it went past Phoenix and nearly got stuck in middle of nowhere. I managed to track its location,  get in touch with Phoenix,  back on track and delivered. BUT, the box was torn and beat to crap, and I prob should have cushioned the peddles better as the tape I'd secured them with broke loose and chipped up the frame's paint where I'd tied them on.

But Bikeflights went to town on the shipper and with hardly a hassle got the buyer $150-200 bucks. I l ike that, Bikeflight did the work and it was only a $250 bike so all ended well for both, save that, it does suck to even get one lousy scratch on any bike, especially older 'collectible'. But like I said, despite that they'd destroyed the Schwinn box I used, everything else was covered with foam, float tubes and special items that Schwinn uses,  etc.  Although it was how I'd usually tied em on and never had a problem,  I should have cushioned the peddles better. B/C otherwise, it would have made it fine.

As some know what a real pain it is getting shipper to honor damage claims and or complete it timely, Very happy with Bikeflights pricing and service.


----------



## ratfink1962 (Mar 31, 2019)

I recently used Bikeflights for the first time... The box sat in a hub for several days due to weather, then once it got to the destination hub they put it on the truck for delivery, but it didnt get delivered, same thing happened for two more days... on the truck, but never delivered. all in all it finally arrived one week late. Amazingly it arrived without damage, but really NOT a good first time experience.

I contacted customer service and was basically told to pound sand, nothing they could do about it.

So when I got the email link a few days later asking to rate them, I left an honest review... it wasnt 24 hours later and I was contacted by them saying they would give a refund on shipping since the delivery was a week late.

Will I use them again? probably, but will definitely compare to shipbikes before I pull the trigger.


----------



## rickyd (Mar 31, 2019)

Shipping whole bikes has become such a PITA regardless of carrier I've considered farming it out to a lbs anyone here do that?


----------



## kreika (Mar 31, 2019)

rickyd said:


> Shipping whole bikes has become such a PITA regardless of carrier I've considered farming it out to a lbs anyone here do that?




Haven’t gone that route before but have heard horror stories. Lbs’s usually only ship modern bikes that have minimal parts. Hence minimal packing. Not good for heavy vintage balloners. If you go that route.  I’d stop in before they ship it out to make sure their packaging is up to snuff. Good luck!


----------



## BatWaves (Apr 3, 2019)

I’ve used Bikeflights roughly 50 times. The most recent time through UPS. To be honest it’s hard to complain, considering the amount of $ I’ve saved after every bicycle I ship across the country. A 55lbs Oversized Box+Pickup by Carrier+Extra Insurance+$5 in Donations will beat any standard consumer pricing walking in off the street asking for the same coverage. 
*This statement doesn’t include Business Pricing


----------



## GiovanniLiCalsi (Apr 3, 2019)

I pack this method. It probably sounds like overkill, but it always gets to destination undamaged....

Bicycle Packing

I take the fork and front wheel off and leave the rear wheel on the frame.
I then wrap 2" foam pipe insulation on the wheels around the tires and rims and also use 3/4" pipe insulation on the frame tubes. 1/2" pipe insulation on the seat and chain stays. Use 3/4" pipe insulation on the fork tubes. Use plastic zip-ties or packing tape for fastening pipe insulation. Use bolt, washers and nut to reinforce the fork at the hub axle dropouts.
Then bubble wrap every thing. Dont use more than one layer. Pack the seat in bubble wrap separately. Take the pedals off.
Remove the handle bars from the gooseneck and cover the bars with 3/4" pipe insulation.
Use a standard Specialized bicycle carton for the frame with rear wheel and a Specialized bicycle wheel carton for the front wheel and misc. Specialized bicycle cartons are the strongest.
Wrap all parts with large heavy duty trash bags and tape openings. Then have handy 8 cans of expanding foam purchased from Home Depot. Lay a bed of foam on the inside bottom of carton where the upside down frame will be positioned. Don't go crazy with the foam placement. Remember it expands. Position the upside down frame in the bed of fresh foam then continue to add foam to the spaces between the carton and the frame. Use long disposable gloves. Foam has to wear off your skin or use nasty acetone to remove. You can spritz water on the foam to accelerate the curing. Now add foam popcorn to the spaces and add any small parts. Copy this procedure to the front wheel and fork carton (smaller wheel carton). The expanding foam fill will guarantee that the bicycle and parts do not become piercing projectiles that would rupture the cartons and cause catastrophic damage to the bicycle itself and also create a pathway for losing parts.
Buy a jumbo Sharpie marker and right fragile, keep upright and do not stack on top of box.
This works every time for me. I learned this lesson the hard way. 99% of all damage of contents are from not securing the contents from moving inside the carton.


----------



## spoker (Apr 3, 2019)

bobcycles said:


> agreed.  Although I do believe FedEx treats the packages a bit better....it's up to the packers.  MOST packers suck at
> packing bikes... especially those unfamiliar with the task.  It's nerve wracking getting a NICE bike shipped from a
> total stranger, Ebayer, Clister etc ...  Even some folks who have been in the hobby for ages never learned how to
> pack a bike.  You can always insure against damages by going the extra mile packing the bike or item right.
> Laziness, flakiness and plain stupidity and ignorance ares the causes of most damages...NOT the carriers



when the buyer doesnt bitch abour your time packaging or doesnt want to pay ins it wont change,to pack it in a double thick box will protect it,but untill u dont have to a bunch of cheap assas the damage will continue


----------



## Colonel Mustard (Apr 3, 2019)

bricycle said:


> LOL message I recently received from Fed-Ex ground Tracking:
> 
> 6:00 am  On FedEx vehicle for delivery
> 2:13 pm  Delivery exception
> No attempt made, delivery scheduled for next business day




I had almost the exact same yesterday. Apparently (according to scans) my package was on and off the truck at 2 different times and out for delivery before "no attempt made"

SMH


----------



## Maskadeo (Apr 3, 2019)

I tried Shipbikes.com the other day and it was noticeably cheaper. The only downside was they don’t give you a PayPal option, which is where a lot of my hobby funds are stashed.


----------



## tryder (Apr 3, 2019)

Maskadeo said:


> I tried Shipbikes.com the other day and it was noticeably cheaper. The only downside was they don’t give you a PayPal option, which is where a lot of my hobby funds are stashed.



No PayPal option is a pretty big downside.


----------



## rustjunkie (Apr 3, 2019)

kreika said:


> My favorite thing about these third party shippers is you can enter whatever dimensions and weight you want. Shave a few inches here, drop a few pounds there. Watch that final price get mo better. Since your dropping off pre-labeled packages, nobody knows the difference.




seems short-sighted, could contribute to price increases as packages are audited and bills for balance sent to bikeflights.
misstating size/weight also not great for handlers and determining vehicle load limits.
and oh yeah, dishonest


----------



## TieDye (Apr 3, 2019)

Here's a thought....  What if everyone that misreported the weight and size would have been paying the correct price all this time?  Maybe we would not find ourselves in this predicament?  I truly believe they began checking weights and sizes, as they do audit shipments at times (like Sweetwater and other musical dealers have this happen to, just to make sure they are being honest) and probably did see a pattern of underages through bikeflights customers.  I gotta believe that stuff like this did impact their relationship with FedEx.  And, I also believe that UPS and shipbikes will be auditing shipments too, because they are in business to make money.  I also believe that they will be billing violaters the difference plus a fee when the weight and sizes don't measure up.  I guess time will tell us, won't it?

Deb


----------



## tryder (Apr 3, 2019)

If the box size and weight are misreported that might explain why large boxes are not picked up or sit in a depo somewhere...
"Only enough room on the truck for what adds up" makes sense to me..
Perhaps having insurance would cover an honest mistake at least in theory..most likely to much paperwork to deal with at the end of the day..


----------



## bikemonkey (Apr 3, 2019)

From the bikeflight website just now...so they are using their choice of carrier or transitioning to UPS?


----------



## Kato (Apr 3, 2019)

bikemonkey said:


> From the bikeflight website just now...so they are using their choice of carrier or transitioning to UPS?
> View attachment 974847




Wondering the same - Based on the above are they using both FedEx and UPS now / for a while..............?

Guess I'll be finding out - will be sending a bike out hopefully by the weekend.
Kato


----------



## kreika (Apr 3, 2019)

rustjunkie said:


> seems short-sighted, could contribute to price increases as packages are audited and bills for balance billed to bikeflights.
> misstating weight also not great for handlers and determining vehicle load limits.
> and oh yeah, dishonest




Yup, call me crook. Guilty as charged. It’s us the regular people versus the fat cats. I’ll try and take them every time. If they had an audit on my one of my packages, it would have been charged back to me. Would it not? Never got a charge back. Shipping companies don’t just switch unless it’s a profit minded decision. UPS gave them a better rate, so they switched. It’s like you wanting $500 to restore a saddle and someone else on The Cabe only wanting $250. What’s the extra $250 going too? Are you dishonest? No! All in the name of profit and making or SAVING in my instance a few bucks.  Have a nice day.


----------



## piercer_99 (Apr 3, 2019)

Maskadeo said:


> I tried Shipbikes.com the other day and it was noticeably cheaper. The only downside was they don’t give you a PayPal option, which is where a lot of my hobby funds are stashed.



there is an easy solution to that, just get your free paypal debit card, that is linked to your account, then use that card for it.

paypal used to have a random credit card generator, which would give you a number to use for a purchase, that lasted about 2 years, then they went to the debit card linked to your account.   You can use it almost anywhere.


----------



## bobcycles (Apr 3, 2019)

rickyd said:


> Shipping whole bikes has become such a PITA regardless of carrier I've considered farming it out to a lbs anyone here do that?






I would be happy to hand deliver with velvet gloves in my vehicle any bicycle or parts you wish to ship around the nation
for a flat fee of 8500.00 to cover gas, lodging, food, and entertainment.... I will hand deliver it to the recipient
for this price lower 48 state and bring a complimentary beverage for the recipient as well... plus a 'free gift'


----------



## rustjunkie (Apr 3, 2019)

kreika said:


> It’s like you wanting $500 to restore a saddle and someone else on The Cabe only wanting $250. What’s the extra $250 going too? Are you dishonest? No! All in the name of profit and making or SAVING in my instance a few bucks.  Have a nice day.




well, no, it’s not like that, actually...not even close.
but since you mention it:
saltines are the _bizzness _if you never had a ritz,
and some folks just can’t tell the difference between a parnis and a panerai.


----------



## Saving Tempest (Apr 4, 2019)

I can get a box at the shop downtown and the shipping store that handles most of the carriers around here is nearby. No problem for me, if I actually were selling instead of buying all your stuff...


----------



## Free Wheel (Apr 4, 2019)

rustjunkie said:


> well, no, it’s not like that, actually...not even close.
> but since you mention it:
> saltines are the _bizzness _if you never had a ritz,
> and some folks just can’t tell the difference between a parnis and a panerai.




With Fed Ex or UPS, it helps to know your local guy and be on friendly terms with him. That at least reduces the chance that he'll just hard-drop your bike box on the door step. But you still have all the places before that things can go bad. The conveyor belts in the centers, truck-to-center drop offs, etc. These guys are rough on the boxes.... big time. Pack with lots of bubble and foam. Recycle it if you got it - throw it in. Eventually it's garbage anyway so use the soft stuff you got. Bike Flights did help me out a couple times I had damaged bikes and parts. I had to call once to check on a refund. Stoner type kid answered, but it was all good in the end. 

I don't cheat on box weights. The chiseling has to stop somewhere. I'm not getting on that train. I had this neighbor who used to do winter gardening. He had a truckload of glass bell jars made up that went over the plants to keep them warm in the winter, for him and these other winter garden people he knew online. People get into some crazy hobbies. He ended up selling a bunch of jars online. He got into this cutesy game of shaving weight on the packages. He got away with it for awhile, but toward the end, he finally got a return of a couple boxes because he underpaid and wouldn't pay their fee. So one day, the local Fed Ex store calls him and tells him some of his boxes are back. He goes down there and sure enough, three of the boxes are back and all of them are totally smashed. Basically they told him to take his crap and get lost - they caught on after about the 20th time he shaved weight. 

People send crazy crap too. Years ago, I had an upstairs neighbor who was into building desktop computers - the old tower-type ones. He used to buy tons of parts online - from all different places. I remember him bitching about how he bought this computer case online from some guy, who then packed the case in a box - I poop you not - using old McDonald's wrappers as padding. There were french fries, parts of burger buns, all sorts of crap in there with the case. I laughed my ass off.


----------



## GTs58 (Apr 4, 2019)

Have they changed something or is everyone thinking the weight is a big deal. It's the box size that matters. Cheating on the weight really makes no difference because the weight is pretty much irrelevant with a bike box.  I have experimented with adding weight to my package when trying to figure out what it's going to cost to ship a bike with FedX. I used the same box dimension that was just under the size where the cost would double. I started off with 45 lbs and then kept adding 10 pounds each time to see when I'd get hit with a price increase. I was up to 80 pounds before the price increased to a few bucks more.


----------



## GenuineRides (Apr 5, 2019)

Freight companies use dimensional weight, which takes into account actual weight, square footage or cubic size of the box dimension, and also figures the density to come up with their rates.  So typically bikes exceed the space before they exceed the density weight for their size, therefore weight is less of a factor in pricing.  Its about how much space does it fill on the trailer load to optimize the space used/rate to pay for the cost of the trip.


----------



## Jay81 (Apr 5, 2019)

Well I decided to give shipbikes.com a try. Using accurate size and weight, I compared their price to bikeflights, and they were $10 cheaper.
Same Fedex that I'm used to, and have never had an issue with, and a few more bucks in my wallet. 

The fact that shipbikes doesn't take paypal didn't bother me, since I don't take paypal anymore. 
However, when I did have paypal I did use it to buy bikeflights labels, which was sort of nice.


----------



## rideahiggins (Apr 6, 2019)

I went to each website. Shipbike, Bikeflights and UPS and plugged in all the same numbers to ship a bike box from Indiana to California. Shipbike 66.27, Bikeflights $88.95, UPS $139.47. It's apparent that UPS considers a 54x8x29 bike box oversized now. UPS rates on Ebay are just as rediculous.


----------



## mr.cycleplane (Apr 22, 2019)

cheating bikeflights on the weight is one thing-that's a reflexion on your character. now they have caught on and its hurting their bottom line. this might explain the 'beef' I have with them-damaged goods. the last 3 out of 4 shipment thru bikeflights have had damaged. I have had to completely replace two front forks that were tweaked beyond belief. and it wasn't the shipper-the bikes were packed well. when you see a footprint in the middle of the box (obviously kicked full on)or forklift blades punch marks-this is the personnel handling our goods. they are probably frustrated that this cheating on shipping charges is affecting their next raise-so pay back is a '______ -_______'! I have had 'ups' shipments-a little more cost-a little more time getting to the destination-but it got there and box was handled the way I would expect service for my hard earned money.


----------



## Autocycleplane (Apr 22, 2019)

Bikeflights or any of the other "shipping label generators" do not actually ship or ever handle your package in any fashion. They are simply a middleman that gets the enterprise/bulk rates from the shippers that we cannot and then skims a bit off the top to try and make a profit before passing the remaining savings along to us. 

It's FedEx or UPS that is doing the damage.


----------



## fordmike65 (Apr 23, 2019)

Just tried shipbikes for the first time today. $64.85 vs bikeflights $98.20 from MO to CA with $500 coverage. Seems the choice is clear


----------



## saladshooter (Apr 23, 2019)

When I shipped my last bike from New Hampshire to Colorado. Shipbikes with $1500 insurance was the same price as bikeflights without insurance. $105 (2 boxes)


----------



## Saving Tempest (Apr 23, 2019)

GenuineRides said:


> Freight companies use dimensional weight, which takes into account actual weight, square footage or cubic size of the box dimension, and also figures the density to come up with their rates.  So typically bikes exceed the space before they exceed the density weight for their size, therefore weight is less of a factor in pricing.  Its about how much space does it fill on the trailer load to optimize the space used/rate to pay for the cost of the trip.





Yes, and in the last year or three the carriers have updated how they figure this out. You don't see anything like USPS does with one size to a certain weight fixed rate shipping in Priority Mail packages in bike shipping.


----------



## locomotion (Nov 7, 2021)

I personally think BF is horrible, they have terrible customer service from my experiences with them ...... I have shipped around (10) bikes with them because I could not find any substitutes and I would not recommend
I now use the services of netparcel.com, on the last (12) bikes that I have shipped out, and everything went smooth when shipping Canada-Canada and Canada-US
they seem to have contracts with different shippers depending on destination and let you choose the best option for you
I wanted to give it a good try before letting you guys know, their customer service and answer to emails is top notch!





__





						Economy International Shipping | Cheapest Shipping | netParcel
					

netParcel provides the cheapest shipping rates through all major couriers. Get economy international shipping, discount shipping, cheap Shopify shipping & LTL freight shipping services. Use our shipping calculator to find the best shipping rates. Sign up today!




					netparcel.com
				




Also, I have never used their service for US-US or US-Canada or US-International because I am in Canada, so I don't know if will works from the US, but the quoted price on their website is in Canadian dollars, so it you are in the US, your credit card will probably be billed in Canadian dollars, so the USD charge will be less ....... win-win for you

it would be great if someone in the US would try them and reply on the experience

( netparcel , net parcel , netparcel.com )


----------



## locomotion (Nov 7, 2021)

mr.cycleplane said:


> cheating bikeflights on the weight is one thing-that's a reflexion on your character. now they have caught on and its hurting their bottom line. this might explain the 'beef' I have with them-damaged goods. the last 3 out of 4 shipment thru bikeflights have had damaged. I have had to completely replace two front forks that were tweaked beyond belief. and it wasn't the shipper-the bikes were packed well. when you see a footprint in the middle of the box (obviously kicked full on)or forklift blades punch marks-this is the personnel handling our goods. they are probably frustrated that this cheating on shipping charges is affecting their next raise-so pay back is a '______ -_______'! I have had 'ups' shipments-a little more cost-a little more time getting to the destination-but it got there and box was handled the way I would expect service for my hard earned money.




It's not about "cheating" on weight, but who has a package scale at home to actually weight the package? (I don't even have a weight scale at home to check my weight)
I don't use bikeflight, 
but with netparcel.com 
I "guesstimate" the weight to the closest of my ability and once shipped, the shipper (usually UPS) sends the correct weight to netparcel and netparcel issues a new invoice with the correct weight and the new charge, plain and really simple. (on my last shipment, I got a correction charge of $2.64) !!!!! yes, you read that correctly

I prefer to underestimate the weight a little to get a new invoice with the correct weight because I have a feeling that if I estimate the weight too high, I don't think that UPS would send me a refund on my overpayment (personal feeling, never actually tried it)
so I am not cheating anyone by underestimating the weight ...... I still get charged the right amount at the end, win-win to all parties involved


----------



## kreika (Nov 7, 2021)

I’ve had zero problems with bikeflights! I ship continental US only. They’re a fantastic deal over going to any pack n’ ship place! For example, my local ship place wanted way over $200 for something I shipped through bikeflights for less than a hundo. That’s a win win to me and my customers. As far as shipping goes, I’ve never had any damages via FedEx ground. With that said I don’t put a bike in a box and hope it makes it there on luck. I totally disassemble and wrap every part. I leave nothing to chance. If your getting consistent damages to your shipments, your doing something wrong. Always glad to offer advice on bomb proof shipping too!


----------



## Nashman (Nov 7, 2021)

I use Shipbikes that partner with Fed Ex. I was under the impression that Bikeflights ( no longer used Fed Ex) partnered with UPS and the rates went up. Perhaps this was because of fudged weights, I dunno, doesn't matter as I don't fudge ( don't turn that in a scat joke...) but understand Locomotion's system that corrects a guesstimate. My experience with both has been so/so, always being at the buyer end, U.S. to Canada. Packing well is key. Fed Ex can be ( ground or air) fast and reliable, but also inept and the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Locomotions netparcel.com sounds like a good alternative, but if I read correctly, may not be offered in a U.S. to Canada service. I'd be interested in knowing if it is. I buy big and heavy stuff and it's expensive, especially tax and duty!!


----------



## kreika (Nov 7, 2021)

Nashman said:


> I use Shipbikes that partner with Fed Ex. I was under the impression that Bikeflights ( no longer used Fed Ex) partnered with UPS and the rates went up. Perhaps this was because of fudged weights, I dunno, doesn't matter as I don't fudge ( don't turn that in a scat joke...) but understand Locomotion's system that corrects a guesstimate. My experience with both has been so/so, always being at the buyer end, U.S. to Canada. Packing well is key. Fed Ex can be ( ground or air) fast and reliable, but also inept and the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Locomotions netparcel.com sounds like a good alternative, but if I read correctly, may not be offered in a U.S. to Canada service. I'd be interested in knowing if it is. I buy big and heavy stuff and it's expensive, especially tax and duty



As soon as bikeflights went UPS they lost me as a customer. The reason they switched was UPS offered them a better rate. As we all know it’s all about that $$$!


----------



## locomotion (Nov 7, 2021)

kreika said:


> I’ve had zero problems with bikeflights! I ship continental US only. They’re a fantastic deal over going to any pack n’ ship place! For example, my local ship place wanted way over $200 for something I shipped through bikeflights for less than a hundo. That’s a win win to me and my customers. As far as shipping goes, I’ve never had any damages via FedEx ground. With that said I don’t put a bike in a box and hope it makes it there on luck. I totally disassemble and wrap every part. I leave nothing to chance. If your getting consistent damages to your shipments, your doing something wrong. Always glad to offer advice on bomb proof shipping too!



Packing is the key! You are correct on that.


----------



## J-wagon (Nov 7, 2021)

locomotion said:


> Packing is the key! You are correct on that.



I third that. For frame l wrap in pool noodles from thrift store and take pics.


----------



## catfish (Nov 7, 2021)

I'm done with Bike Flights. I only use Shipbikes.com now. Much better.


----------



## Nashman (Nov 7, 2021)

kreika said:


> As soon as bikeflights went UPS they lost me as a customer. The reason they switched was UPS offered them a better rate. As we all know it’s all about that $$$!



Chris, you drive for UPS?


----------



## locomotion (Nov 23, 2021)

locomotion said:


> It's not about "cheating" on weight, but who has a package scale at home to actually weight the package? (I don't even have a weight scale at home to check my weight)
> I don't use bikeflight,
> but with netparcel.com
> I "guesstimate" the weight to the closest of my ability and once shipped, the shipper (usually UPS) sends the correct weight to netparcel and netparcel issues a new invoice with the correct weight and the new charge, plain and really simple. (on my last shipment, I got a correction charge of $2.64) !!!!! yes, you read that correctly
> ...




I can now confirm that if you don't have a scale at home, you are better to guess-timate the weigh a bit lower.
When I do that, they simply send me a new invoice showing the actual weigh and a charge to pay for the extra.

On my last invoice, I guess-timated the weight too heavy and guess what, they did NOT issue me a refund for the extra, so classy of them.

Classic large company ..... they will never lose. The customer is "always" wrong no matter what!


----------



## Oilit (Nov 24, 2021)

So here's my most recent experience (two weeks ago), decide for yourself. @SilverBullet08 saw a 1954 Shelby Golden Eagle on Offerup in San Diego and posted it in this thread:








						Anyone need a Shelby? | Stuff on eBay, Craigslist, Facebook etc.
					

Not mine and I don’t know if that’s a good price either. Check out this item on OfferUp. https://offerup.co/rFyG1b9VXjb




					thecabe.com
				



I already have a 1955 version of the same model and you don't see many of either so I contacted the seller. He sent me more pictures and I decided to take a chance on it. I don't know anybody in San Diego so I went to the BikeFlights website and looked up a local shop to pack it for shipping. I ended up picking MJ's Cyclery, 3841 Park Blvd, San Diego. BikeFlights doesn't have any feedback on the shops it lists, so I picked blind, but it looks to be a successful shop.
MJ's fee for boxing the bike was $90.00, which would not be excessive for a good job. But the actual job fell short. They removed the front wheel, fender, handlebars, truss rods, peddles, seat and seat post, all without any obvious problems. They secured the front fender to the wheel and put large blocks of Styrofoam on either end of the front axle and strapped them on so they couldn't fall off. They braced the ends of the front fork with a plastic piece. So far so good, they started off pretty well.
Then they turned the fork backward and put the bike into the  box with the rear wheel and fender still bolted in place, nothing packed in the gap between them. They put a flattened cardboard box alongside the bike, and put the front wheel, pedals, seat, truss rods and handlebar on the other side. The seat was wrapped (loosely) in some heavy paper and the handlebar was wrapped in a large plastic bag, no tape or bubblewrap and nothing to hold them in place except a couple more pieces of loose cardboard and a piece of wadded up heavy paper.
The end result was at some point the box got stood on end and the weight of the frame mashed the rear fender against the wheel, and something that I'm guessing was the handlebar left a good size dent in the top of the fender. You can see that the box came through pretty well, so this was down to poor packing. MJ's might do all right packing a modern bike with no fenders or racks, but for these old bikes, I don't recommend them.
After the bike was boxed up, the weight was 65 lbs. and the box measured 11 x 33 x 56 inches, so BikeFlights' shipping fee from San Diego to North Carolina was $159.75 (including insurance). It's been a while since I shipped a bike, and after this it will be a good long while before I ship another. The bike came through with no (major) damage beyond the rear fender, but shipping bikes is still a pain, and I don't have the answer.
The first picture is from the seller when he dropped the bike off.


----------



## falconer (Nov 24, 2021)

I used to do Bikeflights til they switched to UPS. then i quit that. Shipbikes dot com now, they use FEDEX, much better. Try that


----------



## 1817cent (Nov 24, 2021)

Always a crap shoot unfortunately.  I have had bikes banged around with both shipbikes and bikeflights, both with decent packing.  Unfortunately no bike shop (in my opinion) will pack one of these old bikes properly.  Also, the most junior person in the shop gets the packing job and all they have seen regarding packing is how their new bikes come to them.  As you know, those new bikes are light and w/o fenders etc.


----------



## locomotion (Dec 1, 2021)

falconer said:


> I used to do Bikeflights til they switched to UPS. then i quit that. Shipbikes dot com now, they use FEDEX, much better. Try that



yes, Fedex much .... https://ca.yahoo.com/news/fedex-debacle-driver-dumped-packages-164915811.html

you can have good and bad experiences with any shipper, it all depends on who handles your packages


----------



## Rivnut (Dec 1, 2021)

I've been using Bikeflights a lot lately.  I've found that a safely delivered package has as much to do with how you pack it before even taking it to the shipper.


----------

