Fun with U.S. Customs

[DrRumack80]

Colin is someone who knows what he doing. He has been around old bikes a long time. Bubble wrap is good to use. The best packing material for a frame is the foam pipe insulation like they sell at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It's very thick and can be tailored to the frame pipes so that even if the frame falls out of the box, it still has the pipe insulation attached. The bikes I've received damaged over the years did not have this kind of insulation fitted right to the frame tubes. I suppose it could still be damaged, but you lower the chances if you have that insulation attached to the tubes.

Agree with you on all counts, Mike. That pipe insulation is excellent - I've used it just to transport my bikes locally to rides. I load the bike into the trunk of the car, with the rear seat folded down, front wheel removed. Pipe insulation protects the top tube from being scratched by the brake levers.

Colin has been very good through all of this. He is as frustrated as I am, noting that two other bikes he shipped to the US after mine were already delivered. Seems my Raleigh may have had the misfortune of getting the Customs inspector from hell.

I'm looking forward to the first ride on this 115 year-old Raleigh.

 

[HARPO]

Many years ago I guy bought a few bikes from me. He said he only picks up bikes he wants... no shipping anymore. Last one he had shipped to him had a tire truck trad mark across the box, thusly damaging the bike pretty badly.

FedEx said that the bike wasn't packaged properly, which it turned out it was. Took quite a while, he told me, but they finally paid up. No more hassles, he said. No more shipping.

 

[DrRumack80]

Getting closer - it arrived in Newark, NJ at 8:45 pm today, literally nore more than a 20 min car ride from here.


Scheduled delivery is tomorrow, before 8:00pm. Fingers crossed that it survived the trip unscathed!

 

[SirMike1983]

Good that it is moving again. Take pictures of everything as it arrives and carefully examine the frame and parts as you get them out of the box.

 

[DrRumack80]

Good that it is moving again. Take pictures of everything as it arrives and carefully examine the frame and parts as you get them out of the box.

Sage advice. Thanks, Mike. I'm going to try to be there for the box's arrival - I had it routed to a friend's house, who is home during the day. I'm leaving work at 3pm, as FedEx usually delivers later in the day.

I will keep you posted!

 

[DrRumack80]

It was just delivered at my friend's house. It's standing on edge, but the box looks undamaged!

 

[kreika]

Congrats on the long trip home! I hope everything is all good on the inside!

90% of all damages start with the person putting the items in the box. If someone packs a bike box thinking it’s going to stay upright it’s entire journey, otherwise it’ll get damaged. You have no place shipping bicycles! Your box will be handled by a great many people. Mostly underpaid, and forced to work at a high pace. The box will be loaded and unloaded multiple times. Go on conveyor belts. Potentially fall off them as well! Your box will intermingle with hundreds if not thousands of other packages. It will be upside down, on its side, on its end. Multiple times! Throw in the end mile the package will be in the delivery vehicle making turns, stops and starts, speed bumps, clipping a curb, etc. During the final delivery, packages may fall off upper shelves and hit/land on a bike box. Thin, tall, heavy bike boxes don’t stand up in moving delivery vehicles! They fall over, hence they sit on there sides till they make it to the delivery stop. If you don’t package it like it’s going to war, you’ll likely have a casualty!

 

[cyclingday]

Exactamundo!
Pack it like their going to airdrop it from 30,000 feet!

 

[DrRumack80]

Some photos of the shipping carton - some holes punched in it, evidence of impacts and rough handling.

Colin Kirsch of the Online Bicycle Museum did a first-rate packing job. No small parts were lost, despite the holes in the box.

 

[DrRumack80]

From what I could see from a brief inspection late last night, the bike is sound and suffered no major damage. (no bent frame, fork, or wheels. Colin completely removed the fork, and wrapped it in a liberal quantity of bubble wrap, which undoubtedly saved it from damage.

However, the rear carrier took a hit, as did the "paint can lid" for the gearcase. It will need some work to get it to fit again

This bike will be a long project. I plan to give it a cleaning / light polish before assembling it. I tried some Mother's on the bars and crank arms - the nickel shines up nicely.

The bike is covered in old oil, grease and dirt. Just using some Pedro's polish on the paint brought back a nice luster. Using Chromax on the rims takes off the surface rust, revealing some of the nickle plating.