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I Shipped A Bike With Amtrak!

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Cory

Cruisin' on my Bluebird
So tripple3 and I had a new shipping experience Monday. He sold a bike to a fellow cabe "person". So he called his in house so called shipping expert (me) to help him out with some of the labor. Good old Cyclingday had mentioned trying Amtrak Express to ship it so we went for it! Nothing ventured nothing gained. It was a easy stress free experience and not cost prohibitive. Amtrak told us it would be 6-8 days but it got there in 5. I have a weak back and really liked not having to lift the bike in and out of the box. The buyer was happy as well, maybe we can get him to chime in on the pick up experience as well. I will ask.

So here is the rundown for our buddies.

STEPS
1. Went to our local Amtrak station and waited in (short) line.
2. We bought their huge cardboard box.
3. Take pedals off and turn handlebars.
4. Roll bike into box and tape pedals to the inside of box so they dont bounce around. Close box and tape closed(they provided the tape). The bike was super snug inside and I almost wanted to take the front tire off the wheel then remount the wheel tireless to buy me some more room. But I ended up getting it closed up good without taking the tire off.
5. Got back in line and paid for the shipping, box, and insurance.
6. Guy came out from behind window and dragged box into his back office.

COST
1. $82 shipping from Southern California to North Carolina
2. $15 Amtrak Cardboard bike box
3. .50 cents per $100 of stated value of the bike.

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Here it is as arrived [emoji1]
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Well that's interesting! Do you happen to know the dimensions of that box? Specifically the width?
Darcie
 
Egads it went straight to Human Remains!

Yeah I'm thinking in case you have a bike you can't or don't want to take apart. Some TOC bikes might be nice to ship that way...but not if they get run over...eeek.
Darcie
 
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