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Tips on Transporting Bikes

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xmtnrider

Look Ma, No Hands!
Hello, I've located a few bikes that I want to buy from someone in New York and I live in Denver. The gentleman is not going to be able to ship them. Short of driving my own car 24 hours in either direction to get these bikes, what is the cheapest / best alternative to getting them home? I would prefer to keep the cost of the adventure as low as possible.

Options I've considered
  1. Round trip flight from Denver to NY and ship them to myself
  2. One way ticket to NY and rent van to drive home - cost estimate of 1K
  3. One way ticket there and buy a cheap van once I get there to drive back (my personal favorite, but my wife thinks I'm crazy). Sell van back in Denver. What if van breaks down though with antique bikes in back? Not good, right?
 
Ride your bike out there and box em up and ride back. The fresh air will make you feel great!
 
Find a local bike shop and ask if they will pack the bikes nicely and arrange a pickup through bikeflights.if shop will do it,most charge about 65 bucks.then shipping would be from 50-100 bucks each.
 
There are Cabe members throughout the country. Many of which are on the east coast.
Put out a request for someone in the area to pick up the bikes and ship them to you.
It will be much cheaper to pay this person rather than going yourself.
I did this once with great results.
 
Copake auction and swap is coming up shortly. If you can find someone in the area that can pick them up, bring them to Copake and hand them off to someone either heading your way or who can ship it? Sounds crazy but I sold a bike a few years ago that was delivered to Copake and went on to its new home via a helpful person that I met there. Sounds crazy but ya never know.
 
Find a local bike shop and ask if they will pack the bikes nicely and arrange a pickup through bikeflights.if shop will do it,most charge about 65 bucks.then shipping would be from 50-100 bucks each.

When is a bike too valuable to ship? Do people really just ship bikes that are worth 5K as an example?
 
When is a bike too valuable to ship? Do people really just ship bikes that are worth 5K as an example?

Yes they do! As long as they are packed properly there shouldn't be a problem. I would try to find a CABEr willing to pick them up, pack, and ship them via Bikeflights. Most CABErs will work for parts! V/r Shawn
 
Find a Caber that lives nearby and ask them if they will ship for you and give them a few bucks.
 
If it's a really rare, delicate or an exceptional specimen, it might be better to pack it/pick it up yourself. We had a similar dilemma a while back with a very special lady. We didn't really want to have it packed and instead wanted it shipped as a whole. Turns out the member who helped us get it sold a panel truck on ebay to someone who lived just a few hours away from us. The bike was bubble wrapped, wrapped in moving blankets & then safely secured inside the panel truck as it was shipped on a car carrier. I drove out to Vegas & picked it up on my day off. Thankfully it all worked out great for us.
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