Shipping bike box to final destination

[awbikes]

I started my tour in Zurich, Switzerland and have drifted north along the Rhine and crossed into UK, I am now in Scotland. I have deciced to fly out of Glasgow to my home in the USA. Having left my bike luggage cases in Zurich I have requested a friend to ship them to another friend in Glasgow. Does anyone know of any potential problems with this shipping scenario. Anyone have firsthand knowledge on best and cost effective shipping.

[John Nelson]

I don't know anything about shipping in Europe, but when I've checked into shipping a bike box in the U.S., I found that it's as expensive to ship an empty box as to ship a full one.

[awbikes]

Thanks for your response John, in doing further research I have found the following. It will cost about 232.00 US Dollars to ship my 2 boxes. Actually quite a bit of money. There is a cost to pay for leaving expensive bike luggage behind then having it shipped to your final destination.

[DaveB]

I'm also not familiar with European shipping regulations but here, at some point package size trumps package weight and you are charged based on size rather than weight.  So an empty box may coast as much to ship as a full one.

[awbikes]

Wanted to update interested parties on my unforeseen expenses to ship bike cases to my final destination: Upon delivering my cases, the UPS driver presented an invoice for 87.00 due in reference to import tax. I had no choice but to pay. It seems when my friend shipped the cases from Switzerland to Scotland he failed to check the proper box indicating  the cases were not a commodity subject to an import tax. As an individual who had never shipped anything from one country to another and who was doing a one time favor, it is an understandable oversight. Bottom line; It has now cost me a total of 319.00 dollars to have my cases shipped to the final destination of my tour. AN EXPENSIVE LESSON HAS BEEN LEARNED.

[newfydog]

I have brought bikes to Europe over and over in a cardboard box.  To return, I look for a bike shop or department store.  Last trip a Carrefour store in France unpacked two new bikes just so we could have the boxes.

[awbikes]

Nefydog your approach is very practical an inexpensive. I bought cases that are luggage type with built in handles/wheels so I could wheel bikes to and from the airport and assemble/disassemble wherever and at my convience. Also my cases meet the maximum size allowable as checked luggage with no additional charge. My problem and the problem I want others to hopefully avoid is my mistake of thinking you can cheaply ship the cases to your next destination. In the future I probably will only use my cases if my trip begins/ends at the same location, which in and of itself can be very limiting.

[newfydog]

Yeah, those cases are very nice.  I've had nasty connections trying to bring two boxes on a luggage cart out to a bus to get to a different terminal.  Fortunately, Ive yet to have a bike damaged and I love abandoning the cardboard box and heading out.

Now the airlines are so intent on extracting money every step of the way we keep a couple of bikes with a friend in France.