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international bike transport. HELP

Sarah Horst
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 Joined: 2007-08-09

I know a number of people on the team have done this. I just don't know if any of them are hanging around the forum these days (or if they all did it before the airlines went insane)....but I'll give it a shot anyway (and maybe Brian has some input?)

 

I'm moving to France at the end of September for 3 months and obviously I want to take my bike. (Its only 80 miles roundtrip to the top of Alpe d'Huez!)

 

However, the airlines have gone completely insane with baggage allowances and Delta would charge me 600$ roundtrip for my bike. (600$!!!!) Personally I think this is ridiculous and I think if airlines are going to go crazy with weight allowances for bags then people should get charged by the pound too. Or maybe just have the people and their bags get on the scale and charge for the total. 

 

Anyway, the point is I cannot take my bike with me on the airplane. I've checked shipping via DHL, Fedex and UPS. They all cost between 550 and 900 dollars. Clearly, also not a solution. I'd really rather not buy or rent a bike there because I have had many many problems with my back and hip and I think we finally have my bike setup in a manner that allows me to ride it more than once without injuring myself.

 

So I was wondering if anyone has other suggestions of how to get my beloved bike to France so that I can fulfill my dream of walking (er I mean riding) my bike up Alpe d'Huez. (That and also use it to commute to the University every day and also not turn into an out of shape blob)

‹ Dues ($76) Planning the Aquathlon ›

Submitted by Sarah Horst on September 4, 2008 - 10:12.

Renee Lawton
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 Joined: 2007-10-19
my friend disassmbled his

my friend disassmbled his entire bike and shipped it to New York for a race where he reassembled it..  i know that NY is not France and i'm not sure what it cost but that was the cheapest way for him to get it out there..

--

Unofficial "Team Mom"/XTERRA Liason

520-909-5501

rlawton@email.arizona.edu


September 4, 2008 - 12:36

Brian Grasky
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Trisports is the largest

Trisports is the largest online international triathlon retailer in the world, and it's just down the street.  When I ship overseas I take the bike, already boxed up (you can get a cardboard or hard box from them if you don't have one) and pay them to ship it.  You should be able to get it to FR for ~$100-150. 

Yes, the airlines are crazy, but $600 is actually good nowadays.  Delta wanted $380 ONE-WAY for me to take it to Montana last month.  I decided to take Jill instead.  Southwest Airlines and Xjet are still good prices.  I won't fly America West anymore (period) based on their bike policy and cust service, and I've got to have very good reasons to fly Delta, American, and United.  When I fly now I tend to ship the bike FedEx to a local shop and fly light.

Ship it through Trisports.  On the way home, you can call up Trisports and get a pre-paid pick-up tag.  This works stateside.  I think it works int'l.  Talk to the int'l shipping specialist (Susan).  Things might have changed, but I've done this.

Coach

--

Coach

www.graskyendurance.com


September 4, 2008 - 13:14

neilsegel
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 Joined: 2008-06-07
check out :

check out : http://www.bikeaccess.net/
-Neil
(505) 385-3901

--

-Neil
(505) 385-3901


September 4, 2008 - 13:16

Sarah Horst
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Posts: 102
 Joined: 2007-08-09
Thanks Brian and Neil.

Thanks Brian and Neil. Unfortunately that bikeaccess.net website is horribly out of date (but yet still comes up very high on google..). I'm ashamed to admit it hadn't even occurred to me to talk to Trisports about it. 

 

On a related note, should any of you find yourselves needing to fly with a bike, the following website is useful for knowing what you are getting into ahead of time. 

 

http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/bagregs.htm

 

Although, it is already out of date...


September 4, 2008 - 13:23

Sarah Horst
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Posts: 102
 Joined: 2007-08-09
So I called trisports, I

So I called trisports, I didn't get to talk to Susan but whoever I talked to (Pat?) said it would be 234 dollars to get it there (I didn't ask about getting it back..) which is just about as bad as delta. :(


September 4, 2008 - 13:37

Phalyn Butler
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 Joined: 2007-08-17
Thats really a bummer.. and

Thats really a bummer.. and I need to start looking into bike shipping prices or something because I will be going to France in Jan. for like 5 or 6 months.. so a bike will definitely be needed..  If you find anything remarkable Sarah let me know.  Id definitely like to get the best deal as well...

--

Woot
Phal


September 5, 2008 - 18:34

Sarah Horst
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Posts: 102
 Joined: 2007-08-09
Phalyn- If you have not

Phalyn- If you have not bought your plane ticket yet, don't buy it without talking to me. I feel like I am now an expert on this issue after a ridiculous number of hours researching it.

 

The good news is, my bike is hitching a ride on British Airways with another member of my research group for FREE!!!!

 

One thing I learned from this whole experience is that you need to always find out what the "governing airline" is for a flight that has multiple carriers. For example, I am flying both Delta and Air France on thee way to France. For international flights, the governing carrier is almost always the one that is taking you across the ocean (as long as you bought your flights as all one ticket). It is the baggage restrictions for the governing carrier that you must follow. (so if your initial but not governing carrier charges 300$ per bike, it doesn't matter, they have to let you take it for free if the "governing carrier" takes bikes for free). Do not let them tell you otherwise. They are wrong. 

 

One other thing, if any of you have bike boxes, the rules for shipping via UPS, fed ex etc have changed for oversize packages. There used to be different levels- oversize 1, 2 etc (and this information is still reflected on the trisports website) so it was a flat fee to send an oversize 1 bike case (and was much cheaper). They calculate it differently now on a sliding scale and the result of this seems to make shipping bikes more expensive than it used to be. 

 

So yeah, if anyone has an international bike transport questions, PM me, because someone should benefit from the ridiculous number of hours I spent on the phone and internet over the last two days.


September 5, 2008 - 18:54

brenton_hays
Posts: 3
 Joined: 2008-09-08
Sarah, I would like to

Sarah,

I would like to benefit from your expertise! I am flying from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia and i want to take my bike. I havnt really gotten a good answer as to whether it is better to ship or take on the plane with me. What do you think? Anyway advice would be much appreciated!

Brenton


September 8, 2008 - 12:40

Sarah Horst
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Posts: 102
 Joined: 2007-08-09
Do you have your tickets

Do you have your tickets already? What airline are you flying? Qantus counts a bike as one piece of your checked baggage allowance with no fee unless you have more bags than you are allowed (I think it is two including the bag). If you already have your ticket I would 1. check to see what the airline rules are and 2. if you are still interested in shipping it, call trisports. Even though the trisports shipping price was still very expensive to Europe (~250$ each way) it was much cheaper than anything I could get myself (~1200$). UPS had the cheapest shipping (~1000$ each way). I haven't looked into the rates for Australian obviously but I'm sure it is pretty bad. I think internationally, flying is still going to be the cheapest no matter what (unless in all of my hours of googling I'm somehow missed an option). 

 

The real lesson here is that if you are planning on taking a bike somewhere (within the US and especially internationally) it pays to do your research ahead of time before you book your tickets.


September 8, 2008 - 16:29

brenton_hays
Posts: 3
 Joined: 2008-09-08
No I havnt bought my tickey

No I havnt bought my tickey yet. I have kind of just decided to go home... I am Australian. Im still looking into what airline would be the cheapest because I have a surfboard as well and prices have gotten ridiculous with baggage. I emailed Trisports and am just waiting to hear back from them. I may just call. Anyway thankyou for your help. I will see what I can do and if I find anything good i will post it.


September 8, 2008 - 18:26

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