inexpensive bicycle immigration?
May 6, 2006 11:55 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking at having a bicycle shipped from Scotland (Glasgow) to America. Has anyone out there had similar good/bad experiences? What's the least expensive way to do it?

I'm considering buying a bike in Scotland (not Ebay, don't worry...) and having it shipped to the States. One shipper contacted by the seller provided a door-to-door quote of more than GBP 300, which strikes me as really, really high. Like, flying-to-Scotland-and-riding-it-home-via-the-Bering-Strait-would-be-better high. What's the best (safest for the bike, cheapest) way to do this?
Time in transit is no object.
posted by pullayup to Shopping (4 answers total)
 
I don't know whether this will help, but I am currently having a bike FRAME sent from Sweden to the USA. The package is around 7.5kg, 66cm x 81cm x 18cm. Shipping charges without insurance are approximately $75.

It would cost significantly more to ship an entire bike, because it would probably need to be split into multiple boxes. Also, U.S. import duties on bicycles are somewhere between 5-10% of the declared (insured) value.
posted by hartsell at 12:32 PM on May 6, 2006


Yeah, I had two different frame/forks shipped from the UK (Saint John's Street Cycles) to the US. It cost 40 GBP (about $75 USD at the current rate of exchange) each time. The shipper was called Parcel Force Worldwide.

hartsell - a complete full-sized 700c wheeled adult type bike will easily fit in one box. Bike companies ship lots of bikes, and they carefully size their boxes to get right under FedEx/UPS oversize dimensions. I have always heard horror stories about import duties, but have never been charged. I've purchased frames, parts, clothes and shoes from UK, Ireland, Italy, etc.
posted by fixedgear at 3:00 PM on May 6, 2006


You can bring bikes instead with you as hold baggage instead of regular piece of baggage on most airlines.

If you can afford a round-trip flight, this works, and you get a vacation to boot.

See British Airways on bikes for an example.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 4:53 PM on May 6, 2006


I send stuff from Glasgow to the US all the time ... and it's not cheap. I don't use ParcelForce, right enough, because they aren't end-to-end (they are essentially just the Post Office) and absolve themselves of responibility at the US border (I've had things go missing before).

£300 is steep, however, so I suspect the shipper is just asking for a straight weight-and-size estimate. Get the bike split, and send it in small, light boxes. I'd expect it to cost about £150.
posted by bonaldi at 7:06 PM on May 6, 2006


« Older Mystery mark on thinkpad screen   |   I guess .eu would be easier, but we want country... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.