Ship a bike eh?

If you're thinking of shipping your bike somewhere, you have two options: have a bike shop do it or do it yourself. Either way you should expect to spend around $150, but there are a lot of factors that shape that price.

A typical shop will charge $35-$65 for the service of packing a bike. This includes the box and packing materials as well as the mailing logistics. Oftentimes, despite the packing fee, having a bike shop ship to another bike shop is the fastest, safest, and least expensive method because shops and their regular delivery guys are used to dealing with bike boxes in high volume and sometimes get regular-customer shipping deals. Shops also accept some liability if they do a poor job packing.

The difference between a quality pack-job and a cheap bike-jam comes down to the proper bike box, the packing material used, and how much of the bike was disassembled. At the very least the pedals, handle bars, and front wheel should be removed and coved in padding. Also, any sharp parts like the fork dropouts and hubs should be covered. The rear derailleur should be put in the highest cog and have packing on every side of it so that when it gets bumped it won't bend the hanger as bad -though you should expect to do a light tune-up once the bike is unpacked.

If you are shipping a bike yourself most shops will be more than happy to give you a bike box and padding for free -they have plenty. Cover the bike with packing material before you put it in the box and remember that you really can't have too much padding. It's OK if the bike is a tight fit just as long as the frame, wheels, and other tough parts are touching the box, not the drivetrain parts -of course there should be padding between the bike parts and the box. If there are any holes in the box cover them up with a piece of cardboard and tape on the inside or it will void your shipping insurance.

Go here to learn more: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5042372_much-cost-ship-bicycle.html

This is the Wildwood Trail entrance just down the road from Pittock Mansion in Portland, Or.