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How to Ship a Bike

Whether you're moving, have a fun bike vacation, are traveling, or would like to send a bike to your customers, there are many occasions you'll want to ship a bike. When shipping a bike, you'll want the bicycle to reach its destination without any damaged seat tubes or bent frames. To achieve that, it's crucial to ensure your bike is properly packed and shipped. That's why Pak Mail offers the safest, easiest, and fastest way to ship your bicycle and ensure it reaches its destination on time.

A bicycle has an awkward shape and size, making it quite challenging to package and ship and vulnerable to damage. Therefore, it needs careful packaging and shipping. Luckily, shipping a bike does not have to be complicated. You can let our packing experts handle the whole process for you. Here is how you can ship your bike safely and ensure it reaches its destination.

Preparing Your Bike for Shipping

Before shipping your bike, you'll have first to prepare it and ensure that you have the right tools and packing materials. Taking time to properly prepare your two-wheeler for shipping will reduce its vulnerability to damage. There are various packing supplies you'll need to streamline the whole process. These items include:

  1. Box or Bike Bag: You should find the correct box or bike bag that matches the size of your bike. Bike boxes or bags help protect the bike inside them.
  2. Bike Tool: You'll need various bike tools to help you disassemble the bike.
  3. Shipping Tape: This helps you to securely seal the bike into the box or bike bag. You'll also need it to ensure your bike parts were not tampered with during shipping.
  4. Packing Materials (Bubble Packing, Foam): Choose between bubble packing or foam to protect and ensure your bike parts remain intact during shipping.

Disassembly

When shipping a bike, it's best to disassemble it rather than shipping it assembled. This helps protect it from damage and helps reduce its overall dimension size. Therefore, after gathering everything you need, you can take the following steps to disassemble a bike for shipping:

  1. Remove the front wheel and pack
    You can remove your bike's front wheels using a spanner or a quick-release button. This will significantly reduce the length of your bike. You can then pack them in wheel bags.
  2. Remove the handlebars & levers and wrap them in bubble wrap/foam
    You can remove handlebars if your bike has a stem that can be opened. In some bicycles, you'll have to remove the handlebars and the stem as a unit. You should then screw the faceplate and bolts back into the system to avoid losing the small parts. Unless otherwise noted, you should leave the brake and shifter levers on your handlebars. You can then wrap them in bubble packing or foam.
  3. Remove the seat and pedals and wrap them in bubble packing or foam
    Use a spanner to remove the seat and pedals to prevent them from piercing the box or bike bag. These items should have some bubble wrap/foam around them.
  4. Remove any accessories and package them
    If your bike has other accessories like racks or fenders, you should remove them and then package them to prevent them from banging against the other parts of the bike.
  5. Wrap frame tubes in paper or foam to protect the paint
    Wrapping your bike's frame tubes in paper or foam protects their paint from getting scratched in transit.

Boxing

After preparing all parts of your bike, you should securely package it within your bike box or bag. You can do this by:

  1. Place the frame on one side of the box and the front wheel on the other
    You can rotate the fork to shorten your bike. After that, place the front wheel alongside the frame.
  2. Place seat, handlebars, and accessories in the space next to the front wheel
    You can then wrap the seat, handlebars, and other accessories together so that they do not get loose and bang up your bike. After that, you can place them next to the front wheel.
  3. Package empty spaces with bubble packing or foam
    You should add protection everywhere in the box. Therefore, you should cover the empty spaces with a bubble wrap or foam to reduce the impact during transit. You can shake the container to ensure everything is in place.

Effortlessly Ship Your Bikes Anywhere

Shipping a bike requires disassembling it using special tools, correctly packaging it, and protecting its fragile and small parts. If this seems overwhelming, or you would like to save more time, it's best to let a bike packing expert at your local Pak Mail store handle it. Pak Mail's partnerships with air, truck and ocean carriers give each local Pak Mail location the flexibility to select the fastest, safest bike shipping options available.

Our certified bicycle technicians can disassemble your bike, pack it for you and ensure it arrives safely. Contact us today to take advantage of our bike shipping services to get your bike anywhere you want.

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