Bike postage to England

Hi All,

A friend needs his bike posted to UK from Sydney.
Any experience doing that?
What was the cost?

Recommended companys?

Thanks,

Tom

 

can you get someone to take it as luggage? far cheaper, apparently.

 

Air-freighting it will be fiendishly expensive, because you will find the bike will be costed on its volumetric weight rather than its actual weight. I looked into flying my bike over from the UK as unaccompanied baggage, and it was just not worth it (was looking in the region of $800 - $1000).

I'd recommend looking at some of those cheapo shipping companies which advertise in the back of Backpacker mags (e.g. British Balls - hey I only read it to keep up to date with EastEnders). They specialise in moving small loads - the only problem is they would probably be a delay before it departed Oz as they would wait to fill a container before booking space on a ship.

Otherwise find a family who's emigrating to the UK and see if you can stick it into their container.

As FD suggested, getting someone to fly it with them is ideal, but they'd have to be pretty generous to give up ~15kg of their allowance.

Let us know if you find anything out - probably of interest to people on the forum.

Cheers,
Craigster.

 

tell me youre joking

people DO that? oh, yer, Hippy...

As FD suggested, getting someone to fly it with them is ideal, but they'd have to be pretty generous to give up ~15kg of their allowance.

one for the fabled FAQ, perhaps

F"which tyre shoul i buy?"Dutch

 

I'm joking. I don't read British Balls for the EastEnders summary. I read it for the rude words.

These days I just download 'em direct from UKNova.

And us, next year. Much as I love it here, home is calling...

 

not till you rack up a win, fella (not far off now...)

 

Casurina99 wrote:

> A friend needs his bike posted to UK from Sydney.
> Any experience doing that?
> What was the cost?

> Recommended companys?

Just had a look at the Australia Post website. They quote $88 for 10kg seamail to UK.

The only potential gotcha is the maximum parcel size is 105cm long by 100cm wide, so fairly extensive disassembly would be required.

Regards,

Suzy

 

On 2005-04-20, suzyj <[email protected]> wrote:
> Just had a look at the Australia Post website. They quote $88 for 10kg
> seamail to UK.
>
> The only potential gotcha is the maximum parcel size is 105cm long by
> 100cm wide, so fairly extensive disassembly would be required.

Nothing that can't be solved with a good sledgehammer, I'm sure.

What -- you want it to be usable when it arrives at the other side?
Sheesh. Picky, picky, picky.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@" to "usenet".

 

Tried them before but the buggers really stick to that max box size.
Otherwise I'd use them..

T

 

suzyj wrote:
> Casurina99 wrote:
>
>
>>A friend needs his bike posted to UK from Sydney.
>>Any experience doing that?
>>What was the cost?
>
>
>>Recommended companys?
>
>
> Just had a look at the Australia Post website. They quote $88 for 10kg
> seamail to UK.
>
> The only potential gotcha is the maximum parcel size is 105cm long by
> 100cm wide, so fairly extensive disassembly would be required.
>
> Regards,
>
> Suzy
>
>

By the time it's been though the baggage handlers it'll be about that
size anyway.

Marty

 

Because bicycles don't pack down very small the cost is quite high.

Going the other way, it cost me about STG200 to send a bike from the UK to
Australia. It was sent as two smaller cartons - wheels in one and the
knocked down bike in another.

I bought a custom frame from a US builder a couple of years ago and it had
to be sent back (at their expense) because it was faulty. The shipping
charge via Fedex was about $AU300 for just the frame.

And a couple of months ago I sold a bike to someone in Mackay and it cost
them $AU210 for insured road freight from Canberra to Mackay.

It's a much better deal if you fly internationally with your bike - I've
never been charged anything over and above the base cost of my ticket for
having a bike with me.

Nick

"casurina99" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]
>
> A friend needs his bike posted to UK from Sydney.
> Any experience doing that?
> What was the cost?

 

Nick Payne wrote:
> It's a much better deal if you fly internationally with your bike - I've
> never been charged anything over and above the base cost of my ticket for
> having a bike with me.

I called Jetta today about my bike...

Flying unaccompanied into Heathrow:
15kg minimum, $6.40/kg, $30 Security fee, $25 Airport tax, $20 Insurance.

They also charge $20 if they pick the bike up from Melbourne CBD. I
don't have an office there so I'll have to drive it to them in Tullamarine.

Takes 5-7 days to get there. $171 ain't too bad.

hippy

 

There was an article in the paper today about passenger baggage on
QANTAS. Apparently, they have instructed all their check-in staff to be
baggage nazi's. ANYTHING over the limit (even a couple of kilo's) is to
be charged. And if you are on a basic ticket, they will strictly be
enforcing the "one bag up to 30 kg" rule (or whatever the weight is).

So - if you have a bag (even if its only 15kg), and then a bike/golf
clubs/whatever, you will be charged for the second piece in full (!!)
because it is a "second bag", and you are only allowed one bag....

What's the bet a savvy Virgin Blue will ease their policy on this and
steal some customers (well, at least I hope they will...)

Cheers,
Absent Husband

 

Absent Husband wrote:
>
> There was an article in the paper today about passenger baggage on
> QANTAS. Apparently, they have instructed all their check-in staff to be
> baggage nazi's. ANYTHING over the limit (even a couple of kilo's) is to
> be charged. And if you are on a basic ticket, they will strictly be
> enforcing the "one bag up to 30 kg" rule (or whatever the weight is).
>
> So - if you have a bag (even if its only 15kg), and then a bike/golf
> clubs/whatever, you will be charged for the second piece in full (!!)
> because it is a "second bag", and you are only allowed one bag....
>
> What's the bet a savvy Virgin Blue will ease their policy on this and
> steal some customers (well, at least I hope they will...)
>
> Cheers,
> Absent Husband

Solution: gaffa tape your golf clubs to your bag. Wrap it all in a big
plastic bag (such as the ones they give you) and tape it up nice and
tight. See, told you to take your gaffa tape...

Really, how fscked up is that, as if it makes any difference how many
bags they've got. Because if you put your full 30kg into a single bag
they'll put a "danger, heavy, 2-man lift" sticker on it and that'll take
more coordination/time etc than putting two 15 kg bags on anyway. And be
harder to find a spot for. Stupid people get paid to do some pretty
stupid decision making.

Hehe every time I fly qantas for army, they put a 2-man lift sticker on
my pack. And that's before the 3 days of rations go in!

Tam

 

"Absent Husband" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> There was an article in the paper today about passenger baggage on
> QANTAS. Apparently, they have instructed all their check-in staff to be
> baggage nazi's. ANYTHING over the limit (even a couple of kilo's) is to
> be charged. And if you are on a basic ticket, they will strictly be
> enforcing the "one bag up to 30 kg" rule (or whatever the weight is).

We were lucky then. My wife and I flew on separate flights back from the UK
just after New Year. Our luggage limit was 20kg. I flew out with a 29kg bag
and carry on luggage that I made look light (oh, I've just got this wee
backpack) but was about 13 kg. My wife followed a few days later with a bag
weighing 38kg! She also had rather a lot of carry on luggage (mainly stuff
for our 1yr old son). This was largely due to my family not paying much
attention to the "only light Christmas presents please" request.

Maybe the staff in Edinburgh are just soft-hearted, or maybe having all my
family including nieces and nephews in various stages of emotional distress
at our leaving hanging around the check-in desk meant they were happy to
get rid of us?

Graeme

 

> Solution: gaffa tape your golf clubs to your bag. Wrap it all in a big
> plastic bag (such as the ones they give you) and tape it up nice and
> tight. See, told you to take your gaffa tape...
>
> Really, how fscked up is that, as if it makes any difference how many
> bags they've got. Because if you put your full 30kg into a single bag
> they'll put a "danger, heavy, 2-man lift" sticker on it and that'll take
> more coordination/time etc than putting two 15 kg bags on anyway. And be
> harder to find a spot for. Stupid people get paid to do some pretty
> stupid decision making.
>
> Hehe every time I fly qantas for army, they put a 2-man lift sticker on
> my pack. And that's before the 3 days of rations go in!
>
> Tam

At least with a 30kg, 2 person lift bag, the chances of it being hurled idly
into the rest of the luggade as per SOP is well reduced. Note that I didn't
say "eliminated"; before anyone gets all exited, but they may well decide
that it's just not worth the effort.

 

hippy wrote:
> Nick Payne wrote:
>
>> It's a much better deal if you fly internationally with your bike -
>> I've never been charged anything over and above the base cost of my
>> ticket for having a bike with me.
>
>
> I called Jetta today about my bike...
>
> Flying unaccompanied into Heathrow:
> 15kg minimum, $6.40/kg, $30 Security fee, $25 Airport tax, $20 Insurance.
>
> They also charge $20 if they pick the bike up from Melbourne CBD. I
> don't have an office there so I'll have to drive it to them in Tullamarine.
>
> Takes 5-7 days to get there. $171 ain't too bad.
>
> hippy

Hmmmm I was reading where Quantas are going to be more active in
charging when you take bikes with you.
Never been charged by quantas or JAL. or Virgin blue. Yet that is.