Re: [CR]Shipping bikes from France

(Example: Framebuilding)

From: <themaaslands@comcast.net>
To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org (Classic Rendezvous)
Subject: Re: [CR]Shipping bikes from France
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 22:46:38 +0000


Jonathon asked:
> If anyone on the list has shipped a bike from France in the last two or three
> months, I would like to hear how they did it. I have not been able to find a
> way to do so for less than $400. The issue is not weight, it is maximum
> allowed package dimensions. I paid for, and had to abandon a bike in France,
> back
> to the gracious but frustrated seller who was quite thorough in his efforts
> to identify a cost-effective shipping method. Other countries in Europe
> (except of course Italy) are not a problem.

The French post office limits are maximum longest side of the box: 1m50 (approximately 58") and total package size of 3m00 (approximately 117"). Package size is determined as the longest side plus the girth of the other 2 sides. The US post office only allows a maximum in most cases of 108". 108" is however almost always large enough to fit most vintage lightweights. You cannot ship an assembled bike, nor even an assembled frame/fork in these dimensions, you must remove the fork, the saddle and seatpost, the handlebars and the cranks and pedals. This will generally let you get down to a box of approximately 34" long x 10" wide by 27" high= 108" postal total size. I recently sent a Masi to Taiwan in a box 32" x 7" x 26" = 98" postal total size and have a Colnago awaiting shipment to Australia in a box 33 1/2" x 8 1/2" x 26" = 102 1/2".

By dismantling the bike in this way, your shipping cost from France should be about 100 euros (about $125). From Italy, the cost will normally be about 180 euros but is equally possible.

A hint: if you are planning to rebuild the wheels anyhow, ask them to first remove the freewheel and then simply cut out the hubs, two rims and hubs separately take less than one sixth the volume of a set of wheels.

--
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ