Cycling UK Forum

I have flogged a 24" child's bike on ebay. However I only have a rather large (187x122x27) box to put it in. I cannot find anyone to transport it for less than about £40, as couriers don't like such big boxes. Any ideas?

(It needs to go only about 73 miles, for what it is worth)

Can you get it to under 1.2m in its longest length? - APC will deliver in uk if under 1.2m (I've recently had a frame delivered by them)

Is it a cardboard box? I got a cardboard bike box from LBS (free) & cut it down to suit just a frame.
I used Parcel-2-Go to send it:- https://www.parcel2go.com
I think it cost about £15 but will depend on any insurance value you put on it etc.
But shop around and a few sites on Google.

73 miles there and back = 16 litres of petrol = £20 ?

Cut the big box down and make it smaller, shirley?

https://www.senditnow.com/parcel-delivery
I bought a bike through this forum and it cost £12.19 to be delivered via the above company. The parcel was delivered by Parcel Force.

Well I found a courier

https://www.parcel2go.com/service/herme ... -and-large

30kg maximum parcel weight.
2 metres maximum parcel length or has a girth no greater than 2.4metres.
420cm maximum combined dimensions

£19.19

Parcelforce Large is ~£38 and has the requirement max length 2.5m, max length + girth 5m, so would also work but is quite expensive.

SenditNow on their ~£13 service require 1.5m length and length + girth 3m, which is very much smaller than my box.

Paisley Freight advertise bike courier services https://www.paisleyfreight.com/bike-courier

but it's £25 and length max 1.6m, width + height combined max 1.2m, so my box is far out from that.

not that I wish to derail this thread unduly but if folk have good suggestions for shipping wheels in boxes this would be useful too.

cheers

Bike shops throw out (recycle) lots of bike boxes so if you are within easy reach just ask for one - IME they are only to happy to help. If the box is too big it is not that hard to cut it down to size, using a Stanley knife and lots of tape.

I get quotes from parcel2go and
www.transglobalexpress.co.uk/
there's sometimes a few quid between them for the same service.
Recently, frame and bits £14, folding bike £12, last time I sent a full bike it was still under £20 but it was a couple of years ago.

thelawnet wrote:SenditNow on their ~£13 service require 1.5m length and length + girth 3m, which is very much smaller than my box.

I sent a mountainbike frame that I sold using senditnow for £11.35 (2 day) - I used a cardboard bike box (from my LBS) but cut it down to to size (making a new smaller box using the cardboard & as much of the pre-folded structure as possible) to fit the frame & be within the allowed measurements.

Brucey wrote:not that I wish to derail this thread unduly but if folk have good suggestions for shipping wheels in boxes this would be useful too.

cheers

When I needed to return the incorrect wheels (destined for my Rudge Montague) which were sent by the Ebay seller, It transpired that I'd been paying a lot more than necessary for carriage when I'd sold my old sprint rims over the last couple of years....... Using Myhermes, if inputting all the dimensions/delivery address etc online it would come up with about £6.50, and it said 50p extra to pick up from my house c/f me dropping off at the collection point (stores/newsagent) a couple of miles away. I'd always thought the service was good, and happy to pay 50p for the convenience.
Anyway, back to the tale... Ebay seller told me to take the wheels to myhermes collection point "it should be about £2.95, I'll refund it". Fair enough thought I, and asked if he had a special bulk arrangement which included returns? "no" was the reply. I expected to find it was £6.50 or so, but got to the collection point, printed the label there using their machine .. That's the crucial part, don't pre-arrange it online. Put all details in machine, pay with card, and (also useful in case any dispute re size) the shop assistant ok's it and gives you a receipt. price was indeed £2.95 + the odd pennies to up the insurance if needed. Rather strange, but (for me anyway) a useful saving for a small journey.

Well the courier turned up at the 'random point any time during the day' as promised but with a transit van and said they had no idea they had no idea they were collecting a large parcel. So they didn't collect the large parcel. Pretty predictable from Hermes really.

thelawnet wrote:Well the courier turned up at the 'random point any time during the day' as promised but with a transit van and said they had no idea they had no idea they were collecting a large parcel. So they didn't collect the large parcel. Pretty predictable from Hermes really.

Like most businesses it relies on the people who run it and/or do the job - I've always had a good service (apart from December when everything slows up considerably)

For shipping wheels, maybe look at smaller flat screen TV box. If you can get a suitable size it will be better than cutting down a full size bike box. Although I guess most people leave the shop with TV in box, whereas most people with a bike leave without.

I don't know much about flat screen TVs, but in Asia the airline check in staff have often mistaken my bike box for a flat screen TV. 16 kgs and 170 cm long!