How to get courier to bring bike from central Wales to London?

[jimster99]

Hi all,

I need to arrange a courier to take a small bike from just west of the Brecon Beacons (in Wales) to London later this week or over the weekend. I've submitted quotes on shiply (and I tried anyvan but they don't seem to do open quotes any more). Anyone have any other suggestions for how to arrange this at a reasonable price (I'm thinking £50 or less)? Ideally I could find someone doing the drive anyway who'd be willing to put it in their boot but no idea if there is a site that offers that kind of thing.

Thanks!!

[DevonDamo]

Anyone have any other suggestions for how to arrange this at a reasonable price

If you got to www.interparcel.com and enter the details, they'll give you a quote. I just tried it with random Welsh and West London postcodes and it quoted £72.30 next day delivery via Tuffnells. However, I'd entered an over-the-top size and weight for the package (30kg, 380x53x20cm) so you'll probably get a cheaper quote using the actual weight and dimensions.

[jimster99]

Thanks DevonDamo, I checked and the interparcel site seems to need the bike put in a box, which I don't think will be possible!

[L+1]

Regarding ‘getting someone to put it in the boot of their car’ or local ‘man and van’ services or even small courier companies, I think the best way of finding help is now on local Facebook groups. Most small towns/districts have at least one and this kind of query (not necessarily bike related) turns up very regularly.

[DevonDamo]

Thanks DevonDamo, I checked and the interparcel site seems to need the bike put in a box, which I don't think will be possible!

Might be worth giving a bit more detail about what you need and your limitations. If the reason you can't put the bike in a box is just that you don't have one, then that can usually be solved by a trip to a bike shop (or many other shops that sell big stuff in cardboard boxes.) If it's due to not being able to fit the bike in a box, then that's usually just a case of taking the front wheel, front mudguard, pedals and handlebar off.

[audaxjk]

Your only option if you want a courier is to box it I believe.
On the recommendation of this forum I used: https://www.paisleyfreight.com/bike-courier to ship a bike. They were relatively cheap compared to others and very quick/reliable. For extra cost they’ll provide you with a box. However just ring local bike shops near you and ask them if they have any redundant cardboard bike boxes, I’ve done this whenever I’ve sold a bike to post and never failed to get one (for free). It takes a bit of organising but is worth it to keep your costs down.

[VinceLedge]

I have used Paisleyfreight as well, good service and cost.

[simonhill]

How small is this bike? If it will fit in a boot, it will fit in a box much smaller than a bike box. I just looked up the Post Office and a 13kg medium parcel costs £27.

I sent a bike frame with them, not as heavy, but fairly large (LHT frame and forks) and it cost about £15

Play around here https://send.royalmail.com/

[Jamesh]

I'd do it if it were going north south... But don't often go west - east!!

Cheers James

[jimster99]

Thanks all. I tried anyvan (but they seem to only give fixed prices these days and they weren't competitive) and I also tried Shiply, which worked really well and I found someone who'd collect tomorrow and bring it to London next week for £57. Which seems reasonable to me - it'd cost me more than that in petrol (plus 9 hours driving...) to do the round trip.

None of the normal courier sites mentioned above would do it because the bike is not in a box (although if it had been, I could have got it done for £21 through interparcel!).

[simonhill]

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