Tire shipping advice

[Ezri Rose]

Does anyone have experience shipping wire bead tyres? I have some 26" studded Schwalbe Marathon winter tyres I would like to sell. But I have no idea how to ship them. It's probably not good for them to fold them, right? Selling them locally isn't an option, as I've moved from Colorado to Florida 😹

Ezri,

Merritt Island, FL

[Ben Mihovk]

You can get creative with how you cut cardboard boxes into different shapes. If you find one big enough to lay the tires down in, you can use a razor/box opener to cut down the corners of the box and then trim the flaps to the size you need. It's really hard to explain and it's something I messed up a few times before I could do it well (I work in a golf shop that ships oddly shaped things now and then), but it's do-able. 

Otherwise, you could try to find unwanted TV boxes or cardboard boxes that people ship art in? 

Good luck,

Ben 

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[Garth]

Yeah, basically use a box cutter to literally make a custom box no bigger than the tires. You can use some hot glue for integrity if you're worried, but good tape should suffice.

[Eric Norris]

I e shooed folded beaded tires many times. It doesn’t hurt them. 

–Eric N

On Oct 15, 2022, at 3:50 PM, Garth <gart...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yeah, basically use a box cutter to literally make a custom box no bigger than the tires. You can use some hot glue for integrity if you're worried, but good tape should suffice.

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[Ezri Rose]

Eric, when you say folded, is that over in half once? I shipped something out yesterday, and the post office rounded up one dimension from 12.1 inches to 13, and that made the price jump from $24 to 41, so every inch is counting these days!

[Ray Varella]

To fold a wire bead tire without damaging the bead is what we used to do before folding tires were ubiquitous. 

With the tire horizontal in front of you, reach under the the part closest to you (we’ll call that 6:00 o’clock), slide your hand all the way across (let’s call that 12:00 o’clock), reach up over the top and as you pull that portion of the tire towards you and you get about 2/3rds of the way across, flip the other two ears over and you should quickly end up with three loops. 

Does that make sense?

I don’t think I have any wire bead tires here to make a video but I’ll check. 

It’s a very easy method and because it’s forming something like a figure 8 with an additional loop, it doesn’t crease or kink the bead. 

Ray

[Eric Norris]

Fold them into 1/3 the original size. Kind of like folding a windscreen sunshade, if you’ve ever done that.

--Eric Norris
campyo...@me.com
Insta: @CampyOnlyGuy
YouTube: YouTube.com/CampyOnlyGuy 

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[Nick Payne]

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo7RJqaUdhg. I used to fold wire bead touring tyres like this and then wrap them in duct tape to keep them folded and protected while being carried on tours until needed. I've carried such tyres around for years before needing to use them, and always found them in pristine condition when I finally unwrapped them for use. Here's one being carried on the outside of my panniers during a transcontinental tour across Australia in 1982:

Nick

[Ezri Rose]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice, this will help tremendously. Nick, when you say wrapped, you really meant it, that tyre looks like it's for a Brompton it's so small! Now I'm confident that I can ship these without damage or an exorbitant shipping fee.

Ezri

[Ryan Frahm]

Also check out www.pirateship.com, free to make an account and can save a lot in shipping costs!

[David Person]

Plus 1 on the Pirateship.com recommendation.  Used to ship via USPS.com but Pirateship.com gives the best price between USPS and UPS.  Also, you can ship via 1st Class mail if the package is light enough. USPS.com only allowed Priority, so you can save a lot on light stuff.

[Ezri Rose]

Pirateship looks like it might even be cheaper than eBay's discounted rates, thanks for the tip!

[Slin]

Nice, thanks, Nick! I hadn't seen Sheldon Brown videos before. If that video were made today, it would be a red Voile Strap.