OT: Shipping a bike from Holland

[Dave Wang]

Hello esteemed sf2g'ers,

I'm in Holland right now and I'm pretty sure I want to take one of these dutch bikes back with me (yes, I know they're rather SF-impractical). Anyone have experience or know of the best/cheapest method for this? UPS? Lug it by myself as checked luggage? Recommended airline in the latter case?

doei,

Dave

[Lina Mårtensson]

I just shipped mine using bike flights.com. in meeting right now but will tell you more later.

--
-- follow: http://twitter.com/sf2g | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/bike-prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SF2G" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf2g+uns...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Lina Mårtensson]

So.

Can you buy it in the box, not yet assembled? That might be easier.

I sent mine with bikeflights.com since I was going to travel farther, but it's a lot more expensive than taking it on a flight. They contract with UPS or FedEx or whatever, and they can pick up and drop off anywhere, $5 fee for residential locations.

On united it costs $200 internationally, some other airlines charge less. It may be more if it weighs over 50 lbs (which it may well do for the kind of bike you are bringing), but I'm not sure - you'll have to check with whatever airline you're interested in. I can imagine KLM might have decent conditions but have never checked.

I'm not sure whether you can ship with UPS or FedEx yourself. It might just be possible/reasonably priced if you have a company with an account to do it. But if you're buying from a store, check if they can ship it for you - probably to another business, but it's possible that sending it to Google would suffice. (That's actually where I sent mine, since I'm not in the US to receive it myself. You can ask the shipping department to hold it until you pick it up if you're not coming back before the bike.)

You should possibly pay customs fees for it - not sure. I had to fill out some forms for my bike even though I'm just sending my luggage back.

You can also get sales tax back at the airport but you need to ask for some special receipt for this in the store. I think they will know what to do. And then you go to a desk at the airport to get the tax back.

Taking one of these bikes back may not be an entirely practical or sound financial decision, but I understand this is probably not your priority. :)

Good luck!

On Jul 2, 2015 12:14, "Dave Wang" <wangi...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Darrin Ward]

so on the practical front.  as lina mentioned shipping bikes isn't cheap.  it can also be kind a hassle.  taking it onto a plane requires packing it up to be shipped which if it isnt done right can result in pretty bad damage.  fees range from 125 to 250 as far as i can remember just for the privs of putting it on the plane as luggage.  klm is 125 euros back to sfo which used to be 250 dollars but now is more like 140 dollars thanks to ummm greece and spain and .....  this doesn't count the cost of packing it up.

should mention that there are people in the bay area that actually import dutch bikes from holland to sell in the us.  mydutchbike.com is in sausalito and sells dutch bikes from holland.

and there if course the vendors that sell dutch inspired bikes.  see public bikes.

so unless you are particularly tied to a bike in holland, it might be worth considering buying a dutch bike in the us.

[Marion Silies]

Haven't used it myself, but a few friends said that https://www.luggagefree.com is cheaper then bike flights and has worked well for them.

[Dave Wang]

Thanks for the tips everyone. After looking into the options, and the commensurate logistical overhead, I see why people don't do this more often :) . 

Now, after going training through the northern european countrysides, along with its cows, greenery, and ubiquitous bike lanes (at least in Holland and Belgium), I'm gonna plan a bike trip here for next year. If anyone's interested, lmk.

d.