bicycles to central Europe, not coals to Newcastle
Ryan Cousineau
What's it take to get a bike to Europe?
I'm flying to Europe this Spring (probably), doing a (probably) trip
through Italy then a longer stay in Greece.
I kinda want to send a road bike to Greece.*
My in-laws have a place there, so I have lots and lots of options in
terms of shipping time (I can send it now and ask my Greek relatives to
receive the package). I don't really want to be the one guy (of four
travelers) with a bike box and any interest in bicycles, as we travel
through two countries.
So what I'm hoping for is a decent freight service that will do the
slow, cheap thing to backwater Europe for me. Basically, if I can get
the bike to arrive in downtown Small Greek Island** (which mercifully,
is also where Small Greek Island's port is), I'm aces, because I can get
a relative to receive it. A bike I have to personally receive at El Vez
Airport in Athens is going to have to be strapped to the top of a RAV 4,
then hand-carried onto a ferry boat (and probably baby-sat for the
4-hour ride). Either that or ridden through the middle of Athens for
about an hour or so. HA HA HA! Did you see the joke I just made? Nobody
rides a bicycle in Athens, so this is obviously comedy. No really, it's
the mysterious country that bikes forgot. They have like one decent
roadie shop in Athens.
One other possibility: I hear it doesn't make much difference, but has
anyone here experimented with popping the fork off a bike before
shipping it? Does it compact the package much? Even if I didn't save any
money, shrinking the package size might make me a happier camper during
the non-flying parts of my trip. I'm not afraid of reassembly: when I
get to my final destination I will have time and space, and I can bring
the tools for reassembly.
Ahem. So backing that up, shippers with decent rates to Greek
backwaters. Advice appreciated. I may still decide to just fly the bike
myself.
*Actual conversation with myself during today's ride to work,
transcription is loose since it was all in my head:
"So I need to fix the 27" rear wheel that I buggered up on my cruddy old
city bike in Greece [Peugeot Rotary, this one apparently imported by
some insane Englishman, and maybe the only 27" wheel bike on the
island]. Probably best to go with a freehub; I know where I can get a
good rim and wheelbuild, and I think I have a couple of nice hubs I can
use. Would work well. Of course, maybe I should throw in a front wheel
if I'm taking a rear already, that's doable...huh, I wonder if it saves
any money if you ship a road bike with the fork off? That would make the
package a bit smaller, and Steve said his son doesn't get charged
anything when he puts a bike in a cardboard box at the airport...I
should send over the [steel, 1989ish] Pinarello! Build it up with some
decent six- or eight-speed stuff, compact double and MTB cogs for those
stupid hills, leave a threadless fork off so it's a smaller
package...that bike will stop rusting in Greece."
**Syros, but I believe the principle of shipping to backwater Central
Europe is going to be more universal, unless someone here happens to
have a Philippino uncle who is about to make the ever-popular
Vancouver-Syros shipping run as ship's engineer, and doesn't mind
sharing his cabin with a bicycle for 3 months.
--
Ryan Cousineau rcou...@gmail.com http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."
Davey Crockett
| Dumbass state-of-the-shipping question:
Forget it for half a million cogent reasons
Find a Carrefour
They carry a low end but not bad line of bikes called "Top Bike" both
road and VTT
Prices will most probably be less than shipping allez-retour on your own
and you may be able to either sell it when you no longer need it or
arrange to have it stolen and effectively sell it to the insurance
company (In Greece it will probably be stolen anyway)
http://www.lsa-conso.fr/carrefour-prepare-son-11e-hypermarche-grec,94743
--
Davey Crockett
-
Read The Patriot
http://slackrat.free.fr/patriot/
Tom Sherman °_°
> Dumbass state-of-the-shipping question:
>
<http://www.shuttlebike.com/>.
--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
Ryan Cousineau
Davey Crockett <r...@azurservers.com> wrote:
> Ryan Cousineau a �crit profondement:
>
> | Dumbass state-of-the-shipping question:
>
> Forget it for half a million cogent reasons
>
> Find a Carrefour
>
> They carry a low end but not bad line of bikes called "Top Bike" both
> road and VTT
>
> Prices will most probably be less than shipping allez-retour on your own
> and you may be able to either sell it when you no longer need it or
> arrange to have it stolen and effectively sell it to the insurance
> company (In Greece it will probably be stolen anyway)
>
> http://www.lsa-conso.fr/carrefour-prepare-son-11e-hypermarche-grec,94743
This is a genuinely useful suggestion, but as best as I can glean from
the pricing info out there, a decent bike will still cost hundreds of
Euros.
Greece as a whole may have a theft problem, but the island I'm staying
on is 10 km long and pop. 30,000 and not especially touristy. If I said
the streets were paved with marble, that would probably just sound
silly, but it's completely true in the downtown core. The first time I
stayed there, I rented a scooter I think I asked about parking it
overnight or possibly some issue with the ignition lock, and was
casually informed "there is no theft here."
Which may be true when the only way to get a scooter off the island is
on the ferries, and the scooter rental guy is probably the third cousin
of every potential miscreant.
Anyways, it's a good suggestion. Does Carrefour have a site where they
actually talk about the prices of the Topbikes?
Davey Crockett
|
| Anyways, it's a good suggestion. Does Carrefour have a site where they
| actually talk about the prices of the Topbikes?
http://online.carrefour.fr/sports-et-loisirs/cycles-et-accessoires/velos/velos-de-course/
If you scroll to the bottom you will see a Top Bike "100" model for 299€
(euros) but I was at Carrefour yesterday and they have that model for
199€ (euros) - Excellent value for the money:
Also, the website is showing the more expensive bikes generally
You might very well look to purchasing something when you get there -
either new or used.
Hmmmmmm
I have a DECATHLON RockHopper 8 VTT/MTB I don't need since our Vets squad is
sponsored by Top Bike this year, but it's in Antibes, FroggyReich.
- excellent condition and was a 1300$ bike -
--
Davey Crockett
Davey Crockett
| Anyways, it's a good suggestion. Does Carrefour have a site where they
| actually talk about the prices of the Topbikes?
By the way, the "T56" "T54" etc stands for Taille or Size in
AngloSpracht
--
Davey Crockett
Anton Berlin
I fly to Europe often and take a bike. It's free on American and I
use a hard case. Alternatively, the best bike box I ever had was one
that 'printer's paper' comes in. It's was triple walled box that
would fit the bike, wheels, helmet, shoes etc and identifying it as
'rehabilitation equipment' as opposed to a bicycle let me transport it
for free even in the US.
The disadvantage to the hard case vs something disposible is that you
either have to lug or store the hard case and most checked luggage
places run 10e a day + for something that large.
I traveled around the world by bike (except the watery parts) and if
you take a good roll of 3M tape (don't buy the cheap shit) you can
make a bike box with cardboard from a furniture store with a serated
blade and enough tape. The advantage being, the bike will be less
bikey and thus less likely to be flat on the bottom of a stack of
luggage.
Taking your own bike is worth it. The best of all worlds is take
something that is rare over there (a good Trek as an example) and you
can sell it for a decent profit before you come back.
Greece is not the friendliest place to ride in my opinion though.
You'll enjoy Italy/Sicily more.
Steve Freides
> Dumbass state-of-the-shipping question:
>
> What's it take to get a bike to Europe?
http://www.bilenky.com/retro_FAQs.html - I've never owned a coupled bike
but the idea seems sound, and your bike travels as a suitcase instead of
something else.
-S-
Ryan Cousineau
Davey Crockett <r...@azurservers.com> wrote:
> Ryan Cousineau a écrit profondement:
>
> |
> | Anyways, it's a good suggestion. Does Carrefour have a site where they
> | actually talk about the prices of the Topbikes?
>
> http://online.carrefour.fr/sports-et-loisirs/cycles-et-accessoires/velos/velos
> -de-course/
>
> If you scroll to the bottom you will see a Top Bike "100" model for 299€
> (euros) but I was at Carrefour yesterday and they have that model for
> 199€ (euros) - Excellent value for the money:
Thanks. I don't know why I had such trouble with Carrefour sites
yesterday, but this is very good. The 100 may be cheap, but it's
entirely cheerful, and just right for the islands.
I'm going to do some experiments on small-sizing a 52cm frame and
"hiding" it in a large but conventional-looking suitcase, but I will
keep the 100 in mind.
> Hmmmmmm
> I have a DECATHLON RockHopper 8 VTT/MTB I don't need since our Vets squad is
> sponsored by Top Bike this year, but it's in Antibes, FroggyReich.
> - excellent condition and was a 1300$ bike -
Heh. I'd make you an offer, but I won't be by that way.
It looks like the family plan is coalescing around a start in Athens and
a finish in Italy. That means no riding in Italy (but that's not what
this trip is for), but relatively easy transit to the island. And again,
I don't mind leaving a bike (any bike) there. I'll be back, and I have
lots of bikes.
Some other things I thought would be hard (transporting everything, &c.)
may end up being easier than I thought at first, too. We'll probably
have a rental car right from the airport, and as long as I can safely
tie my "suitcase" to the top of that, it's pretty much clear sailing to
Syros.
Ryan Cousineau
"Steve Freides" <st...@kbnj.com> wrote:
Coupled bikes work, but for $500 I could buy a decent bike in Europe. Or
just fly an un-coupled bike for less.
Because I intend to leave the bike in Europe, it changes the value
propositions. I'll only be flying the bike one-way, and only once.
Dan Becker
<twsherm...@THISsouthslope.net> wrote:
> Ryan Cousineau wrote:
> > What's it take to get a bike to Europe?[...]
>
> <http://www.shuttlebike.com/>.
So much for stopping the rusting on the Pinarello....
Dan
Donald Munro
> Dumbass state-of-the-shipping question:
>
> What's it take to get a bike to Europe?
You could just fly RyanAir.
Ryan Cousineau
Donald Munro <no...@mailinator.com> wrote:
You'd think that would be a good plan, wouldn't you?