<p>For parents who’ve done it before, what is the best cost effective way to get a bike to college? It’s not a driving distance, we’ll be flying. The school is very bike friendly. Thanks.</p>
<p>I’ve been looking into this question, too. I haven’t used any of these services, but here’s what I’ve found:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.crateworks.com/[/url]”>http://www.crateworks.com/</a>
<a href=“http://www.wikihow.com/Ship-a-Bicycle-Cheaply[/url]”>http://www.wikihow.com/Ship-a-Bicycle-Cheaply</a>
<a href=“http://www.bikeaccess.net/bikeaccess/[/url]”>http://www.bikeaccess.net/bikeaccess/</a></p>
<p>First, be sure to look on craigslist first. You don’t want a good bike at school-it will be stolen. Buying a cheap second hand bike from craigslist is usually the best bet.</p>
<p>Second, call the airline. They will supply a box and instructions and the fee for shipping the bike along with the student. It’s easy peasy.</p>
<p>Thank you!! We were considering rebuying the bike, but now we won’t.</p>
<p>Also consider having your child buy the used bike when he gets to campus, being bike friendly campus, he can probably find out where to get one this summer by contacting the school.</p>
<p>I don’t know but I’ll bet it’s a lot easier than biking a ship.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that fedex can box it and ship fairly cheap. ( some triathletes use them instead of airline to save money)</p>
<p>I shipped my son’s bike to him because he is quite tall and needs the biggest bike frame on the planet short of have a custom made frame.</p>
<p>Neither I (here in home town) nor son (in college town) own the tools to reassemble a bike. A specially designed wrench helps for reattaching pedals.</p>
<p>I took the bike to Bike Shop A here in home town. For a fee, they disassembled it, boxed it, had it picked up by FedEx, and shipped to Bike Shop B in college town. Bike Shop B was called in advance to expect the bike. For a fee, Bike Shop B reassembled the bike, called my son, and voila, son has bike. If we had the tools and desire to take it apart and put it back together ourselves, they were going to give me the box for free.</p>
<p>I did this ONLY because my son needs a really huge bike. We already owned a really huge (expensive) bike and don’t need two. If he needed an average bike, I would have said buy a used one there. He can keep his bike indoors, so he didn’t have to worry about the elements or it being stolen. If she has to store it outside, parts might rust. If she just wants to ride around a fairly flat campus, get a used basic bike at school. If she is an avid biker and needs a specialty bike, then ship it.</p>
<p>If she will always be flying back and forth, it will make sense to rent a small storage unit over each summer to keep the bike and other stuff just for school in it over the summer. After two kids in college, it’s AMAZING how much stuff comes home for the summer and just sits in the boxes just waiting to go back in August.</p>
<p>we did the same as LWMD for S last fall.H took S’s bike to his favorite local bike store,they dissasembled,boxed and shipped it to a local bike store near S’s campus. Total cost was approx 65$ for labor,shipping.
Bike,not a particularly expensive one but nice,was then stolen (about a month later) along with an entire row of bikes outside S’s dorm.Reason?No U lock…H had shipped it with a chain lock,S was supposed to buy the U lock when he picked up the bike in town.He said you could look down the row and see the one’s still there-not stolen- had U locks.
He went to the local big box store to replace with a cheap bike and a U lock.
I second the suggestions of buying a used bike or cheap bike locally.
and don’t forget the heavy duty lock.</p>
<p>Not that it will make you feel any better, but it’s pretty easy for bikes to be stolen with u-locks, too. Happens all the time on my son’s campus.</p>
<p>We shipped s’s good mountain bike to school (sent it UPS for about $30) assembled it and locked it up. It was stolen the next day! He then bought a cheap one at Target, along with a heavy duty steel (I think) braided cable lock. It lasted a few months- and was then stolen. From then on he used the dorm’s bikes (fromtheir bike club) - no porblem. So, unless your s or d is going to keep the bike in their room, don’t expect it to last.</p>
<p>Last fall my S - out of the blue - decided to join the school cycling team so we ended up shipping his bike. We also went to a bike store to have them disassemble and box it, which however probably cost more than it did to ship it. And although not ideal, he also kept the bike in his room to prevent it from getting stolen.</p>
<p>For students going to school in Boston, last year I had discovered a company called My Bike that will lease bikes (I think mountain bikes?) for about $20/yr as a way to display advertisements for sponsoring companies; they deliver the bike to campus and it has to be locked up outside so people can see the ad. My S had actually signed up for this last year but then joined the cycling team during the first week before the leased one was delivered (we were able to cancel and even got our money back when we explained the situation!)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mybikeonline.com/[/url]”>http://www.mybikeonline.com/</a></p>
<p>Okay, we own a bike business. Shipping bikes I actually know something about… My husband travels with one of his bikes on pretty much every trip we go on. </p>
<p>Once you have the bike packed, UPS is probably the cheapest way to ship the box, but you can also take a packed bike on an airplane for a standard fee of around $80. (I’ve never heard of an airline supplying the box, BTW.)</p>
<p>You can get a big box, take off the wheels and handlebars (to make the pieces smaller), and pack it yourself. If you do this, don’t forget to put the tools for reassembly in the box.</p>
<p>You can go to a bike store and buy a used bike shipping box from them and partially disassemble the bike and ship it that way.</p>
<p>You can go to a bike store and buy a special case for packing a bike for shipment, pack it that way, etc. </p>
<p>You can ask the bike store to ship it for you.</p>
<p>You can buy a folding bike that fits in a shoulder case and carry it on. People who really like to cycle do that and then bike to and from the airport, with their little bit of luggage on the carrier.</p>
<p>I had a nice bike when I was living in Boston and commuted on it; I just carried it up and down stairs. </p>
<p>D’s bike was stolen at school (it was a cheap one) so she got another one off craigslist. And a better lock. Three years later it’s still around.</p>
<p>My son shipped his bike – nice bike, but not in the best condition. I don’t know what type of lock he has, but it was not stolen. I guess you need to check out the situation at your kid’s campus.</p>
<p>We found that our airlines allowed a free box that was too small for shipping an adult bike. The airline cost for a typical bike box was $100. Instead, my son got a box free from a bike shop and shipped it FedEx Ground for a very reasonable amount (can’t remember how much).</p>
<p>Wow, lots of great suggestions. I am going to call the airline and also the local bike shops for the boxes. Our d is short, so it would be difficult to find a proper fit on craigslist or on campus.</p>
<p>My son is tall–but was able to email craiglist bike seller and determine that he was same size as seller. heights and sizes are given on craigslist.</p>
<p>Online bike shops like Nasbar.com and performancebike.com sell bike carrying cases. I also like the used bike shop box idea. But for college, I’d just send the kid to the Target store nearest the campus and get a cheap bike.</p>
<p>Considered using this company but ended up makiing the cross country drive.</p>
<p><a href=“Luggage Forward® - Shipping & Luggage Delivery Worldwide Since 2005”>Luggage Forward® - Shipping & Luggage Delivery Worldwide Since 2005;
<p>D wanted both her Mountain bike and road bike at school. </p>
<p>Word of caution; mountain bike shocks don’t survive Nor’easter’s very well.
D’s bike got left outside. Had to have the fork overhalled.</p>
<p>This case will survive anything:
<a href=“Product Not Found - BikeTiresDirect.com”>Product Not Found - BikeTiresDirect.com;
but is more expensive than buying a used shipping box from your local bike store.</p>
<p>The company is nashbar.com NOT nasbar.com</p>
<p>There seem to be two kinds of cyclists at any college: the ones who want a cheap bike as local transportation and don’t want to worry about it, and the ones who consider a bike as another piece of sports equipment, bike serious (possibly competitively), and want a good bike and are willing to take care of it. The shipping and purchasing requirements are different for each kind.</p>
<p>just a thought… might it be cheaper/more efficient to purchase an adequate bike when d get there? also, that way, her own bike would still be at home safe for her?</p>