Shipping a bicycle from Australia to Ireland

universe777

Anyone done it and can tell me the approximate cost, carrier and time it takes?

I can't check it in with luggage as I will be using up all 30kg with suitcases..

Thanks :pac:

catbear

You could always just cycle back!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activityandadventure/the-saddle-saga/9779976/London-to-Sydney-by-bike.html

danotroy

Most airlines carry bikes for free on international routes. I'm going home next monday with Qatar. They have 30kg checked luggage and 7kg carry on. However in their terms and conditions they give an extra 10kgs for sports equipment. My bike weighs 9 kgs and my bike box is 4 kgs totaling 13 kgs. The extra 3 kgs is taken off my 30kgs checked luggage so I can effectively now have a 13kg bike box a 27kg suitcase and an 7 kgs carry on allowance.

My_Sharona

Yeah I think it would work out cheapest to bring your bike as carry-on and send some of your luggage over with An Post. A bike box will probably exceed the maximum dimensions for parcels. I've brought a bike as carry-on with Emirates before.

catbear

danotroy wrote: »

Most airlines carry bikes for free on international routes. I'm going home next monday with Qatar. They have 30kg checked luggage and 7kg carry on. However in their terms and conditions they give an extra 10kgs for sports equipment. My bike weighs 9 kgs and my bike box is 4 kgs totaling 13 kgs. The extra 3 kgs is taken off my 30kgs checked luggage so I can effectively now have a 13kg bike box a 27kg suitcase and an 7 kgs carry on allowance.

Do they provide a shipping box? I think I read before that you have to loosen the handle bars and remove the pedals so that it's as flat as possible.

danotroy

Go to any bike store they will have a cardboard bike box for free or a tip jar donation. take pedals off turn handle bars sideways and pack box with bubble wrap.

Kiith

You can get a bike box in the airport as well, but it's probably better to get it in a bike shop and have it boxed up before you get there. And even if you are already checking luggage, just pay for an extra bag. It's not that much, and it's definitely cheaper then getting it shipped home separately.

I'm bringing my bike to NZ in a few weeks, and will have to pay around $50 for the extra checked luggage.

Mellor

Make sure you deflate the tyres on the bike

c0rk3r

Funnily enough im doing the same thing soon enough at the moment and had a look at the various costs. With a cardboard box my bike is around 15kg.

It will cost you around $750 in excess baggage charges for 15kg with qantas
$360 with Australia post by air mail (its higher if you want express, tracking etc) Generally will take 7working days
$150 with Australia post but delivery by ship which takes 2-3months to arrive at final destination.

I booked with Qantas who give you 30kg checked luggage and 7kg carry on. So with a bit of fiddling about i should be within my limit. I remember my bag weighed 23kg 1 year ago on the train from Bundaberg to Brisbane but im gonna get rid of half my clothes so as not to exceed the limit. I just realised the only things i want to bring home are, 1pair of jeans, 1 suit, 1 coat and cycling clothes. everything else can be binned. ha!

My brother shipped my bike over using anpost-€75 for 20kgs which took 7 working days to arrive. Top notch value for money

danotroy

c0rk3r wrote: »

Funnily enough im doing the same thing soon enough at the moment and had a look at the various costs. With a cardboard box my bike is around 15kg.

It will cost you around $750 in excess baggage charges for 15kg with qantas
$360 with Australia post by air mail (its higher if you want express, tracking etc) Generally will take 7working days
$150 with Australia post but delivery by ship which takes 2-3months to arrive at final destination.

I booked with Qantas who give you 30kg checked luggage and 7kg carry on. So with a bit of fiddling about i should be within my limit. I remember my bag weighed 23kg 1 year ago on the train from Bundaberg to Brisbane but im gonna get rid of half my clothes so as not to exceed the limit. I just realised the only things i want to bring home are, 1pair of jeans, 1 suit, 1 coat and cycling clothes. everything else can be binned. ha!

My brother shipped my bike over using anpost-€75 for 20kgs which took 7 working days to arrive. Top notch value for money

A trick I learned moving between the uk and ireland on ryanair was to wear as much clothes as you possible can carry and abuse the carry on luggage. Stuff each pocket with socks/electrical cables/books and heavy items such as chargers (i've worn 7 coats/hoodies and 6 t shirts before all stuffed to the brim which weighed over 16kgs). Once you get past security take said items off and place in a large plastic bag you have in a pocket. When you get to the gate they will stop you if you have a huge bag but put everything back on and board.

It may be a bit uncomfortable for when you are wearing them during security and
boarding but other than that you can rest the heavy bag of clothes and cables on your rolling carry on luggage.

Also most airlines allow a small briefcase in addition to your carry on luggage.

c0rk3r

Imagine walking into Melbourne airport at the start of summer wearing about 6-7 layers. I wouldnt like to sit next to that person once they boarded the plane. ha

Something i forgot to mention. Sign up to the frequent flyer club of the airline you chose and have someone who has travelled recently transfer you some airmiles to bump you up(hopefully you know someone). With Qantas as you change levels you're allowed to carry more weight (they have loads of partner airlines such as qatar, aer lingus, british airways etc). You can simply transfer the miles back to that person once you;ve finished your flight

pete4130

I've been flying with bikes for nearly 13 years and brought 2 bikes to Australia on separate occasions from Ireland.

One was a BMX and breaks down into an army duffle bag, weight about 12KG and you wouldn't know its a bike. It's easy. I fly with it twice a month in Australia no bother.

The other bike was my road bike. Easiest way is to get the bike box from a bike shop. Get some bubble wrap or pipe insulation foam for the tubing to protect it and cut some cardboard discs out to protect the wheels/spokes. Make sure to use box tape to tape up every single side of that bike box. If you don't the moisture/condensation will let the staples in the box pull out and your bike box will self disassemble when being taken on and off planes. Trust me. I've learnt the hard way.

If you have a 30KG limit then put everything you can into the bike box and get that up to 30KG and let it do the work for you. If you can attach some fishing line to the box on either end and are confident/comfortable enough to take some of the weight while checking it in, you can sneak an extra few KG's in there and get away with it.

It's by far cheaper bringing a bike to Australia than buying a bike here with the cost of decent bikes here being over the top. An entry level Avanti road bike (NZ company widely sold here) would probably be in the range of about $1700ish from my time working in a bike store about 2.5 years ago. compared to €650-€700 ($900ish?) back in Ireland.

Also, if you are bringing a bike over, make sure it is clean, eg tyres and frame/drivetrain are free of mud and organic matter. They check bikes coming into the country for non native organic materials. LAst thing you want is a fee for it to be cleaned/irradiated at customs.

danotroy

pete4130 wrote: »

If you have a 30KG limit then put everything you can into the bike box and get that up to 30KG and let it do the work for you. If you can attach some fishing line to the box on either end and are confident/comfortable enough to take some of the weight while checking it in, you can sneak an extra few KG's in there and get away with it.

Great advice Pete excellent post. However I am wondering about making.my bike box do the work.
if I make it 30 kgs it would be an immoral object due to the size. My suitcase has wheels and handles my bike box is a huge cardboard box.

pete4130

Put your softgoods into the bike box along with your empty rucksack or duffle bag. Once its on the flight you won't see it until your destination. So anything that isn't important immediately can go in the bike box. Once you get to your destination you can open the box and put your stuff into the rucksack/duffle bag and you can put the bike together or leave it in the box (keep a fresh roll or two of box tape in with the bike).

I won't lie, carry a heavy bike box is a pain in the a$$. It's a one off thing though. You can buy specific padded bike bags for about €200 or so. They have wheels and handles too.

All you really have to do with the bike box is get it from the bus/taxi into the terminal and then from the terminal to the bus/taxi and then into your hotel.

Back in the day we taped TWO bike boxes together, well it worked out to be about 1.5 bike boxes and put TWO bikes in and took advantage of Ryanair sports goods/bike fee with the 23KG allowance. The guy was SO confused at its size and thought it was a motorbike and told us we couldn't bring petrol engines on the plane. When he realised it was just BMX bikes he was so relieved he forgot to charge us for them.

universe777

c0rk3r wrote: »

$360 with Australia post by air mail (its higher if you want express, tracking etc) Generally will take 7working days

This looks like the best option, thanks!
I don't want to bring it as checked in luggage. Having to haul it and suitcases to the airport would not be fun. Factor in the cost of a taxi too..
Haven't bought it yet but it will be an Avanti, probably more expensive in Ireland. I want to use it here for Summer then move back there.

pete4130

universe777 wrote: »

This looks like the best option, thanks!
I don't want to bring it as checked in luggage. Having to haul it and suitcases to the airport would not be fun. Factor in the cost of a taxi too..
Haven't bought it yet but it will be an Avanti, probably more expensive in Ireland. I want to use it here for Summer then move back there.

There is a brand here called REID bikes. Whatever you do, don't buy one. They buy direct from manufacturers and relabel the cheapest bikes possible. They fall apart. They do an Ultegra or dura ace spec bike for about $1900. Parts are good but the rest is shocking.

I used to work for a bike shop on the Central Coast called "Pushy Galore". They are an Avanti dealer and have a larger shop near Gosford. I think they do shipping? You might get last years model for a reduced price? The owner, Dan actually rides bikes actively, races, does crits and is/was semi pro so knows what he's talking about. could be worth checking it out? They do roadies, hard tails, dualies etc...

danotroy

universe777 wrote: »

This looks like the best option, thanks!
I don't want to bring it as checked in luggage. Having to haul it and suitcases to the airport would not be fun. Factor in the cost of a taxi too..
Haven't bought it yet but it will be an Avanti, probably more expensive in Ireland. I want to use it here for Summer then move back there.

Your gonna have to haul the bike to the post office so you may aswell haul it to the airport. I don't know would I trust intractable post service. The taxi fare to the airport would be a lot cheaper than postage.

top madra

c0rk3r wrote: »

. ha!

My brother shipped my bike over using anpost-€75 for 20kgs which took 7 working days to arrive. Top notch value for money

Are you sure it was that cheap?

I was looking at shipping my bike, 13kgs, and it seemed a lot more expensive

http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Personal+Customers/Sending+Mail/Speed/International+Courier+Service/

c0rk3r

Yeah top madra its 75euro for 20kg to australia, i just doubled checked.

It seems you went with the international courier service / speed options which is why the postage is higher. Just choose standard post and it will bring the price down

chuckster

I'm flying with Emirates and it's costing $50 to bring my bike.... bargain.

danotroy

So my partner and I flew Melbourne to London with Qatar and London to cork on Aer Lingus. When i rang Aer Lingus they said it was not possible to check my bag all the way to cork as I booked on separate tickets, even though the website said that if i produce a ticket from Qatar they would check the bags through with Qatars allowance.
Qatar allow 30 kg checked luggage with 10kg extra free for a bike.

We got to Melbourne Airport and weighed our bags I had 35 kg suit case and 24 kgs bike box
My partner had a 28 kg bag and a 21 kg bike box.

We went to the counter and checked our bags through the lady told me to put the extra 5 kg in my bik box or she would have to charge me. She didn't weigh our bike boxes, she also checked our bags all the way to Cork. We were given stickers for the bike boxes and directed us the the oversize baggage drop. The guy there did not even look at the boxes twice, he just scanned then and put a fragile sticker on them.

IN SHORT fill your bike box with heavy items as it goes through oversized baggage which the security guy has no interest or authority to charge you excess.

jackbhoy

danotroy wrote: »

So my partner and I flew Melbourne to London with Qatar and London to cork on Aer Lingus. When i rang Aer Lingus they said it was not possible to check my bag all the way to cork as I booked on separate tickets, even though the website said that if i produce a ticket from Qatar they would check the bags through with Qatars allowance.
Qatar allow 30 kg checked luggage with 10kg extra free for a bike.

We got to Melbourne Airport and weighed our bags I had 35 kg suit case and 24 kgs bike box
My partner had a 28 kg bag and a 21 kg bike box.

We went to the counter and checked our bags through the lady told me to put the extra 5 kg in my bik box or she would have to charge me. She didn't weigh our bike boxes, she also checked our bags all the way to Cork. We were given stickers for the bike boxes and directed us the the oversize baggage drop. The guy there did not even look at the boxes twice, he just scanned then and put a fragile sticker on them.

IN SHORT fill your bike box with heavy items as it goes through oversized baggage which the security guy has no interest or authority to charge you excess.

Good advice.

I'd add one caveat though; make sure your bike box can take the weight. If it is standard cardboard they can often take on moisture and soften during flights/transit and any weakness in tape will split.

I am considering investing in a hard case bike box myself.

maryishere

jackbhoy wrote: »

If it is standard cardboard they can often take on moisture and soften during flights/transit and any weakness in tape will split.

Good point. A friend of mine was returning to Ireland with a bike and the cardboard split / a lot of it fell apart in transit. I told him beforehand to sell the bike here in Oz, it would be easier.

Kiith

I'm bringing mine to NZ in 5 weeks, and will be seeing if i can get a standard bike box from one of the shops nearby. Need to try and fit in a 3rd wheel (Extrawheel) as well, so hopefully will fit. Going to tape the living hell out of it though, and fill it with some clothes or bubble wrap to protect it. Bike only weighs around 11kg, so plenty of weight to fill.

Was only an extra $50 on Air New Zealand too.

NicoleMF

danotroy wrote: »

Most airlines carry bikes for free on international routes. I'm going home next monday with Qatar. They have 30kg checked luggage and 7kg carry on. However in their terms and conditions they give an extra 10kgs for sports equipment. My bike weighs 9 kgs and my bike box is 4 kgs totaling 13 kgs. The extra 3 kgs is taken off my 30kgs checked luggage so I can effectively now have a 13kg bike box a 27kg suitcase and an 7 kgs carry on allowance.

Does it really work that way at Qatar: if checked luggage + bike box is under 40 kg, you're fine? I just phoned them and they said that if your bike case is over 10 kg, you pay excess luggage fee, no matter what your checked in luggage weighs. Their website doesn't specify this point

danotroy

NicoleMF wrote: »

Does it really work that way at Qatar: if checked luggage + bike box is under 40 kg, you're fine? I just phoned them and they said that if your bike case is over 10 kg, you pay excess luggage fee, no matter what your checked in luggage weighs. Their website doesn't specify this point

Here is snippet from the email I received to clarify the above point.

top madra

Old thread but I'll add to it anyhow..

I posted my MTB out here last two weeks ago from Ireland it cost about 80e and arrived in about a week..

It was 18kgs in total, box and bike.

commited

Anyone brought a bike on an Etihad/Virgin? They state that it's part of the included allowance but just wondering if they reinforce that as I've heard of a fair few airlines that don't even weigh the box..

danotroy

Your bike goes through the oversized baggage area where the staff there aren't airline specific staff. These staff do not care if your bike weighs 5kg or 30kg they just send it through. Eithad/Virgin desk staff may ask to weigh your bike on their scales (generally this does not happen as its too awkward) but then you bring your bike to the oversized baggage section where you can put more stuff in and put it through.

commited

Interesting, thanks. When I travelled back last time, Etihad even weighed my carry-on so I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to weigh the bike box!

I assume they don't weigh the luggage again when they transfer between airlines? (we're flying home on Virgin and Etihad combo ticket)

danotroy

commited wrote: »

Interesting, thanks. When I travelled back last time, Etihad even weighed my carry-on so I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to weigh the bike box!

I assume they don't weigh the luggage again when they transfer between airlines? (we're flying home on Virgin and Etihad combo ticket)

This may be a bit long winded but I remeber how stressed I was when I was in this situation so I will give a detailed answer which will include more info than needed.

They may weigh your bike box at check in desk. However as I said after you weigh the box with virgin/etihad staff you then have to physically bring the "checked in" bike box to the oversized baggage area. The staff here are not airline affiliated staff so they don't care about the weight. They don't weigh the box so in theory you can fill the bike box up en-route to the oversized baggage area from the airline desk.

If your flights are sold as a combo your bags are checked all the way through and they will not be weighed again after initial check in. However, if you have bought the tickets separately in order to get a cheap deal they are classed as independent tickets. This means that at your stop over (KL, Singapore. London or anywhere else) you may have to collect your bags and re-check in and face different baggage allowances. One caveat to this is that some airlines have deals with other airlines who allow checking in on different flights. This happened me when I flew home from Melbourne I bought the MEl - LON and LON- CORK separately. I rang Qatar's customer care and they said that they couldn't book bags and bikes all the way through to Cork as I bought the tickets separately. I found a webpage that showed aer lingus were an affiliated partner of Qatar and emailed it to customer care who said that they couldn't sanction it over the phone but to be courteous to the check in staff and they may be able to do something. I asked ground staff and they said it was no problem.

Hope this helps someone!