crating a bike - Horizons Unlimited

**merlin** · #1 29 May 2003

Hi ,
the easy way to crate a bike would be to get a crate from a bike dealer ,
but are these strong enough for "general" shipping?
any experiences....thanks

**zenbiker** · #2 29 May 2003

and what are the economics of it? is it cheaper to ship a bike out to, say, the states than to buy one there? how much would it cost?

zenbiker

**Grant Johnson** · #3 29 May 2003

Generally the bike crates you'd get from a dealer are fine for reuse with a little though and attention to making SURE it's strong enough. I've reused several crates and had no problems. The metal framed ones from the Japanese manufacturers are fine, as are BMW crates.

Best of course is to pick one that was for a bigger bike than yours so you don't have quite so much dismantling of the bike to - unless you really want to squeeze the size down and save the max dollars.

Zenbiker, your question is a tough one to answer: round trip UK to North America is around US$2500. You could probably buy and sell a bike for much less loss than that IF you didn't have to buy equipment - in other words saddlebags etc. If you're travelling light you can probably get by with standard saddlebags and a duffle. Of course you then don't have YOUR bike. Personal choice.

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Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

**PanEuropean** · #4 10 Nov 2003

Merlin, you normally don't need to crate a motorcycle unless one of the following conditions exist:

You are worried about theft during the shipping and warehousing process, at either origin or destination.
You plan to ship a lot of loose spares or baggage in the crate with the bike.
The airline intends to charge you dimensional weight (cubic weight) rather than actual mass weight.

If none of the above conditions exist, just build a simple wooden pallet, like the one in the photo below, and strap the bike to it. The airline will then forklift the bike into a cargo container, or put it on a flat aluminium sheet (like a cookie sheet) that fits into the aircraft.

PanEuropean

**PanEuropean** · #5 11 Nov 2003

See this post for a picture of the pallet above, once it has been loaded into the cargo container that the airline supplies (free):

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000354.html