So Jnr and her fella are moving to Sydney in November. He has a 18 month old Cube Attain he wouldn't mind taking with him for commuting to work.
They haven't sorted accommodation at this stage so he's looking to send the bike snail mail and I was wondering if anybody had done similar or has other ideas we should consider?
Are they sending anything else - boxes, furniture, books etc? If so, putting a bike in as part of a shipment with someone like Anglo Pacific would be reasonable. But if the bike's the only thing he/ they are thinking specifically of taking, why wouldn't he take it with him? It's a faff at either end, carting it about, but cheaper and still less of a headache than posting.Â
For posting, my concerns (apart from dismantling, boxing, padding etc) would be total cost and the issue of customs/ duty etc. So it'd have to be specifically labelled as "personal belongings" or whatnot, possibly addressed to a pickup box or similar? Which is why taking it with them could be the easier option - and not that expensive given it's "sporting goods" for the airline. Â
A mate did this a few years ago, I'll send him a link to this thread. IIRC, it took about 6 months, they rented some space in a container and had various furniture etc in there too. Everything arrived intact, it just took forever!
But yes, if it's just the bike, take it on the plane in a bike box. FWIW, when I flew to Australia, it was astonishingly easy. Worth looking at costs; it may well work out about the same price for an extra person to accompany them on the journey out there with the bike as their checked luggage, even if they have to go via a separate route for maximum cheapness.
Edit - when I travelled, I got away with shoving all my clothes, helmet etc in the bike box too. No issues. So that could also be a way of taking a few extras. It was just counted as my checked baggage, there wasn't even an additional fee for the bike box.