Motorcycle Shipping?

PsykoPenguin · Post by **PsykoPenguin** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:40 pm

Anyone have any experience with em? I'm out in Cali and I wanted to ship my brothers old motorcycle to him out in NY or maybe it's CO I'm not sure anymore. Anyway it's been sitting under a tarp for ages apparently where my dads kept it, don't think it's in running order but I know he still wants it and wants to fix it up. Figure it could be a nice little Christmas gift to re-unite him with his old bike even if it is late. I'm sure with a bit of TLC it could be running again, my dad still has the papers for it so could easily be transferred. In any case, I'm just curious if anyone knows of a good motorcycle shipping company or am I just gonna have to put this in back of my SUV (on a rack of course) and haul ass?

Photos

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 12:44 am

Maybe a Craigslist ad to see if any truckers would take it on to earn some extra cash?

PsykoPenguin · Post by **PsykoPenguin** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 1:11 am

Humboldt wrote:Maybe a Craigslist ad to see if any truckers would take it on to earn some extra cash?

Well my uncles a trucker so is a good friend o mine, guess I could ask em.

SlyOneDoofy · Post by **SlyOneDoofy** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 2:57 am

Take everything off the bike not needed. I mean, if the tires are bad don't pay to ship them. Break it down as tight and small as possible and put it on a pallet.

All I got.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:00 am

Hundreds of shipping companies....many of which specialize in hauling motorcycles.
Example: http://www.motorcycleshippers.com/s_shippingprices.htm
It'll be expensive...but think about how much gas your SUV will consume driving nearly cross country towing at trailer....yeah that will be well over a thousand bucks too!

Also there are sites you can post a job to and allow free haulers to bid on your job. Seen that TV show "Shipping Wars"? It shows some guys that bid from a site called http://www.uship.com/ which was around before the show made it popular. Most economical for me...since it's not a dedicated haul just for the bike.

Bike looks like a fun resto project......fixing up classics is cool! Know the year? Looks like mid maybe late 70's.

PsykoPenguin · Post by **PsykoPenguin** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 12:01 pm

SlyOneDoofy wrote:Take everything off the bike not needed. I mean, if the tires are bad don't pay to ship them. Break it down as tight and small as possible and put it on a pallet.

All I got.

Well they're still good so nothing to really remove but even then I'd rather send him the entire thing just because he'd need to know everything including tire sizes and it'd probably save him a few bucks til he can get some new ones but can use those to test it out til he can get some new ones.

PsykoPenguin · Post by **PsykoPenguin** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:02 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Hundreds of shipping companies....many of which specialize in hauling motorcycles.
Example: http://www.motorcycleshippers.com/s_shippingprices.htm
It'll be expensive...but think about how much gas your SUV will consume driving nearly cross country towing at trailer....yeah that will be well over a thousand bucks too!

Also there are sites you can post a job to and allow free haulers to bid on your job. Seen that TV show "Shipping Wars"? It shows some guys that bid from a site called http://www.uship.com/ which was around before the show made it popular. Most economical for me...since it's not a dedicated haul just for the bike.

Bike looks like a fun resto project......fixing up classics is cool! Know the year? Looks like mid maybe late 70's.

a lil over 1000. think it was like 1200 or so at $4 at 17 MPG.

Ah, never even heard of it til you just mentioned it now. Thanks, I'll look into it.

My brother thinks it's an 81 but not 100% certain, I'd have to go look, it's still sitting under a tarp as my garage is too full to fit anything.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:07 am

It’s not going to be cheap or easy to ship that bike …………..
Unless you find a company that specializes in shipping bikes

First your brother needs to find a dealership near him to ship too. Maybe a can pay the owner a few dollars to forklift the bike off of the truck it was shipped on. Then you need to find a dealership with a crate. We used to throw away the crates when we were shipped new bikes. Find a crate that’s near the same size as the bike. Take off the mirrors, loosen the handle bars, push them forward, the strap or tie the bike any way you can to keep the bike up straight. Some crates use the same bolts that hold handlebars on to hold the bikes upright. Strap the bars up making sure the brake fluid doesn’t leak out, it will eat the paint off everything. Then hopefully the owner lifts the bike on the truck you rented.

…………. I told you it wouldn’t be easy