Motorcycle shipping
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Rockosmith
- Member
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:14 pm
- Location: Mississippi
Motorcycle shipping
Does anyone have any experience shipping a bike domestically? Any recommendations on who to use or more importantly, on who not to use?? Any help would be appreciated.
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boxermania
- Quadruple Lifer
- Posts: 3644
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 6:37 pm
- Location: Baton Rouge, LA.....aproaching retirement
Rockosmith
Your best bet is to check with the motorcycle dealers in your area for recomendations. All of the major carrierrs ship motorcycles......DAS is one of them.
The primary problem is time, since with the cost of energy they want to have a full load before getting on their way, I'm sure you understand. Another problem is if you use an agent instead of the carrier itself, the agent will be looking amongst the carriers near you, he takes his cut and the delivery time tacks on......once the item is on the road, who knows when it will get there.....elements, breakdowns, # of deliveries; your patience will be tested.............
Personally, I have had sucess with Forward Air, they are not much more expensive than on the road and sometimes less expensive. You deliver the bike to them, they put it in a container and drop it off at the nearest terminal, usually located near the nearest major/international airport. They call you and you pick it up from the terminal. The key words here are nearest airports.....with Das and the other on the road carriers you still have to pick up and deliver to their terminal.
I wish I had more to give you, hopefully some other posters can share their experince....good luck.
Your best bet is to check with the motorcycle dealers in your area for recomendations. All of the major carrierrs ship motorcycles......DAS is one of them.
The primary problem is time, since with the cost of energy they want to have a full load before getting on their way, I'm sure you understand. Another problem is if you use an agent instead of the carrier itself, the agent will be looking amongst the carriers near you, he takes his cut and the delivery time tacks on......once the item is on the road, who knows when it will get there.....elements, breakdowns, # of deliveries; your patience will be tested.............
Personally, I have had sucess with Forward Air, they are not much more expensive than on the road and sometimes less expensive. You deliver the bike to them, they put it in a container and drop it off at the nearest terminal, usually located near the nearest major/international airport. They call you and you pick it up from the terminal. The key words here are nearest airports.....with Das and the other on the road carriers you still have to pick up and deliver to their terminal.
I wish I had more to give you, hopefully some other posters can share their experince....good luck.
Member #312
06 Suzuki Burgman 650 "state of flux"
79 CBX
06 Suzuki Burgman 650 "state of flux"
79 CBX
I met one of the drivers for this company http://www.haulbikes.com/ while he was unloading a bike at a cycle shop in Ingram, Texas. He arrived within the time frame they had promised delivery.
I talked to the driver for a while about his job; picking up and delivering bikes. Nice guy. And I took a peek inside the big tractor trailer. He didn't mind me taking pictures at all. From what I could see, everything was secured very well. The owner of the cycle shop checked out the bike which was delivered while I was there, and signed off on it - as everything was just as it should have been.
I don't have any personal experience with them hauling a bike for me, but from what I saw and from talking to the driver - I'd recommend them. I'm not sure how their prices compare. They offer discounts for military personnel and for shipping multiple bikes. They also offer specials during certain events, and if your destination/delivery time coincides with one of those events, it could be a good deal for you. I've thought about doing that just to get my bike out to California or up in New England without having to ride it all the way. I wouldn't attend the bike event. I'd just take advantage of the discounted rates.
Pics of the rig, the inside of the trailer, and the driver taking the bike down the ramp to deliver.
I talked to the driver for a while about his job; picking up and delivering bikes. Nice guy. And I took a peek inside the big tractor trailer. He didn't mind me taking pictures at all. From what I could see, everything was secured very well. The owner of the cycle shop checked out the bike which was delivered while I was there, and signed off on it - as everything was just as it should have been.
I don't have any personal experience with them hauling a bike for me, but from what I saw and from talking to the driver - I'd recommend them. I'm not sure how their prices compare. They offer discounts for military personnel and for shipping multiple bikes. They also offer specials during certain events, and if your destination/delivery time coincides with one of those events, it could be a good deal for you. I've thought about doing that just to get my bike out to California or up in New England without having to ride it all the way. I wouldn't attend the bike event. I'd just take advantage of the discounted rates.
Pics of the rig, the inside of the trailer, and the driver taking the bike down the ramp to deliver.
Kristi
05 Granite Grey
05 Granite Grey
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boxermania
- Quadruple Lifer
- Posts: 3644
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 6:37 pm
- Location: Baton Rouge, LA.....aproaching retirement
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Rockosmith
- Member
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:14 pm
- Location: Mississippi
I'm just cursed with curiosity and a plethora of questions. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it hurts.boxermania wrote:Darn Gypsy....you are into everything......I'm green with envy....
We have to make a Master BMW Tech out of you......and our work will be completed. Did you hear me CycleRob???
Kristi
05 Granite Grey
05 Granite Grey
Bike shipping
howdy! I just shipped an RT from TN to CA. A friend recommended pacific freight, so I contacted them and got a quote for $800. I did a search on m/c shippers and came up with youship.com. With youship, you enter a bid and people compete for your business. I received 3 offers within 6 hrs for less than $650. I ended up going with Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Transportation for $550. They picked up last Tuesday in TN. Drove up to the house, rolled it on the 44' covered trailer, executed full tie down, and took off. They are supposed to deliver tomorrow or Tuesday - getting excited.
Jimbob
Monterey by the Bay
Monterey by the Bay
in case your bike goes into container (unlikely, you said you are looking for domestic shipping) bear in mind the following article I read:
some bloke and bunch of his friends shipped number of bikes in 40 feet container.
all bikes were securely tied down to the floor.
unfortunately the container got dropped from height (not sure how high) by the freight company.
some bikes were on centre-stands, some on side-stands (in the absence of centre-stand).
the bikes on centre-stands suffered bent frames, etc. etc. - all sorts of bad things.
the bikes on side-stands - were absolutely OK.
now - R1150R/Rockster and probably most Oilheads (oh, OK, R1100S excluded) have the engine as stressed member
- and there is no real frame per se, but would you like cracked engine?
some bloke and bunch of his friends shipped number of bikes in 40 feet container.
all bikes were securely tied down to the floor.
unfortunately the container got dropped from height (not sure how high) by the freight company.
some bikes were on centre-stands, some on side-stands (in the absence of centre-stand).
the bikes on centre-stands suffered bent frames, etc. etc. - all sorts of bad things.
the bikes on side-stands - were absolutely OK.
now - R1150R/Rockster and probably most Oilheads (oh, OK, R1100S excluded) have the engine as stressed member
- and there is no real frame per se, but would you like cracked engine?
http://www.keyboardmotorcycleshipping.com/
I used these guys when I bought my roadster on ebay. chicago to seattle 7 days and $595.00.
doug
I used these guys when I bought my roadster on ebay. chicago to seattle 7 days and $595.00.
doug
Forward Air
I have used Forward Air to ship several bikes. They offer point-to-point service (that means not to your door) to most major cities that have an airport. I've never had any problems with their service and it's hard to beat their price/time. I've heard horror stories from others, but I've never been dissatisfied.
Several of the bikes I've shipped were trials machines and I used "recycled" crates from a local dealer. However, while I don't mind making a box for a 150 pound motorcycle, I certainly would not try that with anything 400 pounds and up.
Whenever I have shipped a street bike I've insisted the seller use Forward Air's container service. They offer 3 sizes of steel containers. You reserve one and they bring it your closest location. When it arrives they e-mail you and you cart the bikes, 4 tie-downs and 2 padlocks down to their dock and load it in.
That's my experience FWIW.
http://www.forwardair.com
Several of the bikes I've shipped were trials machines and I used "recycled" crates from a local dealer. However, while I don't mind making a box for a 150 pound motorcycle, I certainly would not try that with anything 400 pounds and up.
Whenever I have shipped a street bike I've insisted the seller use Forward Air's container service. They offer 3 sizes of steel containers. You reserve one and they bring it your closest location. When it arrives they e-mail you and you cart the bikes, 4 tie-downs and 2 padlocks down to their dock and load it in.
That's my experience FWIW.
http://www.forwardair.com
I had an excellent experience with Shippingmasters in shipping my R1150R from Pennsylvania to Texas. Paul Wilson was was very friendly and helpful.
Shippingmasters is a broker. They provide a list of shippers and you pick the one with the best combination of rates and scheduling that fits your requirements. Gran Turismo Motorsports was the actual shipper I chose, and the bike arrived on a nice looking truck full of bikes and exotic cars. It got here clean, without a scratch and with gas in the tank. The truck was much too large to get into my residential neighborhood, so I directed the driver to a Home Depot parking lot nearby and picked up the bike there.
Shippingmasters also offers a kind of inexpensive escrow service that is very useful if you are buying a bike from an individual not known to you. Send the check to Shippingmasters and they will hold it until you have confirmed with the shipper that the bike is on the truck. At your direction, Shippingmasters will then send the check to the seller. I used this service and it worked well. It keeps both buyer and seller motivated to do the right thing. Highly recommended.
Shippingmasters is a broker. They provide a list of shippers and you pick the one with the best combination of rates and scheduling that fits your requirements. Gran Turismo Motorsports was the actual shipper I chose, and the bike arrived on a nice looking truck full of bikes and exotic cars. It got here clean, without a scratch and with gas in the tank. The truck was much too large to get into my residential neighborhood, so I directed the driver to a Home Depot parking lot nearby and picked up the bike there.
Shippingmasters also offers a kind of inexpensive escrow service that is very useful if you are buying a bike from an individual not known to you. Send the check to Shippingmasters and they will hold it until you have confirmed with the shipper that the bike is on the truck. At your direction, Shippingmasters will then send the check to the seller. I used this service and it worked well. It keeps both buyer and seller motivated to do the right thing. Highly recommended.