I mentioned to my father-in-law that I intend to bring my bike on our family trip to Maui this December. Well, he just sent me a clipping from the LA Times where the author describes his first experience in shipping a bike.

With a good bike box, you can see the world
- Los Angeles Times

On the lower end are cardboard boxes that bike manufacturers use to ship their products to dealers. You can get them at low or even no cost at bike shops, but the boxes require more disassembly of the bike than I’m comfortable with.

Specialty bike boxes with ultra-protective, hard shells can cost $400 or more, but I settled on a cheaper corrugated plastic box from CrateWorks (www.crateworks.com) that uses an ingenious system of Velcro straps and foam inserts to secure and protect a bike. (It even had a spot for my helmet.) It costs $169, plus $35 for ground shipping. CrateWorks offers a corrugated cardboard version for $109, but it’s not waterproof and can be used only a handful of times.

Thanks Art!!