Moving with our bikes

[Flur]

My husband and I are being relocated to Seattle (Yay!) from Minneapolis. A moving company will be packing our stuff and moving it across the country, and since we don't have an apartment yet, our belongings will be put into storage for a month while we're in corporate housing. I'm wondering what the best thing to do with our bikes is. I was thinking it would be best to have our LBS box them for shipping, but I've got my bike just the way I want it (handlebar angle, seat height and positioning, etc.) and I hate the idea of having them take it apart and then having another bike shop put it back together (I'm not savvy at doing that myself). Has anyone done this before, and do you have any suggestions (whether you've done this or not)?

Thanks in advance!

[NbyNW]

I just moved from Seattle to Edmonton and our things were in storage for nearly two months.

I put my clunky old mtb and my Dahon in storage, and my road bike came with us in one of our cars -- we decided to drive up rather than ship our cars, since we did not want to put our dog on a plane.

If driving is not an option, why not ask your LBS if they can mark/record your setup if you have them pack your bike? That might help set your mind at ease.

I'm sure other Seattle people will chime in, but I think you can run a search for favorite Seattle/PNW LBSs and bike fitters who can help you on the re-assembly side.

Good luck with your move!

[OakLeaf]

Re: reassembling your bike after shipping, you'll want to know where everything was regardless of who reassembles it.

So put a piece of masking tape around your seatpost.

Mark your stem and handlebars unobtrusively with dots from a Sharpie (a silver one, if your stem and bars are black).

You shouldn't have to take your saddle off the seatpost, but if you do, you can mark the rails and the tilt adjuster with a Sharpie, too.

Or if you can't stand the thought of marking it all up, take measurements and record them.

[GLC1968]

When we made the move from North Carolina to Portland, OR, we both picked out one bike that we figured would work for the most situations (it was winter, so we picked good rain bikes) and we brought those bikes across the country with us on our car (we also drove to avoid putting two dogs and a cat on a plane in the winter).

Our stuff went into storage for months (including our 6 other bikes) and we lived with just one bike each for awhile. The bikes in storage went just as they were - no modifications. The moving company was very careful with them and we had no issues at all. We did not box them up - we just made sure to tell them how precious these bikes were to us and they kept an eye on them. I would be worried boxing them up that that would give them licence to be rough with them or to store them on the bottom of a huge pile of books or something. But I have also since recommended these movers to everyone I know - they did a fantastic job....and I've moved a lot in the past, so I've got a lot to compare them to!

[uk elephant]

I'm hate to chime in with a scare story, but make sure you really trust the shipping company. Ask around for recommendations or some such tactic. I obviously didn't do my homework on that front and the two boxes that were clearly bike boxes (one containing my bike, one containing paintings made by friends) were stolen along the way and never arrived.

As for shipping my bike when travelling on holiday, I've just done the packing and re-assembly myself using the marking tips suggested by others and not had a problem.

[tulip]

If you are driving your car(s), you might want to consider taking your bikes with you.