[froome19]

A relative recently suffered an injury which has abruptly ended his cycling career. Despite the devastating news, the one upside is that he now has a lot of spare and high quality cycling material sitting on his hands which he can not use anymore. The only problem is he lives in South Africa.

I did a brief search and some prices quoted to me for shipping bikes from SA to the UK are totally exorbitant, it would be cheaper simply to buy a bike at this end. Does anyone have any ideas on how to ship the bike cheaply?

I guess looking into the SAPO (South African Post office service) would be a good idea to start, though it is all a bit confusing navigating their website and I still am pretty sure the price will be ridiculous.

Thanks in advance 

[Dim]

You tried FedEx. they ship from Sa
http://www.fedex.com/gb/shippingrates/index.html

[Capt_Cavman]

Ride it home!

Head straight for Cairo, then hang a right. Turn left at Israel and carry on to Turkey. I'm a bit hazy on the exact directions from there so you'll have to ask someone.

[froome19]

Yeh thanks for the advice 

As JSG suggested in the Race Chat it may be cheaper just to buy a return ticket to SA and take it back with me on the way back

[LukasCPH]

As JSG suggested in the Race Chat it may be cheaper just to buy a return ticket to SA and take it back with me on the way back

I'd do that for you. I'd even pay for half of the ticket myself, saving you half the price and the trouble of going to South Africa.

[froome19]

Yeh thanks for the advice 

As JSG suggested in the Race Chat it may be cheaper just to buy a return ticket to SA and take it back with me on the way back

Bump.
Good news. I just recently booked a ticket to SA for a couple of weeks time...
I am hoping that my luggage will be slightly heavier on the return leg.

[L'arri]

Bump.
Good news. I just recently booked a ticket to SA for a couple of weeks time...
I am hoping that my luggage will be slightly heavier on the return leg.

Do us a quaver will you, Froomelad? Will you let us know how it goes?

I wrote about my experiences on the French TGV trains here:

1. http://www.mikepadgett.com/cycling/bike-bag/

2. http://www.mikepadgett.com/cycling/race-to-the-sun/

[LukasCPH]

I just recently booked a ticket to SA for a couple of weeks time...

I am not in any way jealous. No, I'm really not.
Yes, I am.

[froome19]

Do us a quaver will you, Froomelad? Will you let us know how it goes?

I wrote about my experiences on the French TGV trains here:

1. http://www.mikepadgett.com/cycling/bike-bag/

2. http://www.mikepadgett.com/cycling/race-to-the-sun/

Ok.. so first step is to purchase the Bike Bag. Need to order it here to pick up in SA and then take over.
I am a relative novice to the world of Bike Bags. (Ok, I have never used one).

I am not looking too spend much on it at all, I am not sure how much usage it will ever get. But at the same time I need something which will protect the bike on its travails from Oliver Tambo to Heathrow...

Here is one I liked: http://www.buycycle.co.za/en/accessories/off-the-bike/bike-bags/tura-en-2/tura-soft-bike-bag-for-26-650b.html

And some cheaper, but looking much less reliable....

http://www.bikeinn.com/bike/sci-con-bike-cover/40380/p
http://www.bikeinn.com/bike/elite-roller-bag/40442/p
http://www.bikeinn.com/bike/sci-con-bike-bag-travel-basic/40381/p

[just some guy]

What ever you buy make sure you fill the bag with clothes and bike or towels or better still bubble rap.

something that will protect things from be bent or smashed

[LukasCPH]

Have a look at this:
CyclingTips: Flying with your bike - tips from a baggage handler
Apparently a soft bag is the best option (which I now see all your linked items are). There also are tips on how to pack the bike - lots and lots of bubble wrap and stuff.

I'd go with the Tura bike bag - yes, it's more expensive than the others, but the other three offer virtually no protection against bad handling. It would be a shame to arrive home only to find out that the bike you went to such lengths to retrieve was destroyed. Consider the 1000 Rand part of the travel costs - or the cost of the bike.

[Kiwirider]

Not sure whether it'd work with your timing, but I'd suggest going on-line to Torpedo7. It's a Kiwi mail order bike shop who does great bike bags.

We've got two (well, now one - buggered if I know where the other one's disappeared to when we emigrated a couple of years back!) and they're excellent. We've transported MTB's, roadies and cross bikes all around the world in them without any problems since we got them back in 2007.

The big advantages that the bags have over what you're looking at are a combination of:
- padded sides - absolutely essential! From my experience of having used unpadded bags, hard shells and padded bags for years, an unpadded bike bag is pretty much asking for damage, even if you wrap your bike well.
- heaps of good storage pockets inside - places for your lid, shoes, pedals, skewers, tools, etc
- easy to move around - wheels are essential for getting through airports, train stations, etc
- relatively light - 4kg bag weight means heaps of room for bike plus gear
- cheap - they're only NZ$99. I know that may make some people suspicious, but ours is still going strong after 7 years of good use ...

I can't send a link - am at work and they auto-block some sites if they're "shopping" - but check out www.torpedo7.co.nz. The bag in question is the imaginatively named "soft bike bag with wheels" - or you can pay another $20 for the fancy version with wheel bags on the outside! (Never used that one, so can't comment.)

Oh, one other thing ...

Don't use bubble wrap for your bike - use closed cell foam instead. Usually you can buy it in large sheets so just cut it to size and wrap all of your tubes. Zip ties are the best way to keep it in place - most tapes don't stick that well to it. Much easier to use than bubble wrap and, if you label where each section of foam fitted, you can keep it and reuse multiple times (we're using the same foam 6 years on ...)

[froome19]

All done..

More to follow soon. Watch this space.

[L'arri]

All done..

More to follow soon. Watch this space.

Still watching...

[froome19]

Still watching...

Ah I'll have to write something up...
Soon..
After exams..