Sendbike bicycle shipping. Any experience??

[OnHellas]

We have a plan to fly to Almeria in late February ‘24 for another Camino. (The Mozarabe, Almeria to Merida)
I walk, she cycles.
In the past we’ve taken the bicycle with us on the plane but find it a fair bit of agg. What with getting to the airport in a taxi, lugging the big box around etc.
With the baggage costs and extra costs of transportation to the airport over using the train we started looking for alternatives.

An internet search brought up Sendbike, amongst others, for getting the bicycle to southern Spain. Collection from our door.

Has anyone used this or any other like company/service?

 

[stever1]

Can it not be sent via a normal parcel company such as DHL ?

 

[OnHellas]

Having searched a bit more it appears that the likes of DHL offer a bicycle service.
Time to get some measurements of the big box in the loft from the bikes last trip back from Madrid.

 

[DC]

might be an obvious question, but why not just hire a bike in Almeria ? won't the cost of packing it up ,getting it to Spain , collecting etc? all out weight the price of hiring ?
Almeria is a great area for cycling, have a great time

 

[OnHellas]

might be an obvious question, but why not just hire a bike in Almeria ? won't the cost of packing it up ,getting it to Spain , collecting etc? all out weight the price of hiring ?
Almeria is a great area for cycling, have a great time

The main reason that hiring isn’t for us is that we will not be returning to Almeria to fly home. Plus, our time frame of being away for 4 to 6 weeks makes the cost of taking her own bike worth it and she likes her bike.

 

[stever1]

Don’t know if this is of any interest to you, but. I’m looking at a site called ‘cycling for softies ‘ with a view to cycling abroad next year. They do holidays in Spain I believe.

 

[OnHellas]

Don’t know if this is of any interest to you, but. I’m looking at a site called ‘cycling for softies ‘ with a view to cycling abroad next year. They do holidays in Spain I believe.

Thanks for the info but we don’t want to book a ‘tour’ with a company.
We will be following the Camino Mozarabe from Almeria. It goes through Granada and joins the Camino Via de La Plata at Merida. Roughly 400 miles and 4 weeks. I will walk and the other half will use her bicycle. We will be staying in Albergue type accommodation and also finding places as we go with booking.com.
We may then continue north towards Santiago de Compostela on the Via de La Plata for another couple of weeks.

 

[stever1]

Thanks for the info but we don’t want to book a ‘tour’ with a company.
We will be following the Camino Mozarabe from Almeria. It goes through Granada and joins the Camino Via de La Plata at Merida. Roughly 400 miles and 4 weeks. I will walk and the other half will use her bicycle. We will be staying in Albergue type accommodation and also finding places as we go with booking.com.
We may then continue north towards Santiago de Compostela on the Via de La Plata for another couple of weeks.

Wow. That sounds like a good adventure

 

[OnHellas]

Wow. That sounds like a good adventure

I hope so. I’ve walked a few of the Camino routes and I do like the format. Follow a signed posted path/way (usually yellow arrows) and find accommodation and supplies in the towns and villages you pass through. Many of which have places set up for the people following the Camino. Also known as Pilgrims.

Unfortunately my partners feet don’t put up with averaging 15 or 16 miles a day for weeks on end, hence the bicycle.

I think that we will probably end with EasyJet again. We still have the big cardboard bicycle box from our last return journey earlier this year after we had to stop in Salamanca due to me picking up a leg injury.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Having searched a bit more it appears that the likes of DHL offer a bicycle service.
Time to get some measurements of the big box in the loft from the bikes last trip back from Madrid.

The dilemma is you either take a proper box, but then what do you do with it while you are there? Or you take something disposable* but then how do you get the bike home? Maybe a Spanish bike shop could help with a box for the return leg?

* I used a cardboard bike box (the ones bike shops receive new bikes in) and a load of bubble wrap and pipe lagging to fly my bike to Barcelona. Then, at the airport I unboxed it, assembled it and shoved all the packing into a waste bin. It worked fine, but that's because the bike was returning to the UK in a car.

 

[OnHellas]

The dilemma is you either take a proper box, but then what do you do with it while you are there? Or you take something disposable* but then how do you get the bike home? Maybe a Spanish bike shop could help with a box for the return leg?

* I used a cardboard bike box (the ones bike shops receive new bikes in) and a load of bubble wrap and pipe lagging to fly my bike to Barcelona. Then, at the airport I unboxed it, assembled it and shoved all the packing into a waste bin. It worked fine, but that's because the bike was returning to the UK in a car.

The disposable route is the way to go for what we are going to do. A proper bicycle box/bag would be nicer I’m sure but not something that you’d want strapped to the bike, or on my back, for that length of time

The Spanish Post Office sell the cardboard bicycle boxes for about €20/25.

 

[The Other PaulG]

The disposable route is the way to go for what we are going to do. A proper bicycle box/bag would be nicer I’m sure but not something that you’d want strapped to the bike, or on my back, for that length of time

The Spanish Post Office sell the cardboard bicycle boxes for about €20/25.

Oh well that's definitely the route, agreed, that's a good price - a few Euros in a DIY store for pipe lagging and you can be pretty confident. I also realised that you can get helmets, tools, shoes etc in the bike box too, so you're left with just a small carry-on.

Enjoy the trip, sounds absolutely brilliant.

 

[Smug]

Someone on one of our biking holidays always puts his bike in a big polythene bag. He lowers the saddle, fits the pedals to the inside of the cranks and turns his bars through ninety degrees. He reckons that the baggage handlers treat his bike better because they can see what it is and he has never had any problems.

 

[OnHellas]

Someone on one of our biking holidays always puts his bike in a big polythene bag. He lowers the saddle, fits the pedals to the inside of the cranks and turns his bars through ninety degrees. He reckons that the baggage handlers treat his bike better because they can see what it is and he has never had any problems.

An interesting approach. I can certainly see the logic in it.

The box that we bought in Spain last year for the return has a picture of a bicycle on it.
Same approach with pedals, seat and bars plus the front wheel has to come out.
Zip ties were employed and my walking poles hitched a ride too as they aren’t allowed on an aircraft as hand luggage.

Cheers for the idea.

 

[AdrianS]

I always hire now. Found it far more cost effective to hire a high end road bike for a week or two than the hassle of taking mine over.
There is the cost of the box, extra plane fares, transporting to and from your destination from the airport.

The last 2 bikes I've hired ( Scott Addict and Pinarello ) were near perfect and the shop set them up well. They also gave me a number to ring in an emergency and I would be rescued.
Just take my own helmet, shoes, clothes multi tool. The appropriate pedals supplied by the shop.

 

[OnHellas]

I always hire now. Found it far more cost effective to hire a high end road bike for a week or two than the hassle of taking mine over.
There is the cost of the box, extra plane fares, transporting to and from your destination from the airport.

The last 2 bikes I've hired ( Scott Addict and Pinarello ) were near perfect and the shop set them up well. They also gave me a number to ring in an emergency and I would be rescued.
Just take my own helmet, shoes, clothes multi tool. The appropriate pedals supplied by the shop.

Thanks for that.
But as I’ve said in previous posts above, we will be gone for between 4 and 6 weeks all being well and won’t return from the same airport/town/city so hire won’t suit us.