🚴 Shipping bikes from Santiago service

ivar · Jul 6, 2023

Hola bicigrinos,

When I have completed my move to my new place in Santiago, I think I have space to do more with bikes... shipping bikes home for people for example.

But since I am new to this, I have some questions.

1) Do pilgrims ship ahead their own bike box to use for shipping home?
2) I could also offer the box... would something like this be ok for most/all bikes?

TeleCajas® |Bicycle Shipping Cardboard Box

Sale of box to pack bicycles. Suitable for adult bikes. Double flap, double wall and extra strong reinforced cardboard.

www.telecajas.com

3) Pilgrims would have to pack the bikes themselves. I guess they are used to this? Do they have tools? (I can get some I guess)

I do currently ship with DHL Express. I currently offer DHL Air and will soon also offer ground transport to European destinations (slower and more economical).

For those of you that have shipped bikes home from Santiago before, what was the cost of such a service? (Just so I can compare my DHL rates and see if they are competitive).

Thank you!
Ivar

klimmo · Jul 6, 2023

Thanks Ivar, another great service. I'm currently planning a VdlP for october and trying to sort out bike transportation. I'll follow this thread with a lot of interest!

Peregrinopaul · Jul 6, 2023

Hi Ivar,
First let me say congratulations on your expansion and new premises.

To the point of your questions, I do have some experience with the problem, albeit that I do not fall into the category of bicigrino you are talking about, since my problem has always been getting my bike back to Australia. But I do have some observations to make. Some obvious.

1. Bicigrinos fall into two categories: those who rent, and those who bring their own bike.

2. Those who bring their own, do so because they prefer the machine they already ride, and because, like me, the machine is more suitable and, as in my case, much more expensive than one they might rent.

3. The category 2 bicigrino has already solved the problem of getting their machine to the camino in the first place, and therefore is experienced in the process of packing and in the vast majority of cases, travelling with their bike to the starting point.

4. Having just returned from the camino (successfully with bike) myself, I could not help but notice the number of other bicigrinos flying out of Santiago with their bike packed in a designated case or bag (like me), or packed in a box sourced from either Correos, or a bike shop in the city.

5. I believe that the vast majority of pigrims in category 2 will prefer to fly home with their bike, rather than having it shipped by third party.

For these reasons, I believe there may be a very limited demand for the service you propose. I'll be interest to read what others may have to say on this.

ivar · Jul 6, 2023

Peregrinopaul said:
Hi Ivar,
First let me say congratulations on your expansion and new premises.

To the point of your questions, I do have some experience with the problem, albeit that I do not fall into the category of bicigrino you are talking about, since my problem has always been getting my bike back to Australia. But I do have some observations to make. Some obvious.

1. Bicigrinos fall into two categories: those who rent, and those who bring their own bike.

2. Those who bring their own, do so because they prefer the machine they already ride, and because, like me, the machine is more suitable and, as in my case, much more expensive than one they might rent.

3. The category 2 bicigrino has already solved the problem of getting their machine to the camino in the first place, and therefore is experienced in the process of packing and in the vast majority of cases, travelling with their bike to the starting point.

4. Having just returned from the camino (successfully with bike) myself, I could not help but notice the number of other bicigrinos flying out of Santiago with their bike packed in a designated case or bag (like me), or packed in a box sourced from either Correos, or a bike shop in the city.

5. I believe that the vast majority of pigrims in category 2 will prefer to fly home with their bike, rather than having it shipped by third party.

For these reasons, I believe there may be a very limited demand for the service you propose. I'll be interest to read what others may have to say on this.

This is good info... thank you!

Peregrinopaul · Jul 6, 2023

Oh, in answer to your first question, I shipped my bike bag by Jacotrans from SJPdP. (70 euros).

peregrina2000 · Jul 6, 2023

ivar said:
For those of you that have shipped bikes home from Santiago before, what was the cost of such a service? (Just so I can compare my DHL rates and see if they are competitive).

The very nice people in the Mail Boxes, etc. place have an operation that does a fair amount of bike shipping. I saw lots of them packed up when I went there last year to buy bubble wrap. They were going to all parts of the globe. We had some conversation about shipping costs and all I remember is that it was VERY expensive.

Rúa de Santiago de Guayaquil, 5 · +34 981 93 85 95

ivar · Jul 6, 2023

peregrina2000 said:
The very nice people in the Mail Boxes, etc. place have an operation that does a fair amount of bike shipping. I saw lots of them packed up when I went there last year to buy bubble wrap. They were going to all parts of the globe. We had some conversation about shipping costs and all I remember is that it was VERY expensive.

Rúa de Santiago de Guayaquil, 5 · +34 981 93 85 95

I know of them.. they are good people, but they do charge a lot... I think I can beat their prices...

Peregrinopaul · Jul 6, 2023

peregrina2000 said:
The very nice people in the Mail Boxes, etc. place have an operation that does a fair amount of bike shipping. I saw lots of them packed up when I went there last year to buy bubble wrap. They were going to all parts of the globe. We had some conversation about shipping costs and all I remember is that it was VERY expensive.

Rúa de Santiago de Guayaquil, 5 · +34 981 93 85 95

This is interesting, and points to the fact that I may be very wrong in my conclusion. Obviously I have no personal experience of what you describe. I am curious about why people would choose this option.

klimmo · Jul 7, 2023

Peregrinopaul said:
Hi Ivar,
First let me say congratulations on your expansion and new premises.

To the point of your questions, I do have some experience with the problem, albeit that I do not fall into the category of bicigrino you are talking about, since my problem has always been getting my bike back to Australia. But I do have some observations to make. Some obvious.

1. Bicigrinos fall into two categories: those who rent, and those who bring their own bike.

2. Those who bring their own, do so because they prefer the machine they already ride, and because, like me, the machine is more suitable and, as in my case, much more expensive than one they might rent.

3. The category 2 bicigrino has already solved the problem of getting their machine to the camino in the first place, and therefore is experienced in the process of packing and in the vast majority of cases, travelling with their bike to the starting point.

4. Having just returned from the camino (successfully with bike) myself, I could not help but notice the number of other bicigrinos flying out of Santiago with their bike packed in a designated case or bag (like me), or packed in a box sourced from either Correos, or a bike shop in the city.

5. I believe that the vast majority of pigrims in category 2 will prefer to fly home with their bike, rather than having it shipped by third party.

For these reasons, I believe there may be a very limited demand for the service you propose. I'll be interest to read what others may have to say on this.

My main reason for renting is the faf of flying with a bike. I'd prefer to go on my own bike, but costs of flying and then getting bike box stored, transferred and recovered were high and complicated. if there was something to make this whole process easier, I'd be very interested and more inclined to bring my own.

Murk · Jul 7, 2023

I haven't done it yet but was planning on using Correos' own bicycle shipping service: https://www.elcaminoconcorreos.com/en/send-bycicle.

€96,50 including cardboard box to any Schengen country, and less for shipping to France, Portugal or within Spain. For destinations within Europe that's going to be hard to beat, I imagine.

It does indeed require removing the front wheel, removing the pedals, and turning the handlebars. I would be very surprised if someone on a multi-day bicycle trip does not have the tools to do this (for most modern bicycles it only requires one allen/hex key).

JimH · Sep 24, 2023

Murk said:
I haven't done it yet but was planning on using Correos' own bicycle shipping service: https://www.elcaminoconcorreos.com/en/send-bycicle.

€96,50 including cardboard box to any Schengen country, and less for shipping to France, Portugal or within Spain. For destinations within Europe that's going to be hard to beat, I imagine.

It does indeed require removing the front wheel, removing the pedals, and turning the handlebars. I would be very surprised if someone on a multi-day bicycle trip does not have the tools to do this (for most modern bicycles it only requires one allen/hex key).

I used the service back to UK in 2019. The Correos take the pedals and bars off for you and pack the bike. No need for tools. Sadly this service is no longer available to UK. It is also not available to some EU countries (or it least that was the case in 2022).

VNwalking · Sep 24, 2023

Ex-triathete here, so I know the tribulations of traveling with a bike.

I always used to use a hard-shell case rather than a flimsy box. So I wonder if it would be possible to offer to both store and then ship cases for people who come to Spain with them. Pilgrims could send them to you empty from (say) Madrid or Barcelona - to be packed and shipped at the end of the Camino.

There may be as much of a market for that as cardboard boxes - but of course it takes up space which you may not have. But if I were going to ride a camino on my own bike, I'd jump at the chance to ship it home safely in its own box, even if it did cost a bit more.

Murk · Sep 24, 2023

JimH said:
I used the service back to UK in 2019. The Correos take the pedals and bars off for you and pack the bike. No need for tools. Sadly this service is no longer available to UK. It is also not available to some EU countries (or it least that was the case in 2022).

I used Correos for shipping the bicycles from Santiago to the Netherlands just last week.

Indeed Correos does not dismantle the bike for you (anymore), you have to do that yourself. But they do have all the tools needed, the boxes, and they take care of the shipping.

As @VNwalking mentions, Correos' boxes are the standard cardboard boxes, and I can imagine there is a market for people wanting to use their own box.

🚴 Shipping bikes from Santiago service

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