bike shipping overseas?

graf zeppelin said:

How would you guys recommend shipping a bike overseas? This would be my first time doing it. Would you pack it up and ship it as cargo on the plane ride over, or would you ship it ahead to the arrival destination? Are there any pros and cons either way?

Any thoughts appreciated greatly.

Pack it in a nice hard case and take it as luggage. My husband and I rented hard cases to take our bikes to Spain and it worked out fine. We were not charged for extra luggage (the bikes were our only checked bags) and everything arrived with us and intact. The cases took some heavy dings, so I'm glad we did not use cardboard boxes.

Eden said:

Pack it in a nice hard case and take it as luggage. My husband and I rented hard cases to take our bikes to Spain and it worked out fine. We were not charged for extra luggage (the bikes were our only checked bags) and everything arrived with us and intact. The cases took some heavy dings, so I'm glad we did not use cardboard boxes.

Great! Thanks. Does sound like the way to go. Renting a hard case isnt even something I thought of. Good call there. I'll have a look around to see if I can rent one from somewhere.