For a bike, it depends on whether it can be made to fit into the postal service guidelines. If yes, airmail is about $ 240-300 from France, depending on weight. I wouldn't dare surface for a bike - stuff gets banged up badly. If it doesn't go by mail (and you have to do some creative packing to make it fit the requirements), airfreight is about $ 400-500, sometimes as low as $ 300. (Airfreight is like airline tickets - cost depends on the time of day and who knows what.) But then you pay customs after it arrives, plus more fees if you can't pick it up at the airport yourself. Oh, and somebody has to bring it to the airport, too. And most European airfreight companies only take shipments from businesses, who have to have a VAT registration No., etc.
A bare frame is easier, as it is lighter, and you can remove the fork, so it it sure to fit postal requirements.
I found that few people in France have the slightest idea of how to pack a bike. Bike shops don't do it for you, either. Distances being short, bikes rarely get shipped.
If you go over there to pick it up, chose your airline wisely. Some charge 50 Euros to carry a bike, others don't.
Does it all sound like a huge hassle? It can be. I spent a day
getting my PBP tandem shipped back from France, and had to pay twice
of what it cost to ship it over there... They only accepted the
shipment when I pointed out that their U.S. airfreight subsidiary had
agreed to ship it back.
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/
Anyone know the current cost of shipping bikes from Europe to the US? I am seeing more eBay bikes from European sellers lately, including sme CR members, but I don't know how expensive it is to ship a bike or frameset from Italy or Germany. I have bought stuff from UK, and the cost of shipping a frameset to US from there is about 50 GBP now. Don't know if Europe is even worse or not.
Regards,
Jerry Moos