David,
Funny that you should mention this as several years back I received in the mail from a rather well known establishment in England a pair of NOS vintage MAVIC Bleu SSC rims packaged just as you described. This unnamed merchant had covered a single rim in thin bubble wrap and then used a larger version of bubble wrap along with some clear tape to secure the second rim to the first, thereby effectively entombing both in the process. Quite frankly I was stunned to see the pair arrive as they did looking every bit like what one might snidely consider to be a C.P.S.C. compliant version of the hula-hoop. But after freeing them from their nominal plastic bondage I placed them individually on a large flat metal surface and followed that up with a quick roll out check so as to confirm the fact that, yes indeed folks, they had survived their trans-Atlantic journey in absolutely perfect stead.
Still, I prefer to use rim specific packaging boxes secured from my LBS (...I have a standing request for them to hold back good examples for me to collect - hey, they make perfect storage containers for your as yet to be built spare rims too) with each rim wrapped individually in a light layer of foam - and I have never once had a problem in shipping using this methodology.
Robert "whoda thunk?" Broderick ..the "Frozen Flatlands" of South Dakota Sioux Falls, USA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of David Bean Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 6:48 PM To: CR List (E-mail) Subject: [CR]Shipping rims
I received a pair of rims alone simply wrapped together in paper then in plastic tape. They were sent priority mail. I wonder if the oddity of the annular package led to more careful handling. It seems likely they'd wind up on top of any heap.
The most recent ebay wheels I got were nicely packed in a large rectangular box. Inside were cardboard spacers to separate them from each other and from all 6 sides of the box. The corrugations of the cardboard spacers ran parallel to the axles. It was quite light and seemed like it had a lot of room to suffer abuse and not pass it on to the wheels.
David Bean
Arlington, MA USA
beandk at are-see-enn dot com