Motorcycle Transport Options | GTAMotorcycle.com

Motorcycle Transport Options

Motorcycle Mike

Well-known member
Macdoc, myself, and a few others have hijacked many a thread and started talking about motorcycle transport, and the idea came up to post a new thread and keep the info there to make it easy to find. So here it is.

My contributions:

Years ago (2009) I crated and shipped a bike to Vancouver using Fastfrate... a LTL transport company. I got the crate for free from a bike shop (Cycle World West) and trailered the bike and the crate the the Fastfrate depot... $250 to ship a bike to Van, B.C., which might have gone up a lot since then, but that was very cheap.

Option 2 -- http://www.mytripmybike.com/ offers two way transport to various destinations out West... in the US and Canada for less than $1000 (in some cases over). You have to follow their timeline, and sometimes they offer early booking discounts, but it seems a reasonable way to get your bike West and back and avoid the Mid-West flat straight roads.

Mac and others... post what you've found.
 
Downside is one flights have a premium tho San Diego to Buffalo might be cheap.

$293 Cdn San Diego to Buffalo on those dates - $383 non stop to Toronto

$389 Tor to Vancouver.

Damn - just slightly over laps my return from Copehagen - Return on June 26th ....too tight

We should start a different thread - these guys truck bikes to BC for about $500 ..buddy has used them

(519) 740-6500
McNamara Transfreight

1126
Waydom Industrial Park
RR1 Ayr‎ Ont‎ NOB1E0
Canada

Denver might work and yeah $720 both ways is good,

$659 roundtrip Air Canada - leaves 8 am

Hot time of year but I guess stick to the high country. hmmmm

Airbnb shows about $75 a night

This $83 a night in Aspen
500 sq ft garden level studio in Carbondale Co (30m N of Aspen). Separate entrance, king bed, kitchenette, couch, Sat TV, WIFI, Patio with BBQ. Bathroom in attached main house. Walking and Biking distance from downtown, grocery, bus and parks.

$850 Cdn for 11 nights including cleaning fee

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/7291469?s=AmhDgDuW

Kid wants to do Ozarks tho

••••

Some other considerations...
Truck the bike to Edomonton and take the train

$497 Sleeper Plus class
(Upper berth,
per person)

Or tough it out in the sleeper seats
235 $

The food is very good on the train.

http://www.viarail.ca/en/fares-and-...utm_term=_btn_en_151127&utm_content=_main cta
 
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There used to be a show on the A&E network called "Shipping Wars".
It strikes me that if an independent trucker was coming to Toronto with a load of something, he may be willing to transport a motorcycle back to where he came from for a reasonable rate.
This would be especially tempting if he was heading back empty.
 
There used to be a show on the A&E network called "Shipping Wars".
It strikes me that if an independent trucker was coming to Toronto with a load of something, he may be willing to transport a motorcycle back to where he came from for a reasonable rate.
This would be especially tempting if he was heading back empty.

These guys worked for uship.com basically.

FWIW, I wouldn't have shipped a bag of garbage with some of those clowns on that show, much less something expensive and breakable.

There are good carriers on the site though, but choose wisely, and unless it's a company that specializes in motorcycles, if you're going to ship it as freight...for the love of god CRATE your bike. I see what goes on in LTL freight trailers every day of my life, you don't want your bike in there without protection.
 
Last year I shipped 2 FJR 1300s from Brockport NY (just outside Rochester) to Phoenix AZ. $655usd each way, each bike. Was a great experience. Rode/trailered the bikes to Rockport, thereby clearing customs and avoiding any and all "brokerage" fees which will come into play if you are shipping across the border. They loaded the bikes on specially constructed palettes and put them in the warehouse with the 20 other bikes that were in their. Everything from Ducati to full dress Harley deckers, all insured and fanatically checked for their condition at point of handoff to the shipping company. They gave us tracking codes to monitor the progress of the bikes across the country. They arrived in Phoenix 7 days later and sat for a week waiting for us, no warehouse charges. The staff in Phoenix were as friendly and helpful and motorcycle knowledgeable beyond what I was expecting. These folks ship motorcycles all over the US all day every day. Since we have hardbags on our bikes we packed our helmets, jackets etc. in the bags so we didn't have to carry this stuff on the plane with us. The folks in Phoenix were so helpful they even volunteered to keep our luggage from the plane, our actual clothes, in their office and when we returned to ship the bikes home there it was waiting to accept our clothes etc. for the plane ride home. Bikes on palettes, us off to the airport, could not have gone smoother. Picked bikes up in Brockport 7 days later, no problems, trailered back over border, no fees, no anything since they are my bikes and all was well. I will use these guys again if I'm shipping across the continent and across the border. I'm sure if you stay in Canada it's pretty similar experience, anytime you involve the border it adds complications and fees, big time.
 
Have shipped a number of times using TFX International.

They are very professional and do it all including pickup, palleting, protection, customs and insurance - garage to garage.

They also shipped my truck from BC to Ontario
 
^^^ +1

I've used TFX as well. Left the bikes in my garage in Toronto and as if by magic, they just showed up in San Francisco. They were even parked in the same order :)
 
Air Canada flying bike....spoke to the agent by email.

Yes there is a deal.

Not the same as last year, hopefully improved in some way but similar in nature.
Will know soon in 2016
 
I emailed Air Canada the other day, was told they don't know whether the 'promotion' will be available for 2016 yet, check back in mid-March

I'm looking to transport my bike to Calgary this summer and spend 2 weeks riding to Vancouver. I'm thinking the Air Canada option is better than shipping because I don't know anyone in Calgary who could accept the bike when it arrives. One suggestion I've seen in other forums is to contact a dealer and they will either receive the bike off the truck for a fee or if you book it in for a service (probably more than an oil change) they might do it for free. I've never actually tried to arrange this, I'm guessing it would really depend on the willingness of the dealer. Surely there is a better way to have bikes shipped - some sort of 'depot' where they will hold it until you come to pick it up (again, probably for a fee).

'My Trip My Bike' has a date in July that would work for me going out, they are charging $500 + $100 'one way fee' which might not be that bad seeing as they take care of most of the logistics.

Coming home is a little easier, I can leave the bike at my buddy's place in Vancouver, fly home and have a shipper pick the bike up there.

If I was doing a loop I would probably rent, because with only 2 weeks the transport vs rent differential is really slim.
 
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Go to the Canada section (under Regional Forums) at Advrider. I bet a Calgarian would be able to advise.
 
plutoz, some trucking companies might have yards where the bike can sit on arrival for a few days. When I shipped my bike to Vancouver via Fastfrate, the new owner had to pick it up at their terminal.... they did not drop anything at a bike shop or someone's home.

Fastfrate has terminals in Calgary and Edmonton... and a few other places throughout Canada: http://fastfrate.com/en/contact-fastfrate-trucking-head-office.aspx
 
plutoz, some trucking companies might have yards where the bike can sit on arrival for a few days. When I shipped my bike to Vancouver via Fastfrate, the new owner had to pick it up at their terminal.... they did not drop anything at a bike shop or someone's home.

Fastfrate has terminals in Calgary and Edmonton... and a few other places throughout Canada: http://fastfrate.com/en/contact-fastfrate-trucking-head-office.aspx

Thanks, that does make sense. I'll have a look at Fastfrate. When you shipped the bike with them did you have to drain the liquids?

I was thinking instead of Calgary I would have the bike shipped to Montana so I could visit Yellowstone and Glacier NP on my way to Vancouver. FJRgeezer's post makes a lot of sense (tow/ride bike over the border and ship from there). I just took a look at one company AA Motorcycle shipping. I punched in a Niagara Falls, NY zip code and Bozeman, MT as the destination. It came back with a price of $685 (USD) for 'Door to Door' service. I noticed however if you click the dropdown you can choose Door to Terminal, Terminal to Door, or Terminal to Terminal. The closest terminal to Niagara Falls is Brockport, NY (same one he went to) and they have a terminal in Billings, MT (2 hours from Bozeman). Price for this is $625 USD ($850 CDN). I'm not sure if this is the company he actually used or not, but it seems strikingly similar.

So, yeah if our dollar wasn't so crappy that wouldn't be a bad option :/

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I didn't need to drain fluids, but I did need to source a crate -- which I got for free from Cycle World West when it still existed. When I shipped my bike to Vancouver it was a crazy good rate... like $250 CAD... but I think that was 2009 or thereabouts, so rates have likely increased. (Oh... just noticed I basically just repeated my first post... oh well).
 
Quote from TFX International for Vancouver-area to Toronto-area (one way) came to $2055 CDN + HST :(

Maybe I should just buy a bike in Calgary, ride it to Vancouver and have my buddy sell it for me. I'll give him a $1000 commission and I'll still be further ahead.

Edit: $1000 commission is a bit more reasonable than what I put originally :)
 
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Quote from TFX International for Vancouver-area to Toronto-area (one way) came to $2055 CDN + HST :(

Maybe I should just buy a bike in Calgary, ride it to Vancouver and have my buddy sell it for me. I'll give him a $5000 commission and I'll still be further ahead.

Renting, shipping, buy/sell as all expensive I'm looking at getting something shippers call "Buck" loads. This is where a truck or container is not completely full, and if the right connections made, they squeeze your load in for a huge discount. When I find out more I will post that.
 
I posted my return trip on uShip to see what kind of bids I would get, got a couple in the $500 (USD I presume) range for enclosed shipment. Not bad...
 
Renting, shipping, buy/sell as all expensive I'm looking at getting something shippers call "Buck" loads. This is where a truck or container is not completely full, and if the right connections made, they squeeze your load in for a huge discount. When I find out more I will post that.

I've been in the freight industry for 20 years and never heard that term, maybe it's a regional thing. Typically, it's called LTL freight - less than load. And also typically, there's no discount to fill a trailer - if it's 1/2 or 3/4 full and the schedule calls for it to leave, it leaves that way. My company specifically will neither compromise the schedule (ie, on time delivery) to maximize the quantity of freight on a trailer, nor will they discount their rates in an effort to "just fill it up". Others companies perhaps will, but it does a disservice to the industry when companies slash rates in an effort to just have full trailers in the LTL industry. It does happen though which is part of the reason we have so many bottom feeder companies on our roads running junk equipment.

You'll probably find things different with a non time sensitive carrier who *can* hold back the load to fill the trailer to the brim before moving it. However, there's a risk in that - those sorts of carriers tend to take "to the brim" sometimes too litereally, so crate your bike well - minimum wage forklift jockeys on a dock somewhere at a low-end company really don't care too much about it and the "to the brim" loading method (with the dock guys under pressure to fill every square inch to allow their cut rate freight fees to still turn them a profit) means that they will literally jam the trailer full, and often in not the most pretty fashion. I wish I had some photos to show you, but suffice to say it looks like they sometimes loaded the trailers with a bobcat instead of a forklift.

Also, make sure you still have *some* sort of deadline or schedule, even if it's a non-time sensitive company. They might very well intermodal the trailer after it's full (put it on a train) which can slow things down some more. No sense saving money only to get out to point B and find that your bike is still only half way there.

I posted my return trip on uShip to see what kind of bids I would get, got a couple in the $500 (USD I presume) range for enclosed shipment. Not bad...

Be careful, make sure whoever you're going with on uBid is an actual carrier, not just some guy with a trailer who wants to go to point B and would like you to pay his gas. At minimum look for a CVOR number and proof of insurance. The CVOR means he's a real carrier vs "guy with a pickup and trailer", and insurance, well....we all know how important that is if your bike is stolen, or he crashes or something.
 
Be careful, make sure whoever you're going with on uBid is an actual carrier, not just some guy with a trailer who wants to go to point B and would like you to pay his gas. At minimum look for a CVOR number and proof of insurance. The CVOR means he's a real carrier vs "guy with a pickup and trailer", and insurance, well....we all know how important that is if your bike is stolen, or he crashes or something.

Good points, though I'm not sure why I care if he's a "real carrier", as long as he has adequate insurance isn't that all that really matters to me? I understand you might not agree working in the shipping industry. Perhaps you can enlighten me...
 
Good points, though I'm not sure why I care if he's a "real carrier", as long as he has adequate insurance isn't that all that really matters to me? I understand you might not agree working in the shipping industry. Perhaps you can enlighten me...

Problem is that there's lots of guys flying under the radar on uShip operating non-commercial equipment commercially. Basically, the same as guys here trying to pull fast ones on their insurance companies, that insurance is only as good as the paper it's printed on if it's ever needed. So if that guy hauling a trailer load of motorcycles across the country rolls over and destroys everything all while actually only having regular non-commercial insurance, his insurance company is going to tell him (and by association, you) to get lost and deny the claim. At that point, you're left trying to sue him for the value of your loss as your only recourse.

Even the CVOR alone doesn't mean that he actually carries proper commercial (for-profit) insurance, or separate freight value insurance, but it's a bit of an indicator that he's at least made an effort to go legit. No CVOR = nothing commercial about the carrier, so avoid.

I'd ask for proof of adequate and proper commercial insurance before giving anyone on uShip anything of value. If we're talking a $500 bike then one might be less concerned, but if we're talking a $10K-$20K bike for example, different ball of wax IMHO.

If you ever watched Shipping Wars on TV you'll get some insight on the quality of the carriers - Jarrett is a good example, some of his hauls were total train wrecks...and this is one of the guys that A&E decided to feature on television. There are MANY who make him look like a professional in comparison. ;)
 

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