We are looking to find an air freight agent to fly bike from a london airport to either SANTIAGO or LIMA or QUITO in South America.
Anyone with any recommendations ?
Many thanks

Hi there, I flew my bike into Quito from Heathrow in Sept 2006 and used a company called Dynamic. It cost around 800 pounds to fly and 250 pounds for the crate. They were really efficient and helpfl. The bike arrived two days after it left and I was able to leave a bit of petrol in the tank so I just immediately drove it out of the cargo warehouse in Quito. The guy who dealt with it was called Simon Badger; Contact details below:



Simon Badger

Tel:
01753 682222

DDI:
01753 767803

Fax:
01753 680223


s.badger@dynamic-intl.com

My bike is a 225 yahama so quite small. Might be more for a bigger bike.
Christine

Thank you very much Christine- I will call him

Hi Bertrand, can't open pm from home so will wait until I'm back to the office on Friday!! Few PC probs at home! Good thread!

Christy, did they remove front and back wheel?
I believe dimension makes the price when flying the bike!
Anyone who has experience in this? Pls let me know as I'm planning to leave in about 4 months to Santiago! Did YOU remove wheels, turn the handle bar etc... ? what else to reduce dimensions? Last quote I had was GBP 1830 per bike from UK to Santiago (not including crating! ARGH!!!!!!!!). I'm planning 2 bikes so it's just too much right now!

I'm going to contact BMW to see if I can buy their crates and get some tips (Husband am myself have a F650GS /Dakar)


Keep info coming

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

I phoned Dynamic and had a chat with Simon.
A very preliminary quote would be around £1380 (incl crating) for a F650. Cheaper than Advanced Forwarding. Of course price depend on dimensions! So could be cheaper if we manage to make the bikes small!

I also spoke with the Packing company that they use for crating the bikes. They seem to have some experience on this although they do not remove front wheel, turn handle bars etc... . Simon said the packing company deliver a certificate (re. unplugged battery etc... so usual red tape that goes with flying motorbikes.) Not sure how easy it is to get that certificate if we crate ourselves. Must be possible to help the packing company and reduce dimension of bike ourselves, the guy I spoke to said no prob for handle bars but difficult to remove front wheel as the bike would not stand on the crate. Maybe with centre stand it can be done? Something to discuss with them.

Bertrand I sent you an email.
AS we are 2 on our side and you're looking into this as well I asked Simon if we could get a group discount if we have like 3 or 4 bikes. HE said it could be possible. something to think about. Of course then we have to agree about arrival town (we're flexible: Bogota, Quito, Lima, Santiago) and date.
I am planning to resign mid-march (can't do before that) and I'm on 3 months notice. Hoping to negociate early leave and do only 4 weeks rather than 12 weeks notice but....
I really want to leave 1st week of May!

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Hola,
i used Jardin logistics (i think!, it was 10 months ago). but the price seemed almost the same with every shipping companyin the UK. they where generally very clueless when it came to shipping bikes in my opinion.

but ...
I have a BMW R850GS. so not light. all quotes based on full size and weight were of the order of 1500-1800 quid to Buenos Aires. roughly same price to santiago. none would accept the liability of taking a bike with out a front wheel and crating it. in case it fell over etc.

eventually i found one that would do that if i went down and supervised crating.
i used a single use crate . lighter and cheaper to build.

took front wheel, handle bars , windscreen, indicators seat grab rail etc. everything i could to shave a few mil of it, especially the width. i put my boxes in the left over space and then they built a custom box as tight it would go. i surprised every one there by getting th evolume weight smaller than the actual weight. with crate roughy 1m x 1.8m x 1.2m and 320kg , from memory so could be slighty out.

cost me 840quid with crate london to BsAs. with air canada.
so half the original price for a few hours work at each end. it did take me almost a full day in BsAs airport to do te hpaperwork and put it back to gether, but mainly because everyone wanted to know what i was doing. about 6 lads helped and watched all afternoon in teh warehouse. very friendly bunch. used their forklift to lift the bike to get wheel on again etc.

On the uk side i rode the bike in the snow! to heathrow in the morning, drove the packers and spent the day packing the bike then caught teh plane in the evening. bike follwed a few days later at my request to give me time to find my feet in BsAs, and to make sure it didn´t arrive on a weekend when you get charged more.

i can post details of shipping company when i have my diary if you want.

cheers
mike

Look at this.....
problem is volume- despite bike and luggage etc less than 300Kilos, airlines charge volume (bless them).......
Hello Bertrand,

I have had chance to work through the figures for the various air freight options and destinations as discussed. I have based the crate size on the bike dimensions of 219 x 88 x 122 cms which would result in an external size of 226 x 102 x 148 cms.
Although the weight will be approx 300 kgs, the airline will charge us on the volume of the case which is 3.41 cu.mtrs. (this means that, space permitting, you could put a further 250 kgs in the crate without altering the price which is worth bearing in mind if you want to take any further accessories).

Santiago / Buenos Aires
Economy : £1645.85 (7 days)
Express : £1873.75 (3 days)


Quito
Economy : £1447.00 (7 days)
Express : £1703.05 (3 days)

PLus £240 crating + about $325 various handling/storig etc


PLus cheapest air ticket I have found to get there (return) £ 592 and all that's just one way...............
Fron t wheel can come off just need the chippy to make and nail a solid block down so that forks can sit on front axle shaft- that will reduce the volume- handlebars...too probably
Packing self- I have found out thery are quite strict about type of wood etc...
Still waiting to hear from B-W about free crates- no reply to emails....

Hi,

Mike thanks for you input. V. helpful.
I'm hoping that the crating company will let us come in the morning so that we can reduce size. GEtting a piece of wood or something it should be possible to remove front wheel, turn the handle bars, remove anything sticking out etc.. on site... to make is smaller.
Bertrand,
Alistair will go down to BMW in guildford this WE check if we can get crates! I'll let you know.
We'll be quite tidy up for next 2 weeks with family visiting then I'm going 1 week on business trip. I send you an email when I back. Maybe we can arrange for a drink or meet to discuss this issue and compare notes! Anyone else planning air freight to west coast of South America in May welcome as we could reduce costs together!
Cheers!

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com