Crated Motorcycle Hauling / Transporter Suggestions?

[Scooter Guy]

Any suggestions on an enclosed trailer transport/hauling/shipping company for a crated bike?

Would be going from Tacoma, WA area to Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX area, if you know anyone that runs that sort of route. Move can hopefully happen between now and the end of the year, and while I don't want to drag the process on forever, the timeline is secondary to having the right shipper.

I know about the major transport companies, but they either don't do crated bikes or want to load the uncrated bike on their own skids and with their own tie down systems which is not what I want. Basically, uncrated is not an option. I will not use Uship - been there done that, never again.

Before I just go with a regular interstate freight line, I thought I'd pick the collective brains of the folks here to see if there is a recommendation on who to use or warnings on who to avoid.

Thanks!

[pisten-bully]

I crated and shipped a BMW for a friend and we went via common carrier, dock to dock, insured for full value. Went well with no damage or delays. Your mileage may vary!

[exeric]

Nice cratework, Harry. Seriously, looks very nice.

[pisten-bully]

Nice cratework

Thanks Eric... I've had a lot of practice with my machinery distribution business. One thing I've learned is to never underestimate the amount of abuse a crate will encounter! I've had them bashed, tipped over, speared with fork lifts, and crushed when they put other things on top of them. Note the green stickers that say "no top freight".... I think those are merely a challenge to a cross dock operation to see how much stuff they can put on top! So you live and learn, as they say! Our version 10.0 crate is an evolution based on damage claims (none in the past five years)... so if anyone is going to crate something for common carrier shipping then you need to imagine every type of abuse the crate could possibly experience... and then build for the abuse!

[Green Indian]

Very nice work, Harry. I've unloaded a thousands of trucks while working for Harley Davidson at the York plant and boy I can attest to the mess the loads come in looking like. I've also worked the crating line at Harley shipping the motorcycles out from the plant. Our crates did not look as sturdy as yours but we still stacked the bikes two-high going into the trailers, sorry for the thread hi-jack to the OP.

[pisten-bully]

Scooter Guy, the nationwide LTL carriers like FedEx Freight, YRC, and many more will off load your motorcycle and transfer it multiple times before it arrives in Texas, and typically that's where the damage occurs...from all the handling. I think you'd like to find an LTL common carrier that goes direct to Texas with zero to few stops in between. We've got a company like that here that runs VT to CA straight and we use them when possible (they'll deliver anywhere on the route). Might take some hunting to find one, but take a look at Hercules...I looked in my book and it looks like they'll go Seattle to Dallas non-stop.

[govmule84]

What about PODS? Crate your bike, drop it in the pod, have it picked up. You don't even need to be there for it, because a pod can be locked, plus you get to tie down the crate. Short of dumping it off a truck, the bike shouldn't get damaged at all.

[BoschZEV]

Any suggestions on an enclosed trailer transport/hauling/shipping company for a crated bike?

I had my crated bike shipped from Arizona to Portland ME for the start of the Cannonball in September. It only took something like four days and went off without a hitch. I used Dennis@shipmybike.com. I originally planned on returning it to Arizona myself from Portland OR but decided a few days before the end to ship it. Again, shipmybike.com took care of everything, telling me where to drop it off and having it delivered to my house a few days later. I had zero problems and no evidence of damage to the crate (or bike).

[Scooter Guy]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice. I've got some LTL quotes lined up and have also reached out to ShipMyBike.com to see what they might be able to offer. The trick seems to be to go the LTL route and consider the shipment "freight" rather than look at the motorcycle shipping companies. The major bike shippers all said "no" to a bike that had been pre-crated by the shipper, mostly because they have a roll-on / roll-off system in place and have no way to deal with transporting and loading/unloading a crate. On the other hand, all of the major trucking lines run that route in 4-5 days and all of the ones I've talked to so far have quoted similar prices for LTL service, so it will just come down to picking one and going for it. Luckily both the origin and the destination are major cities with trucking terminals - it helps keep the price under control.