I recently had a friend purchase a used unicycle for me (how could I resist - it was a great price). Unfortunately the unicycle is about 3000 miles away from me (we’re both in the USA). I don’t want to add to the burden of my friend to ship, but I’d prefer not to spend too much on the shipping. Any suggestions on how to get it sent to me? My friend can easily disassemble the unicycle (a 26 Muni), but finding a good box for it seems difficult. I haven’t found anything at U-Haul that looks good to use. Is it better to go through UPS or FedEx? Or try one of the bike shipping services?
One item that might change the approach is that I would like to attend the next Unicon and possibly could use the same packaging for that trip too. I’m not sure that what is used for shipping is the same as what I would want for travel, but it would good if I could find something suitable for both.
I’ve found good success with U-Haul TV boxes. You can fit up to a 36" unicycle in there (tight but it works). Plus, they come with foam you can use to pad parts (like the cranks + frame).
BikeFlights for the most part is worth it. And in general, I’d trust UPS over FedEx.
That’s what I did for my unicycles. The sizing on these ones is really tight since I made them to fit within dimension restrictions for airline luggage. I had gone to a store and asked for some sheets of cardboard that come in between layers of product on shipping pallets and used those for most of it as well as a heavy duty box I had. I designed the boxes and cut them out of the sheets and folded them up. Then I cut out second layers to fold and glue inside. Every panel was at least two layers thick with the corrugation of each sheet running a different direction the piece it was glued to. I put some cut up foam pool noodle on certain parts and packed everything up
I have done that too with great success. If you have a hot glue gun, gluing the seams really stiffens the box up.
As for shipping services I’ve had great results with both Pirate Ship and Bike Flights for unicycles and general merchandise. They’ve really leveled the playing field. There’s absolutely no reason to go directly to USPS or UPS unless you really want to lighten your wallet.