How to Ship a Mountain Bike or Electric Bike

Clint Lawrence, founder of Motorcycle Shippers. Helping give riders more freedom to enjoy the bikes they love. [email protected]

During the pandemic, bicycle sales have skyrocketed. People are enduring very, very long delays to finally get the mountain bike of their dreams, but the general consensus is that the payoff is well worth the wait. Why? Because much like riding a motorcycle, hopping on your bike is a great way to get around while still maintaining your social distance.

Maybe you’re one of the 40 million Americans who already swear by mountain biking and are ready for your next fat-tired adventure. (Rides through the fall foliage, anyone?) Or maybe you’ve finally got your hands on the best mountain bike around, only to have to coordinate shipping so that it reaches your doorstep. Either way, you have two solid options for shipping your mountain bike  or e-bike . Here’s our quick rundown on how to go about each.

Option 1: Take the bike apart and ship it

For as long as riders have been shipping their mountain bikes, they’ve been going through the hassle of disassembly and reassembly. And plenty of mountain bikers still swear by the old shipping standard: take your bike apart, pack it in a cardboard box and use a shipping platform. (Bike Flights and ShipBikes.com are two platforms that offer this service.)

When you go the “disassemble it, box it and ship it” route, you can get your mountain bike from one place to another relatively inexpensively. After you buy your bicycle box, most services let you print your shipping label straight from their website and drop off your cargo at a location of one of their shipping partners. But of course, there’s a catch: you have to know how to disassemble your bike—and have the time (and tools) to put it back together when it reaches its destination.

(Here’s a quick video on how to take your bicycle apart and get it into your bicycle box.)

For low-cost mountain bikes, pre-shipping disassembly might not be an issue. And maybe you have plenty of time to put your bike back together when it arrives at its destination. But for expensive bikes or quick getaways, the time and complication of taking your mountain bike apart and putting it back together might not make sense. Or, maybe you are buying or selling a bike online and in this case, most would prefer to receive their new bike in one piece. If your bicycle is electric, the situation gets even messier. In these cases, you have a solid second option: a professional bicycle shipping service.

Option 2: No disassembly and assembly required

Another option for transporting your mountain bike is to use a specialized shipping service. We might not have “mountain bike” in our name, but shipping a mountain bike requires the same level of care, and the similar customized equipment, as shipping motorcycles. Simply put, we can ship mountain bikes like we ship motorcycles—and that’s a good thing. Our proven shipping system and responsive customer service have earned the trust of thousands of motorcycle, ATV, UTV, snowmobile and mountain bike owners since launching our company more than 25 years ago.

Our goal is to make shipping your mountain bike safe and easy. You can read the full rundown of our shipping service here to learn more about how we get the job done right. You’ll see that our drivers take the extra care necessary to ensure a safe delivery using our specialized handling process. What won’t you see? Any messy disassembly or reassembly. We’re the service that ships your mountain bike in one piece, and it’s thanks to our combination of specialized experience and customized equipment. Here’s what that means for you: When your mountain bike arrives, you can skip the hassle of putting it back together and pedal straight toward the trails.

If you would like to get a custom mountain bike shipping quote, we make that easy, too. Just give us a call at (800) 730-3151. Our pricing is 100% free and transparent; you won’t find any surprises along the way. We’re here to help you transport your mountain bike safely, quickly and affordably—because whether on bicycle or motorcycle, we love hitting the open road just as much as you do.