1

you shouldn't be shipping (sending by ship), rather you'll be taking your
bike on the plane with you as checked baggage. it's a bit of a hassle
trying to find a box when you're leaving - some go the easy way and
pay a local bike shop to box the bike for them - but much easier and
cheaper than trying to buy a new bike in a foreign country where
you have little experience and can't speak the language.

better check the airline policies (and print off a copy, and maybe call
to confirm) about how a bike must be packed and how much they
charge.

2

It is not the cycling bits you need to worry about, but the bits where you don't want to use your bikes. If your trip is long and the cycling legs are short then you won't want to be lugging unwanted bikes with you.

Assuming that you don't want to be lumbered with your bikes all the time, you could ship using someone like DHL and collect on arrival, but this will be very expensive. Otherwise you will have to find somewhere to store then pick up before flying to next stop.

Unless you have bikes you absolutely must use, I would say that buying is your best bet. You can often pick up reasonable 2nd hand bikes - OK for a few hundred km on road - for a reasonable price. I met someone in Oz who bought a hybrid for AU$200 and rode it from Sydney > Mellbourne and around Tassie. New cheapish bikes from mega sports stores(particularly in Europe) are also an option.

You will also need to think about luggage cycle clothes, etc.

3

Thanks!

@2 - yes, this was exactly our dilemma - we have many non-cycling legs of our trip that we don't want to be lugging around a bike with us. Since our two cycling legs are in Oz and Europe, I think we're going to keep our fingers crossed and by used bikes in each place. We know people in both places so can have them watch for bikes for us too! They don't need to be perfect bikes - just cycles with two wheels, gears and brakes! :)

4

I think shipping sounds like the easiest way to go. But it depends on the costs involved. I really think it would be least hassly, time wasting and worrying.

If you can just rock up to the post office and collect your bikes in places like madrid and Adelaide that would be so much easier than either buy and selling bikes or carting them around with you which would be a ridciulous solution anyway.

Selling your bikes will be worry inducing whilst posting your bike to your next stage or just home will be so much less hassle and worry. Just make sure when you post your bike someowhere, that you indicate on your package when you will be there to collect them as some places have time limits on how long they will look after them.

I had one parcel in England many years ago lost this say and i nearly lost a small parcel in india this way too. Three months in counties like australia is probably usual. So state it clearly on the packet.

The fact of having gear you know will also be easier for you. I think this approach will save you a lot of money as well.

I don't suppose a bicycle would go by ship but i remember meeting some swiss motorcyclsts in australia who told me how good it was to send their motorbikes by ship instead of the alternative.

I think when you explore the costs of postage, you will be in a better position to decide. I also think your plan of riding from adelaide up to Darwin is a good one. I hope you intend going all the way. And aslo from madrid to turkey sounds great.

I think selling a bike in either turkey or darwin wouldn't be that straightforward and would involve a bit of time. I wouldn't do it.

5

Darwin? I bet they meant Melbourne eg via the GOR and maybe on to Sydney, which of course is only going north after a lot of south and east.

Posting a bike is a very cheap way to do it, but it often involves complete disassembly into 2 packages - a guy I met who did it from NZ even had to remove his axles to get the dimensions right. Having said that, Turkeylegs (remember her) did it from China and got away with much less disassembly.

6

No he says adelaide and north in the op. That means He's doing central australia and i think that's a great choice. He will probably travel by conventional means if he's doing the south east.