Photos Courtesy of Barry Jencson, Tanner Morgan and Dirt Rider
Way back in the September 2010 issue we did a fun bike build with reader bikes called “Readers Rule!” Two of the bikes we picked to modify came from different states, so we needed to get them to the Dirt Rider shop without asking our two readers to load up and drive for days.Two Shipping companies came to the rescue, Federal Transport and J.C. Motors. The receiving of the bikes and the ship back on the Dirt Rider end ran flawlessly, with good trucks, friendly drivers, and on-time arrivals. But then we asked the two readers who shipped their bikes to give their experiences sending off their bikes and receiving them back again.And you’ll notice some comments about the long bike build, and that’s all on Dirt Rider – blame our busy schedule or our lazy nature, whichever side you pick – but the bike build did take way, way longer than the readers had been told. The shipping, however, was fast and efficient… once the bikes were ready to go back home.So read these reader experiences with shipping their bikes for the first time, and then check out the March 2011 issue of Dirt Rider (Dr. Dirt “Bike Shipping”) for detailed tips from the shipping company experts on what to expect and the best way to ship your bike for a distant buy/sell/or ride vacation!
Barry Jencson
Ridin’ the Rockies
Colorado Springs CO
Several months after entering my bike into the “Let Dirt Rider Build-Up Your Bike for Free” Contest I received word that my bike had been selected for the project. Talk about excitement! The only problem was that my bike was in Colorado Springs and it needed to be 1055 miles away to Anaheim, CA. Having never shipped a bike before I was clueless as to how this was going to work. Who? What? When? Where? All the questions started flooding in but after talking with Pete Peterson, he explained that Federal Transport would be the carrier for my bike. To make things even easier, Pete said he had already talked with Federal, gave them my contact information and to expect a call from someone who could answer all of my questions. The very next day a got the call. I would like to give a big shout out to Jackie at Federal Transport for taking time to answer all of my questions. I bombarded her with a ton of them and she had an answer for every single one.
Well, Federal Transport did their part and called me the day before the truck arrived at my house and left a voicemail. Silly me forgot to check my messages and got another call the next day at 11am from the Federal Transport that there was a truck sitting in front of my house waiting for me. I felt like an idiot! Thankfully my home is not far from where I work and I zoomed over to the house in about 5 minutes. I apologized to the crew of two for the inconvenience of having to wait for me. The two men from Federal Transport were very nice, polite and professional and told me it was no big deal. They had only been there for about 10 minutes waiting. I brought the bike out from my garage and they immediately began their inspection process, checking out the condition of the bike; whether it was scratched, dented or whatever be the case. I gave the bike a kiss goodbye and they proceeded to load the bike into their box truck. It was strapped down to one of their special shipping pallets designed for holding motorcycles. The only thing I had to do prior to pick up was drain the gas tank, which I had already done. The whole process could not have been easier! Once the bike was loaded I thanked the guys and they were off.
Getting the bike back via Federal Transport was even easier than shipping it out. I received a call the night before they delivered the bike with a time of arrival. Federal Transport arrived right on schedule, rolled up the door on the truck and began unloading immediately. The bike was unloaded; the drivers did a quick inspection of the bike, asked for my signature on the delivery receipt and were on their way. Simple, quick and painless. What more could you ask for?!
If you ever have the need to ship your bike anywhere, Federal Transport can get it there safely. It took 9 days to get the bike to California from Colorado and 7 days for the return trip. The whole shipping process was much easier than I expected! I would like to personally thank Federal Transport for contributing their services to make this happen. Without you I would not have the bike of my dreams! Thank you Federal Transport!
Federal Transport, www.funtransport.com, 800.747.4100 contact: Jackie Taylor
Tanner Morgan
When I found out I won the Dirt Rider bike build I was thinking, “How in the heck am I gonna get my bike to California?” I had never shipped a bike before so I was thinking this is probably gonna be a real pain. I figured you would have to take the front wheel and bars off and drain gas and oil.
I was thinking my bike may get smashed or something in the truck or get it back from Dirt Rider completely different than what I wanted or maybe get the wrong bike back.
It really is pretty easy to ship a bike you just call the shipping company and setup a date and time and addresses. The driver will call you when he gets close to your house so you can be ready to get it. J.C. Motors’ truck arrived right on time. You really don’t have to do anything to your bike just ride it out to the truck and they load it on a little skid thing and tie it down like you would in the bed of your truck.
It is absolutely terrible not to have your bike even if you do have another bike to ride. Man I was really eager to ride my KDX riding a CRF 150F is just not even close to the same. It would not have been so bad if it was just the original three weeks instead of four months. [NOTE: THIS WAS A BIKE BUILD DELAY, NOT A SHIPPING DELAY ISSUE]
It really isn’t that hard to get a bike picked up at a remote location. You just call the shipping company and tell them you need a bike picked up at whatever address and setup a date and time. Then they will give you a estimated time of arrival. Then you wait again. The arrival time was right on schedule like they said. For the most part my shipment went really smooth. Of course when they tell you the bike has shipped it makes you even more eager because its just that much closer.
The shipment was a very good experience. And relatively easy. When you ship a bike you really don’t have to do any prep work to it like I figured. Advice I would give is definitely use J.C. Motors. The driver was super nice. And I would like to give a big thank you to J.C. Motors for making the Dirt Rider bike build possible.J.C. Motors, www.motorcycleshippers.com 949.419.0555 contact: Clint Lawrence
