Getting our bikes to Alaska is a bit of a trick. The simplest way to go about it is to just ship them straight to Homer. But when we first looked into this, we got quotes ranging from $250 to $1,000 per bike. We are shipping two bikes and a box of gear, so that would be a bit of a hit on the wallet. There was also the issue that we needed to get them shipped somewhere that they could be held for several weeks because we will be spending a month on the road before arriving. We spoke with a bike shop in Homer that was willing to house them, although they stressed that we needed to plan it so they would not have them very long due to space limitations. Because of cost and inconvenience for people on the other end, we decided to shop around.
We looked at a number of different options:
Using Fedex Freight to ship directly to Alaska
Using bike shipping services to ship directly to Alaska
Taking the bikes on our flights to Michigan and Washington then on the ferry
Shipping the bikes to Bellingham and then taking them on the ferry with us
Enter Redden Marine
I don’t remember how I came across Redden, but I’m glad I did. In the interest of the whole brevity thing, I’m not going to blather in great detail about this. They’re a marine supply and boat repair company that also has a small gear shop. A good chunk of the freight that goes to Homer goes through Redden. This means that they get a helluva deal through Fedex. I looked at using Fedex’s freight service for myself and it was going to be close to $1000 per bike for shipping. With Redden, I simply have to get the bikes to their shipping facility in Fife, Washington, and it will be $25 per package from there.
Getting the bikes to Washington
There are two main bike shipping services in the US:
Their rates seem comparable, but I would check both for your trip as rates may vary. At this point I am planning on going with BikeFlights. We will be able to get our gear to Washington for a total of $180. From there it will be $25 per package to Alaska, so the whole thing will cost us $255. If you’re needing to get your bikes to AK, this is by far the cheapest way that I have found so far.
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