Shipping a sidecar to Alaska?

try "uship" ?

Also try it in 2 legs. Most of the smaller guys don't want to go so far. Have a friend that lives halfway? Get a quote to get it there, then another quote to go the rest of the way. To get the best price,,you need someone to add it to their trip,,not be the main reason they are making the trip. Sharing the cost with other freight is always cheaper.

Try U ship, they are actually a broker and put the bid out to a lot of different carriers. The advice on combining with a load is right on. LTL (less than trailer load) always costs more. If the hack is tied down on a pallet and can be loaded and unloaded with a fork lift, that will reduce the cost. If you can have it delivered to a business with a dock and fork lift that will help also. FWIW, I got a quote to ship my CSC from Atlanta to Virginia from Allied for $650.00. However, it was NOT on a pallet. I took my trailer to Atlanta and picked it up, cost me $550.00 for gas, lodging& meals for me and my wife. Not much savings . $1800 probably isn't far off the mark to go from Ariz. to Alaska.

have you tried haulbikes.com?

We use a company in Seattle called alsaka freight forwarders, of course we drop off the sidecars at their terminal, You could have the sidecar shipped to them by most any company. There are some tricks to getting the price down. First, the sidecar must be taken apart. If it is assembled it goes under a much more expensive freight code then if you take it apart. Pulling the wheel and windsheild off should be enough. Part of the shipping cost also depends on how it is to be picked up. Is there a loading dock or fork lift on both ends of the trip? If not you will be paying for lift gate fee's. And of course where in Alaska will make a big difference in price. Nome is more then Ancorage by a large amount.
Of course we would also be happy to sell you a new sidecar which would come with the mounts for your bike.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793

Use a Broker/Forwarder. Remove windshield and wheel. Crate or palletize with shrink wrap. Description of the item as "Used" motorcycle sidecar parts will give a lower freight rate also.
It still won't be cheap though.

Lonnie

Why not ship to Anchorage and pick it up there. Wasilla will add another freight company in. Anchorage is a port city and the major shipping companies dock there year round. Check with the dealer of your bike brand in Anchorage or the one the buyer uses about having it shipped there so the lift gate truck isn't an issue. Also might advertise on Craig's list for someone driving up. Another option might be to look for a "snow bird" going back North in the Spring with space in a trailer or PU. Price isn't out of line even though expensive. Kids brother pays $1000 to ship sidecar rig from Juneau to Seattle via barge and that is a much shorter trip. Max.

The last sidecar we shipped to Ancorage, dock to dock ran $484.85 with lynden trasport. That was from the dock in Tacoma WA to the Dock in Ancorage for a person in Wasilla. We shipped it about 3 weeks ago, he had it in less then a week. It is one of our M72D sidecars to go onto a BMW GS
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793

Great information and advise, thanks, sounds like shipping will kill my dreams for a bolt on hack for my wing without extending my retirement a year!!!

As a follow up after Checking out the shippers available and the cost associated with bringing a sidecar to Alaska I decided that to make it viable at all I would have to limit my search to the Washington area, which is in striking distance to a crating facility and a port for shipping by boat to Alaska . Then I saw the 03 venture with escort hack for sale on this forum. My quest for a sidecar is over, I just ended up buying one with a bike attached, it has been crated by crate tech in the Tacoma area and delivered to Lynden transport for the journey to Alaska. Should be in the frozen north by next Tuesday. Thanks jay for the lynden tip.

Happy to hear that you found a rig. Be sure to post pictures and tell us all about it.

another follow up, Crate Tech in tacoma did a beautiful job of crating the venture/ escort rig. Lynden Transport was first class to deal with, great communication, and it arrived quickly by boat with no damage. the crate was huge and heavy, 2250 lbs!!! i have a bunch of pictures on my computer but have no clue about posting pics.

Yamak - 2/26/2012 7:32 PM
... have a bunch of pictures on my computer but have no clue about posting pics.

Yamak, there's some help re: posting pics

here: http://www.sidecar.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=9290&posts=4#M59774

and here: http://www.sidecar.com/mbbs22/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=8035&posts=29&start=1

Here are Yamak's pics of the rig he bought. This is a rig that I took a look at last Fall being sold by a guy near me. I decided not to make an offer on it only because it didn't get under my skin. But it is a nice big comfortable rig. Some of you might recognize it since it was posted under "Complete Rigs for Sale" for several months. Yamak e-mailed me the pics for posting. Here they are.

Arriving at Lynden Transport in Anchorage--

Arrival in Wasilla

Planning--how we gonna do this?

Let's build us a ramp!

Ramp complete with rig pointed straight at my garage.

One last pic before we go for it.

Yes! Safe and sound! Keeping the 'Wing company till the Spring melt off.

Thanks for posting Yamak's photos Ned. Pictures are worth a 1000 words. Great looking rig, I hope you get a chance to ride it soon Yamak.