Shipping Advice Florida to North Carolina

[powerst]

I'm new to the forums here so please feel free to correct me if I misunderstand or say something wrong.

I'm thinking of buying a Ural from central Florida and am looking for advice on how to get it to me in Eastern North Carolina.

What should I be expecting in the way of cost to have a Ural w/ sidecar shipped that distance?

I submitted a request for a quote at http://www.simplymotorcycleshipping.com/. Has anyone ever used them them that has had a good or bad experience that could help guide me. Or, if there are other services you can recommend I would greatly appreciate it.

Update: Simply Motorcycle Shipping gave me a quote of $699. That doesn't sound unreasonable.

[Snakeoil]

You could buy a decent used trailer for that price and go get it yourself. Only added cost would be gasoline. I would think if you got up early, you could do the round trip in one day. And then, you'd have a trailer for your money and not just a receipt from the shipping company. And you would also be in total control. So no worries about how it was handled when it was loaded or in-route.

regards,
Rob

[WEGUNTER]

+1 on the last comment. drive by Lowe's Hardware and pick up the 5 x6 trailer along with some planks. 8 hours later you will have it home along with a trailer.

[rivers]

Don't know anything about that outfit's reputation or what miles you're dealing with. Guessing 500+miles? If it's door to door within an agreed time frame. $700 seems reasonable IMHO. Doubt you'll get it hauled for "significantly" less. Personally I'm big on fly-n-rides rather than just sending money and hoping for the best,BUT flying and dealing with the Tub Stackers Association (TSA) can be it's own grief. If by chance you're buying from Holopaw's in central FL he'll steer you right with a reliable shipper.
Uship has a good rep but doubt they'll beat the $700 number.

[vetsurginc]

Gene also has trailers at his place.

[Ltrypsin]

Gene's traitors rock!

[4Paws]

I live in Greensboro, call me and I'll either ride the bike back or drive your car, or we can do both.

[powerst]

You could buy a decent used trailer for that price and go get it yourself. Only added cost would be gasoline. I would think if you got up early, you could do the round trip in one day. And then, you'd have a trailer for your money and not just a receipt from the shipping company. And you would also be in total control. So no worries about how it was handled when it was loaded or in-route.

regards,
Rob

I'd love to do that. Maps out to about 10 hours each way from here. Recently got a job that affords me the free time for an old dream. Still the new guy though so doubt they'd give me a couple days off for that round trip. Not counting the fact I'd want to stop off at every mudhole on the way home.

I live in Greensboro, call me and I'll either ride the bike back or drive your car, or we can do both.

Appreciate the offer. I'm about 3 hours east of you. Going to go for the shipping service first. If that fails, i may wind up making the trip.

Gene also has trailers at his place.

I was definitely nervous about making a purchase like this from information online. Being a computer guy has made me very wary of that sort of thing. I have seen nothing but good things on this forum about Gene at Holopaw so feeling a little better about it now. Looks like I lucked into a good guy in my search on this one.

Gene mentioned simplymotorcycleshipping.com to me. Said he has never used them though, just a card he got in the mail.

[scan]

I paid 450.00 shipping for 250 mile trip. Be careful with an unseen purchase. My bike arrived barely running NOT from Gene. Turned out to be a clogged fuel filter screen that was easy enough to clean and a rusted inside gas tank. No so easy to fix the tank and now I'm waiting for one to come in from Russia.

[sallen]

I live in Greensboro, call me and I'll either ride the bike back or drive your car, or we can do both.

I'm in Wilmington and would love a road trip. You really need to go to Halopaw and meet Gene, a really great guy.
Can do a ride drive etc. thing if you can find a couple of days. Would love to ride mine down and do a duel ride back with chase car.

[barnone]

powerst,
Sounds like you buying from Gene? If so no problem. What you getting?

[WEGUNTER]

If you are buying from Gene then you are in good hands.

Bill

[BARACU]

I bought a Ural from a member here a few months ago. The member was going to be away, so he left the bike at Gene's to be picked up. Gene was most accomodating. I used http://www.steeltoycarriers.com/ as a shipper. Ken was great to deal with and his prices were affordable. I suggest you give him a call for a price. AL

[I-man]

another NC 'er who would like to ride it back for you. NC Ural Convoy?

[Snakeoil]

Having done business over the phone with Gene, I suspect that if you wanted to pick the bike up on a weekend, he would accomodate you. That might give you the two days you need to go down and back.

Not sure what process Ken goes thru to set up and ring out a new bike. But if I were buying from them, I would ask them to put a few miles on the rig and truly ring out any anomalies that might be lurking within. It would be worth paying them an hour of shop time to have Kenny or Gene take it for a nice long ride, maybe even 40 to 50 miles worth, and then go over it when they return. I think it would be money well invested on your part and Gene would probably agree. With anything new, it is infant mortality that is the biggest concern. If you look at a probability curve for failures, the data says the risk is very high when the equipment is brand new and within the first year is when most of the problems will arise. After that, the probability goes way down and does not pick back up until the equipment accumulates many operating hours or passes it's first maintenance period and the maintenance is skipped. It's kind of a U-shaped curve with time on the X-axis and failure count on the Y.

Good luck with your new rig, no matter how you manage to bring it home.

While on the subject, I'm curious if anyone has ever tried to tow a Ural rig with a car. You would have to tow it backwards. But I would think it would be possible if you got it set up right. I suspect it would require a tow-bar and not a simple coupler to a ball hitch. Somebody should come up with a design that can be disassembled and put into a box for return shipment. You charge the buyer a deposit for the towbar and he also gets the crate that the disassembled bar goes into for return shipment. You send his deposit back when the bar is received back in the shop. If the buyer decides to keep the bar, the shop is kept whole. I'd think that somebody like Draw-Tite could make them for a reasonable price given the prices of their Class 3 hitches. If you did it right, it would assemble with pins and not nuts and bolts. Trick would be a mounting system that would not mar the sidecar chassis. That would probably require nuts and bolts to properly fasten. But the dealer would do that and the buyer would only have to unbolt.

regards,
Rob