My fatboy is on the ship now headed from Germany to Delaware. I had no choice but to let them pack it. If I did have a choice there is no way in hell I would let someone else move it. I have a new limited that I purchased over seas but opted to wait and pick it up in the states from an HD dealer. I get the limited on the 4th of Sept and the fatboy will be delivered on the 10th, hopefully scratch free. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I moved it myself in a trailer from Ohio to Boston...the added weight helps too as far as reimbursement for Do It Yourself moves...i have a 18' covered trailer with a Condor Motorcycle chock and some E-channel for securing the bike

 

When i moved my bike myself from Oklahoma to Kentucky, the money they gave me to move the bike pretty much paid for the trailer i bought. And my old Dodge Ram with a 360 didnt seem to notice the extra weight...it was going to get 13 miles a gallon loaded or empty!!!!!! So got a trailer and my bike moved for no cost!

 

I was in the AF from 1978-1998. Let them ship it. One less thing you have to worry about. Make sure the shipper doesn't write on the shipping paperwork "misc damage" and stuff like that. Go over everything very carefully. If they put one scratch on the bike the military will make them pay for it. Good luck!

 

I just had my bike transported from England all the way to Japan and no problems whatsoever. It shipped with my household goods, the movers came in and brought the bike onto the platform and built the crate right around it. They let me eyeball the process the whole time and let me even strap it down. I couldn't have asked for a any better service than what I received.

 

When i got married last year i let them move my furniture from Georgia to Oklahoma and they delivered on time without a scratch. Even with that experience i would choose to move my bike myself. There's a big difference between a scratch on a $200 table and a scratch on a $17,000 bike.

 

I always rented a U-haul bike trailer one-way to my PCS and towed it myself.

 

I've had mine moved several times. No issues on the actual move, but the movers knocked over a bookcase on it while it was in the garage though. It left it with a good size crease in the tank. That could have happened regardless of whether they were moving the bike or not though. I recommend that you make sure the bike is out of the way of the movers and anywhere they might put stuff before loading. I did get the money to fix the bike of course.

 

I'm in the moving business. For international shipments we have to crate the bikes, for domestic, no. For domestic shipments they are usually strapped down in the trailer. I've moved several bikes that way and have had no complaints from the customers. If you do not move it that way it becomes an issue because the government may not approve the crating of your bike if you are moving domestically. You can of course pay for it and we will be happy to move it. Crates run any where from $300 to $800, or you can have DAS ship the bike for you. They do a great job. Whenever you get your orders to move ask about how you can move your bike and see what your options are and go from there.

 

When I PCSd From Texas to Virginia back in 2002, I Uhauled my 2001 Sportster 1200C along with lot's of initial living stuff...worked out great..no worries, and it was nice to have a second set of wheels to get around the new area...as mentioned before...the weight added up-- and the payment from travel folks more than paid for the trailer and other costs...