FAQ: Do you ship electric and cargo bikes throughout New Zealand?
Yes — we can ship our electric and cargo bikes fully assembled and ready to ride throughout New Zealand.
We have plenty of customers outside Wellington, particularly in smaller towns and rural areas, who want one of the bikes we stock but don't necessarily have a specialist electric or cargo bike shop nearby. Rather than sending you a large bike in a cardboard box and leaving you to organise the final assembly yourself, we can do the whole job here at Bicycle Junction and deliver the finished bike directly to you.
That means your bike is built, checked, adjusted and test ridden by our workshop before it leaves us. If you've ordered compatible accessories such as child seats, passenger rails, footboards, panniers or a front rack, we can fit those too.
Browse our electric bikes and cargo bikes.
How does fully assembled bike delivery work?
Once your bike is prepared, we secure it upright on a purpose-built pallet rather than packing it back into a conventional bike box.
We protect the bike with reusable removal blankets and protective packaging, strap it securely to the pallet and send it by freight to your delivery address.
When it arrives, there is no handlebar to straighten, front wheel to install or derailleur to adjust. Remove the protective packaging and ties, check the bike over, and it is essentially ready for its first ride.
How much does it cost to ship an electric or cargo bike?
Our current fully assembled electric and cargo bike delivery rates are:
- North Island: $450
- Top of the South Island: $600
- Canterbury: $700
- Lower South Island: $800
Shipping is calculated at checkout based on your delivery region. If you're rural, or you're unsure which South Island shipping area applies to you, get in touch and we'll confirm the delivery options and cost.
You can also see our current New Zealand shipping rates.
Why does fully assembled delivery cost more?
The biggest reason electric bikes are expensive to ship is the battery.
Lithium-ion e-bike batteries are classed as dangerous goods for transport, which means they generally can't simply be sent by normal air freight. They need to travel by approved road or sea freight, with the correct handling and documentation. That makes shipping an e-bike expensive even when it is packed into a conventional bike box.
Depending on the bike and destination, boxed e-bike freight can already cost several hundred dollars. Once you're paying for specialist freight because of the battery, the price difference between sending the bike partly assembled in a box and sending it fully assembled on a pallet is often smaller than you might expect.
A fully assembled bike does take up more space, particularly if it's a longtail or front-loading cargo bike, so pallet freight costs more. But you also avoid the other costs and hassle that come with boxed delivery.
A boxed bike normally needs some assembly at the other end. That can mean fitting or straightening the handlebars, installing the front wheel and pedals, checking the brakes and gears, and setting the bike up correctly. Bike-shop assembly in New Zealand can commonly cost around $90-$180, and a more complicated electric or cargo bike with accessories can cost more again.
If you live outside a main centre, there is also the practical problem of getting a very large bike box from your house to a bike shop, finding a shop that is comfortable working on the bike, paying for the assembly, and then getting the completed bike home again.
That's why we think fully assembled delivery makes a lot of sense. If the e-bike already has to travel by specialist freight because of the battery, we'd rather do the assembly, setup and accessory fitting here and have the bike arrive at your door ready to ride.
It makes even more sense for cargo bikes
This service is particularly useful for cargo bikes.
Bikes such as longtails and front loaders are large, heavy and often quite different from a conventional bicycle. They can also arrive with a substantial family setup: child seats, passenger rails, footboards, panniers, baskets, weather protection and other accessories.
Not every bicycle workshop regularly assembles cargo bikes, and some workshops simply don't have much room to deal with them.
We work with cargo bikes every day. By assembling the complete bike here, we can make sure the bike and its accessories are fitted together correctly, check the brakes and gears, update and check the electric system where applicable, set the bike up and test ride it before it leaves Wellington.
You don't need to find another shop at the other end to finish the job for us.
A useful option for rural and out-of-town customers
Fully assembled delivery has proved particularly useful for customers outside the main centres.
If you live rurally, the nearest specialist e-bike or cargo-bike shop may be an hour or more away. Having a large boxed bike arrive at home only to then figure out how to get it to another workshop rather defeats the point of having a bike delivered.
Our approach is to do as much as possible before the bike leaves us. When the freight truck arrives, you're receiving your finished bike rather than a bike-building project.
Can you install my cargo bike accessories before shipping?
Yes. In fact, this is one of the biggest advantages of shipping a cargo bike fully assembled.
If you're buying a family cargo bike, we can install compatible accessories such as child seats, passenger rails, seat pads, running boards, panniers and front carriers before dispatch.
This means we can check the complete passenger and cargo setup together rather than sending several boxes of components for you or another workshop to work out at the other end.
Do you ship electric and cargo bikes throughout New Zealand?
Yes. We ship fully assembled electric and cargo bikes throughout the North and South Islands.
If you're considering a bike but can't make it to Wellington, get in touch with us. We can talk through the bike, sizing, the terrain where you live, what you need to carry and any accessories you need before we prepare it for delivery.
You can browse our cargo bikes, electric bikes, or see our full shipping information.