Skip to main content

Ship your motorcycle to save time and arrive less tired at rallies and events

Ship your motorcycle
steffstarr / 123RF Stock Photo
Anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists attend major rallies and events in the U.S. each year. The largest rallies take place from March to October in various parts of the country, and most last from a week to ten days. If you want to be part of the action, UShip is ready to ship your motorcycle to shorten your time away from work and family.

If you work or have your own business, it can be tough to schedule time to attend even one of the rallies, especially if it takes several days to ride your motorcycle to and from the events.

Recommended Videos

UShip’s motorcycle shipment listing page lets you input your bike’s year, make, and model. You can specify whether or not it is operable, if it has an attached sidecar, or if it’s a trike. There’s also a spot to indicate whether your motorcycle has custom parts or anything else that measures different from a stock model. Next, specify pickup and delivery locations and submit the listing to get bids from prospective truckers or other qualified shippers who are willing to transport your ride.

Bikers who want to attend the rallies may balk at first at the idea of shipping a bike. After all, the journey matters as much as the destination, right? That fits the motorcycling ethos, but depending on the timing and location of the rally or event, riding to and from events could take as long as a week or more each way.

The major motorcycle events include Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota in August, while Daytona Bike Week runs Florida in March, and then in June, Laconia Motorcycle Week roars into New Hampshire.

Myrtle Beach Bike Week is held twice a year in South Carolina in May and October. Rolling Thunder is held in remembrance of military veterans in many areas, but the largest assembly is in Washington, D.C. on Memorial Day weekend. The Republic of Texas (ROT) Biker Rally takes place in Texas in June.

Ship your motorcycle
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The average distance motorcyclists have shipped their bikes via UShip has been between 1,300 and 1,400 miles for the past several years.

Harley-Davidson has long had major presences at motorcycle rallies, but Harleys aren’t the only bikes shipped. Specific Yamaha, Suzuki, and Honda models are the most frequently shipped.

Ship your motorcycle
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Weighing the financial and time costs of shipping your bike to and from an event versus riding yourself are an individual matter. When you ship your bike, weather and personal safety aren’t the same concerns as when you ride. By shipping your bike, you also won’t arrive at an event worn out and tired from days of hard riding.

Ship your motorcycle
Image used with permission by copyright holder

UShip provided a graphic with typical shipping charges to Sturgis, South Dakota to show representative shipping costs.

If your bucket list includes hitting all the major motorcycle rallies with your bike at least once, it looks like UShip could help by saving weeks of riding time.

Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
Stellantis’ 2027 Dodge Charger Daytona might feature solid-state battery tech
Front three quarter view of the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona sedan.

The battle to use cheaper, more efficient, and safer EV batteries is heating up among automakers. At the heart of this battle, the development of solid-state battery technology, an alternative to highly flammable and costly lithium batteries, is garnering more and more attention.For proof, Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker, is betting on the technology for its next generation of electric vehicles. The Netherlands-based company announced that it will launch a demonstration fleet of Dodge Charger Daytona EVs that will feature solid-state battery tech made by U.S. startup Factorial.The demo fleet, expected to launch by 2026, will provide a real-world assessment of Factorial’s technology. Factorial has been partnering with Stellantis since 2021 and is also partnering with the likes of Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai.Besides Dodge, the technology would eventually be deployed on the Stellantis STLA Large multi-energy platform, which includes brands such as Jeep, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati.Stellantis said that the integration of solid-state battery technology will yield “improved performance, longer driving ranges, and faster charging times in the coming years.”Factorial, meanwhile, says its technology provides higher energy density, reduced weight, improved performance, and the potential for further reduction in total vehicle cost over time. Stellantis, Daimler, and Hyundai aren’t the only ones to bet on solid-state battery tech. Toyota, the largest automaker in the world, has heavily invested in the technology. It also created a coalition with Nissan and Panasonic to boost its production in Japan. So far, making solid-state batteries has remained an expensive endeavor. But steps such as the Stellantis demo fleet and production at scale by the likes of Factorial are expected to improve manufacturing processes and costs over time.Other automakers, meanwhile, are working on ways to improve lithium batteries. Volkswagen, for one, is developing its own unified battery cell in several European plants as well as one plant in Ontario, Canada.

Read more
Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.
costco ev charging us electricera fast station 1260x945

Costco, known for its discount gas stations, has left EV drivers in need of juicing up out in the cold for the past 12 years. But that seems about to change now that the big-box retailer is putting its brand name on a DC fast-charging station in Ridgefield, Washington.
After being one of the early pioneers of EV charging in the 1990s, Costco abandoned the offering in 2012 in the U.S.
While opening just one station may seem like a timid move, the speed at which the station was installed -- just seven weeks -- could indicate big plans going forward.
Besides lightening-speed installation, Electric Era, the Seattle-based company making and installing the charging station, promises to offer “hyper-reliable, battery-backed fast charging technology in grid-constrained locations.”
Its stalls can deliver up to 200 kilowatts and come with built-in battery storage, allowing for lower electricity rates and the ability to remain operational even when power grids go down.
If that sounds like it could very well rival Tesla’s SuperCharger network, it’s no coincidence: Quincy Lee, its CEO, is a former SpaceX engineer.
Costco also seems confident enough in the company to have put its brand name on the EV-charging station. Last year, the wholesaler did open a pilot station in Denver, this time partnering with Electrify America, the largest charging network in the U.S. However, Costco did not put its brand name on it.
In an interview with Green Car Reports, Electric Era said it was still in talks with Costco about the opening of new locations. Last year, Costco said it was planning to install fast chargers at 20 locations, without providing further details. It has maintained EV-charging operations in Canada, the UK, Spain, and South Korea.
Meanwhile, the wholesaler’s U.S. EV-charging plans might very well resemble those of rival Walmart, which last year announced it was building its own EV fast-charging network in addition to the arrangements it already had with Electrify America.

Read more
The UK’s Wayve brings its AI automated driving software to U.S. shores
wayve ai automated driving us driver assist2 1920x1152 1

It might seem that the autonomous driving trend is moving at full speed and on its own accord, especially if you live in California.Wayve, a UK startup that has received over $1 billion in funding, is now joining the crowded party by launching on-road testing of its AI learning system on the streets of San Francisco and the Bay Area.The announcement comes just weeks after Tesla unveiled its Robotaxi at the Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California. It was also in San Francisco that an accident last year forced General Motors’ robotaxi service Cruise to stop its operations. And it’s mostly in California that Waymo, the only functioning robotaxi service in the U.S., first deployed its fleet of self-driving cars. As part of its move, Wayve opened a new office in Silicon Valley to support its U.S. expansion and AI development. Similarly to Tesla’s Full-Self Driving (FSD) software, the company says it’s using AI to provide automakers with a full range of driver assistance and automation features.“We are now testing our AI software in real-world environments across two continents,” said Alex Kendall, Wayve co-founder and CEO.The company has already conducted tests on UK roads since 2018. It received a huge boost earlier this year when it raised over $1 billion in a move led by Softbank and joined by Microsoft and Nvidia. In August, Uber also said it would invest to help the development of Wayve’s technology.Just like Tesla’s FSD, Wayve’s software provides an advanced driver assistance system that still requires driver supervision.Before driverless vehicles can legally hit the road, they must first pass strict safety tests.So far, Waymo’s technology, which relies on pre-mapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), is the only of its kind to have received the nod from U.S. regulators.

Read more