so i'm going back to the US and i'm trying to ship a pair of wheels back, since i trust ups and fedex more than airport baggage handlers, and i got a quote today that it would cost me about 100pounds to ship a box with wheels weighing about 2kilos back, because the 'dimensional weight' is 12kilos...what the fuck?! put them on a goddamn boat across the atlantic for all i care, as i just need them in the US within about a month from now.
is there any way to get around this, or am i better off just paying for having an 'extra bag' at the airport and hoping the baggage handlers don't fuck shit up?

thanks.

yeah, make sure it's well packed and pay for an extra bag. It cost me only about £20, and that was for a whole bike!

should be ok..

i actually managed to cram 1 extra wheel in my hard case, but now have 1 wheel sitting around, probably going in the box i have. whether or not i ship this 1 extra wheel in a box or fly with it, would it be a smart idea to sort of 'frame' the wheel with books? in other words encircle the wheel and hub/line the box with books?

I'd first check with the airline how much their excess baggage fee is (if you've got more than two bags), then work out if you can find shipping cheaper (though you're guaranteed to be stung with custom+vat this way) . Its generally always cheaper to fly with your stuff than to ship it IMHO. So I'd just make a wheel box and package the s*** out of it and you should be golden.

The book idea seems a little iffy as the books are likely to shift in transit so they may ding the wheel.

right now i have 1/3 of the bottom of the box filled with books. they're in there pretty tight so that neither the wheel or the books can really move. for the other 2/3s of the box, i might just put packing popcorn in it or something to frame the rest of the wheel.

Buy a bike bag and pack well. Hell some baggage handlers probably ride bikes.