Bikes on Eurostar?

On Wed, 23 May 2007 09:30:27 +0100, "J. Chisholm" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

We'd like to take our bikes to France and Cycle Tour.

I've thought of this in the past but the conditions seemed too restrictive.

Eurostar are now doing a series of 'PR' events and I went to the one in
Cambridge. Man is sharp suit explained that if bikes were booked as
registered luggage, although it would cost, we would be able to ride to
Waterloo/St Pancras, NOT have to disassemble nor pack in £70 bag.
He also said we could collect bikes on arrival at destination.

I didn't record conversation or get name of man (but I do have a witness)

I emailed Eurostar, and they still say the same old thing. If bike goes
registered luggage you may not be able to collect it for 24 hours
(that takes two days off holiday!)

Does anyone have experience of taking a bike, other than folder and
limited luggage, by Eurostar?

A friend and I travelled together to Paris using different methods of
sending our bikes. Sam sent her bike fully assembled in advance, and
I packed my bike in a bag.

Both methods worked out fine.

The day before we travelled, she cycled to Waterloo and left her bike
fully assembeled, then WALKED home. Ath that time she lived very
close to Tower Bridge - and that makes a huge difference.

I cycled to Waterloo, panniers and all. I took off the pedals, front
wheel and rotated the handlebars before stuffing the bike in the bag.
Panniers went in too.

At Gare du Nord, I unpacked my bike while Sam went off to collect
hers. By the time she got back I'd put on the pedals, rotated the
handlebars and put on the front wheel.

Both methods were equally trouble free. Sam had to make an extra trip
to Waterloo, and I had to leave my bike bag in a left luggage box.

Tom Crispin said:

On Wed, 23 May 2007 09:30:27 +0100, "J. Chisholm" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

We'd like to take our bikes to France and Cycle Tour.

I've thought of this in the past but the conditions seemed too restrictive.

Eurostar are now doing a series of 'PR' events and I went to the one in
Cambridge. Man is sharp suit explained that if bikes were booked as
registered luggage, although it would cost, we would be able to ride to
Waterloo/St Pancras, NOT have to disassemble nor pack in £70 bag.
He also said we could collect bikes on arrival at destination.

I didn't record conversation or get name of man (but I do have a witness)

I emailed Eurostar, and they still say the same old thing. If bike goes
registered luggage you may not be able to collect it for 24 hours
(that takes two days off holiday!)

Does anyone have experience of taking a bike, other than folder and
limited luggage, by Eurostar?

A friend and I travelled together to Paris using different methods of
sending our bikes. Sam sent her bike fully assembled in advance, and
I packed my bike in a bag.

Both methods worked out fine.

The day before we travelled, she cycled to Waterloo and left her bike
fully assembeled, then WALKED home. Ath that time she lived very
close to Tower Bridge - and that makes a huge difference.

I cycled to Waterloo, panniers and all. I took off the pedals, front
wheel and rotated the handlebars before stuffing the bike in the bag.
Panniers went in too.

At Gare du Nord, I unpacked my bike while Sam went off to collect
hers. By the time she got back I'd put on the pedals, rotated the
handlebars and put on the front wheel.

Both methods were equally trouble free. Sam had to make an extra trip
to Waterloo, and I had to leave my bike bag in a left luggage box.

I'm afraid neither method is suitable IF your bike is your other mode of
transport. We don't wish to carry two bike bags with us on holiday. IF
you could reliably hire such bags for a one way trip it might be an
option, and I've wondered if a rip-stop lightweight nylon bag might
pass the test. I also note that you say you only took off FRONT wheels,
and presumably your bike went in normal luggage area in coach, and was I
suspect larger than the 'approved' size of luggage allowed in passenger
coach.

Jim

Am Thu, 24 May 2007 09:40:50 +0100 schrieb J. Chisholm:

Quoted message said:

Tom Crispin said:

On Wed, 23 May 2007 09:30:27 +0100, "J. Chisholm" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have experience of taking a bike, other than folder and
limited luggage, by Eurostar?

A friend and I travelled together to Paris using different methods of
sending our bikes. Sam sent her bike fully assembled in advance, and
I packed my bike in a bag.

Both methods worked out fine.

I'm afraid neither method is suitable IF your bike is your other mode of
transport. We don't wish to carry two bike bags with us on holiday. IF
you could reliably hire such bags for a one way trip it might be an
option, and I've wondered if a rip-stop lightweight nylon bag might
pass the test.

Maybe this light-weight bag from Bach might be an option?
<http://www.bachpacks.com/products/detail.asp?PID=31&KatId=17&prodname=Bike+Protection+Bag>
550g does not sound to bad in terms of weight.

Andreas

Andreas Schulze-Bäing said:

Maybe this light-weight bag from Bach might be an option?
<http://www.bachpacks.com/products/detail.asp?PID=31&KatId=17&prodname=Bike+Protection+Bag>
550g does not sound to bad in terms of weight.

Those bags are commonly used on TGV trains, and can easily be posted
to whatever address you like.

On Thu, 24 May 2007 09:40:50 +0100, "J. Chisholm" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I'm afraid neither method is suitable IF your bike is your other mode of
transport. We don't wish to carry two bike bags with us on holiday. IF
you could reliably hire such bags for a one way trip it might be an
option, and I've wondered if a rip-stop lightweight nylon bag might
pass the test. I also note that you say you only took off FRONT wheels,
and presumably your bike went in normal luggage area in coach, and was I
suspect larger than the 'approved' size of luggage allowed in passenger
coach.

If it's a one-way trip, you can post the bag back to yourself.

For the ride to Waterloo I bungeed the bike bag to my rear rack, but
then I live in South-East London, so only had a few miles to cycle.

Another alternative would be to travel in advance/at the same time as
your bikes - you will never be told in advance which trains have the
oversize luggage coach - and spend a night in Paris, picking up your
bikes the following morning. There's plenty of reasonably cheap
accommodation around the Gare du Nord.

The carriage of bikes in bags on to Eurostar trains as hand luggage is very restrictive. They have reduced their bike bag size from 90 x 120 cm to 85 x 85 cm which is not doable unless you have a fold up bike. If you purchase a ticket to say the French Alps and purchase this from Rail Europe for example they will most likely tell you can take a 90 x 120 cm size bag which is incorrect. What you must do now with oversized luggage is to book your bagged bike in to St Pancreas at the registered luggage dept, this is an additional fee £25 each way and they can not guarantee that it will be on the same train that you travel on - so if you need to make a connection with a TGV in France good luck!!!!!!

Traveling with a bagged bike in France is no problem it is just Eurostar that make you suffer. There has clearly been an increase in people traveling with bikes on Eurostar trains, they do not have enough room in their luggage areas on each train to cope with this increase. The way they are now asking passengers with bagged bikes to travel is inconvenient and frankly a prejudice agains cyclists.

I recently travelled to Valence with my biked bag from Ebbsfleet. They managed to accommodate me because the train was not busy. I managed to get back from Lille my connecting station as my train was not full also, the ticket was sold to me on the pretext I could get the bike in a bag and on the train as hand luggage (which was wrongly sold by Rail Europe). Eurostar staff did their best to accommodate me which I appreciated but frankly I feel traveling by Eurostar with a bagged bike is cost prohibitive especially when I live minutes away from Ebbsfleet Station but still have to travel into London St Pancreas just to put my bike on the train, this equals two further return fares to London and an additional carriage cost for the bike = £50 - you might as well catch a flight. Nice one Eurostar!