Bikes take space in trains. Space is a commodity that can be sold. Bikes are also awkward for carriers. But taking them on certain ferries is also an issue. Switzerland has bike specific carriages.
It is shameful that you have to go to these lengths and costs to get a bike on a train! Used to be a guard carriage and bikes went it there years ago. There is no intent to create active travel but it would be so wonderful to know your bike could go on a train. I just booked our bikes and ourselves to get to Glasgow then onto Oban - there is. Highland Explorer train that runs twice a day that has 24 spaces for bikes! And it is really difficult to book those spaces - duh! Everything you do goes through a call centre and they ask you to spell Oban on the Scotrail helpline? Roads and rail in a terrible state for bikes - no one is rewarded for using their bike - sad state of affairs
I got caught out by the Eurostar bike ban 2 yrs ago, having only discovered i couldn't do it a week before I left! Having paid for the tickets months before and trying to find other options, I ended up begging for a cardboard bike box on my local club's Facebook page and posted the bike to my hotel in France. It should have arrived the day I arrived but I had to wait a further 4 days .... !! Grrr. Tense times. Luckily, I had a 3 week holibob. I got a ferry back to Blighty - no issue taking a bike, of course. This is a long-winded way of saying I wish I was as clever as you - bl00dy well done!
Glad for you that it worked out. But in this particular instance, a downward force on the bars that are crossing the top tube, could have easily inflicted some catastrophic damage to the top tube. Carbon bikes are fragile along the top tube and the weight of that big back pack on top of the top tube is quite disconcerting. For a Ti or aluminium bike I wouldn't worry about i, but even a Columbus Spirit steel tube could be easily dented by that. One solution to this problem is to take a piece of PVC drain pipe, cut it lengthwise (a carpenter or store can do it for you) and cover they top tube and downtube with these sections. Removing the fork will also be possible with bikes that have external cables.
I guess that if you would put this bag as normal checked-in baggage on a plane, without paying the sport equipment transport price, they will call you to the luggage control. The checked-in baggage is normally scanned and if they see these things they will block it. It happened to a friend of mine travelling to Italy.
I'm not sure about the fact that they don't care what's in your checked in baggage. The baggage will be xray scanned only after the check-in. In case they will found something they'll call you afterwards. I mean the luggage you put in the airplane trunk.
The one that really gets me is Scotrail are pretty good for providing bike spaces in general, but where there are rail replacement buses they won't take bikes! I really want to do the Five Ferries but I'm going to have to be really lucky with weather and ferry bookings to get to Arran because only one ferry runs from Ardrossan at the moment and the other from Troon which is not served by a train station but there's a shuttle bus, and of course it won't take bikes.
Brilliant idea! Loved it. ❤ It’s the same here in Canada. Since COVID all coaches and trains do not accept bike, and only option is flight. I have a soft bag and also a hard case and both are quite obvious. Thanks for this info, will look into it.
Hi Katie, always love your videos. I heard you mention Orucase in this post. Any chance you will be reviewing it? It’s more expensive than the postcarry but it is smaller as it will not exceed the linear dimension of checked baggage in most airlines.
Makes no sense that they make life so hard over the simplest of things. 🤨 For those who can travel with compact bikes, well packed up it's no problem. Perhaps its the full size bikes that require more room for storage they object to? Don't know why.
Hahaha because the time and also I don’t want to drive that far!! It’s 5 hours just to get to the ferry in the UK… trip whole trip would have been shorter!!
I was with 6 other cyclists with gear going from Nantes France to a port on the north coast. The conductor had refused to allow us on the train as too much gear. When he got distracted we all got our bikes onto the train with gear in under 5 minutes. We accomplished the same upon arrival at other station, unloading in 5 minutes, conductor was impressed. Oh two of these bikes were tandems! 6:37
Had the same issue in South West Australia, cycled 100s kms down the coast and didn't want to cycle same route back. The train didn't accept bikes, so I bought a roll of cellotape and sat on the station and stripped it down and taped it together to be no bigger than a suitcase. The train guard was not happy but accepted it was now luggage not a bike, so all good. Done similar several times since for coaches and trains, adding a few bits of cardboard if I can find some. Definitely my preference to touring on a folding bike with small wheels, which is the other option, but may be not for cobbles!
Hi, I totally understand this in Australia. I want to be able to travel in Aust with my bike, but the XPT has no real bike transport options other than in a box. It's a massive faff traveling in Australia with the bike even on the city trains like Newcastle to Sydney. My only hope is now with all these E-bikes trains start making it easier to travel.
I meet a guy at Alicante Airport as I collected my bike, he was in the process of removing bubble wrap off his steel frame, then fitted his wheels and built his bike there in the airport. What's unusual? The bubble wrap went onto his rear carrier and off he went. No bike box. Nor was he worried about the odd scrape as it was a steel frame. He had a spacers fitted to both hubs to prevent the frame collapsing.
Nice one! Good to see someone getting the common sense approach right. Travelling with a bike has only become more difficult since companies such as Ryanair and then Easyjet started the trend for squeezing every pound out of every customer. Pretty much about at the same time as banks started to treat customers not so much as customers but as cash cows, a commodity to be used milked and drained. Back in the late 1980's and early 90's it used to be easy to travel with a bike. On a train you simply put your bike into the guards van for no extra fee. Also racing all over Europe at the time airlines were happy to carry bikes for no fee as regular luggage provided they were packed etc. So it is a real shame that it has become so very difficult especially to countries like France, Spain or Italy etc. Thanks for the video and highlighting this issue, flying to Spain for a training week it often now costs more to fly ones bike than it does to buy a return ticket, and this is on a plane that is flying there anyway. No wonder one well known Irish airline was making I think it was £8m pa pure profit from flying sports goods ( golf clubs, bikes, surfboards etc). Details need checking obvs but you get the picture. K
Thank you so much for this video. I'm cycling London to paris this summer (never done anything like this before or travelled with my bike!) and I've been worried about the best way to get my bike back. Seems like this bag will cover all eventualities 😊 x
I used the Post Carry bag to fly my 56cm Specialized Diverge from the US to the UK and back again. It went on as my checked bag, with my tent, sleeping bag and all my clothes in it. Worked like a charm. For something a bit lighter I've also use the Ground Effect Tardis bag to fly with my bike to Iceland. That does not provide as much protection, but it's far less expensive and can be folded up for easy storage or even to mail to your final destination.
I have a bike bag that necessitates removal of front wheel, bars and pedals, it packs down and straps to the drops bars. (Rhinobag, Small 2kg package) . I'm riding that to Paris and packing the bike up for Eurostar return, £45 extra to book a slot. Your bag looks brilliant and saved extra luggage charges, does it pack up small?
Another Brexit benefit! Following Brexit Eurostar first suspended their bike service and then reinstated it, but only to the terminus and not intermediate stations as the bike is held in a separate part of the train and delivered at the end to you. There's not enough time at the Lille stop to organise the logistics around that. Plus the limit on luggage size smaller than a standard bike box was introduced due to the pressure on getting everyone through passport and custom checks which are now such that Eurostar has actually had to reduce the number of trains it schedules daily.... It's not just France that's a destination either limiting cycling holidays via Eurostar - I'd love to bring my bike from Brussels to ride with mates in the UK without the shenanigans of the Dunkirk-Dover ferry!
I don't understand why the problem, when we're supposed to be looking after the planet. They could make space but it's all down to money, like global warming
Are you still liking the gravel bike ? Can’t remember why you went for the gravel over the cgr at the time I’m looking to get either a gravel or cgr but can’t make up my mind cgr yes more road gravel more gravel just wished I could get the cgr with grx but they don’t do that anymore 😧 what are your thoughts please thank you .
I suppose the concern is over the aggregate oversized luggage, b/c they must allow _all_ passengers to bring their assorted crap in the vehicle's limited space.
You are always biking in Gran Canarias and France.. 😄😄 when are you coming to bike into the most beautiful Italian alps and fantastic lakes roads..? Without an Italian biking experience a biker life is incomplete 😉😘
I miss the 80s when I could just sling my bike in the parcel/guard's van on a train, no problem. No booking, no extra charge. Sometimes I'd ride with it in there too.
I’ve just bought one of these. It arrived today - so yes - you can still get them. Going to use it to fly my 56 Gravel bike to Italy next month. What a coincidence!!!
I've got a video of a baggage handler watching my bike (in a hard case) just smash off the end of a conveyor belt. I'm going to stick with a hard case.
@@KatieKookaburranah, they unload one totally fine and turn round for the second, don't pause the belt and just watch it smash off onto the tarmac. I've also seen in the SSE owner's group one where the carbon seat post was snapped in the frame inside one of the Scion hybrid box bags. 😬
This is amazing Katie! I’m going to to look into this! I’ve used a battered old canvas CRC bike bag which is massive and the airlines properly have your pants down charging for it!! I’ve used it a few times and the airport staff especially at Manchester are a nIgHTmArE!! They take 10times longer to put it through than the European airports at the other end!! So thank you!! And yes bikes on public transport generally is a joke!!
Not as dramatic as getting to France but I've just found out bikes won't be allowed on the train for the London to Brighton in June which has thrown a huge spanner in the works for us.
Traveling by train with a bike in the US can be equally difficult. I would have thought the UK/Europe would have this all dialed in as your rail system is lightyears ahead of us. I took my bike from San Francisco to Austin Texas in 2021. The route from SF to Los Angles to Texas was booked. So I had to go SF to the Midwest (near Chicago) and south to Austin. Only the route I was on didn't allow bikes. So my bike went the LA - Austin route and I went the other. Crazy. We both got there but I wasn't sure the whole 4-day train ride if I would get to Austin with a bike to actually ride.
Clever Katie, on my recent Blue Mountains Australia MTB video there are limited spaces for bikes, apparently there will be more when the trains are upgraded in the future 🤞
I used to do this a lot. In Japan everyone needs to disguise their bike as luggage because trains won´t take bikes but will take "luggage" . Montbell has great rinko bags that are very light and packable.
I know from doing a bikepacking trip to my sister in the middle of France and going back by T.G.V. you could take your bike as long if it was in a bag and max a certain size (quite big). So bought a cheap bone bag on Amazone and nobody even batted an eye.
So, you started two more careers, a mechanic and a smuggler. I think that when they say "bikes not allowed" they clearly mean "fully assembled bikes", for a reason of space, they may not prevent you to carry anything (legal) inside a luggage (more or less) within the limits
No they don't allow bike boxes...they used to but now just plain no. So much for trying to be environmentally responsible...eurostar have no such interest.
By the way Katie, is this an aluminium or carbon frame. Just wondering your thoughts as fellow passengers, ‘non-smugglers’ piled their baggage on top of your bike.
I have a Richey Break-Away, and its bag is within airline size rules (I've taken it all over the world, so i know it works!). No stress, it has backpck straps, and the bike weighs 7kg built up. EZ!
I very nearly bought one of these a year ago, back then they didn’t have any uk distribution, so you had to order it from the US which is a bit of a PITA. I ended up buying a ritchey breakaway second hand which fits in an even smaller bag ands ace bike too.
I went on the train with my bike in a bike box to Inverness a couple year`s. Booked it on the train prior to travelling, they only have space for two bikes!!! Needles to say the connecting train from Sterling to Inverness was full and they would let me on, had to wait 4 hrs for the last train which was also full but the conductor bent the rules and let me on. So much for wanting to encourage more people off the roads onto public transport.
that's very dangerous, they could easily confiscate your bike! luckly the train was not available that day! It is because a bike take up quite a bit of space when fully assembly!
Yes totally - but they also said no bike boxes either but I get it if there’s no space… but COME ON we need space. Let’s get sustainable travel a higher priority
Pleased you got there with your bike! I would say be careful with Easyjet trying to sneak a bike through, if you don't book it specifically as a bike and try to get away with just a normal 23kg bag for it... When they find out they will still charge you £45 per flight standard charge for the bike (on top of what you've already paid for the 23kg bag trying to smuggle it lol)
Well done, I live in Jersey (Channel Islands) and can only book 20 bikes on the boat to France it’s so frustrating. You should get yourself over here for a spin easy flights from Manchester or Liverpool!
@@KatieKookaburra not long climbs but loads of little short punchy ones like 10-20% but can be windy! If you like off road loads of little trails and cliff paths etc I work In a local bike shop so that’s handy esp if you don’t bring your bike.
got the very same bag, great bit of kit, easy to pack and lightweight, also helps when hiring a car the other end as you don't need a massive boot to get it in!
@@KatieKookaburra no just my alloy bike for holiday use, its well padded and whatever case/box you use for a bike you're at the mercy of the kind baggage handler and just how they feel on the day! id say lots of people have without issue though.
It is indeed a puzzle when you want to take your bicycle on the train. I am leaving on May 20 for Never (FR) where I will follow the Loire to Nantes (FR), Eurovelo 6. In this case I cannot disassemble my bicycle and put it in a suitcase for the train journey and can therefore e.g. do not travel with the TGV. Short description of my trip: 1. By bike from my home to Brussels South station 60km 2. Train from Brussels South (10:40) to Lille Flanders (FR) with 1 change in Kortrijk. €4 extra cost for bicycle (Hopefully there is room for my bicycle, not guaranteed) 3. TER train from Lille Flanders to Amiens. The bicycle "could" be placed on the train for free and not disassembled 4. TER train from Amiens to Paris Nord. 5. By bike from Paris Nord to Paris Gare Bercy (6 km) 6. Intercity from Paris Bercy to Nevers (19:56). Reserve a place for a bicycle that has not been dismantled. A train journey of approximately (if everything goes well) 9:15 plus about 3 hours by bike from home to Brussels South station.
🎵 I like the way your workin No Diggity You gotta bag it up ! 🎵 Any space in there Katie for half a wholemeal loaf & a couple of tins of Branston ?:) 🌞 🐐🐑🦙
I hear ya, I'm cycling to Sorrento this summer and have to figure out how I'm getting back to the ferry - most of the high speed trains restrict the size of a bike bag. I'm just gonna wing it as I have a "Transbag" that fits into a bottle holder
