London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

Anyone got any experience of this

seems there are two options

a:) take your bike apart and put it in a bag to take on as hand bagage - Hassle

b:) Reserve a place for your bike in the lugage train - £20 eachway! not joking!

both options look about as much fun as a poke in the eye

put it in a big laundry bag, wheels off, job done, no hassle at all. Paying to take bikes it's pointless. We had 3 bikes on one luggage rack, no probs.

Big giant washing bags, £3 at the pound(?)store on chapel market, or another cheap retailer near you.

12 of us went to Lille in January, each with a bike in a small bike bag. One guy used an old duvet cover. No problems at all. You've only go to take the wheels out, where is the hassle in that?

they say you have to take off the handlebars? are they serious - why?

Yeah, it's not a huge deal. I only take the front wheel and the pedals off.

You forgot:
c:) htfu and deal

You either pay for the convenience or do a trifling bit of work with a wrench.

It's not a hassle. Just bag the bike and carry it on. No-one ever checks to see if you've dismantled it correctly. They just x-ray it.

Get a condor bag for 40 quid. The are the smallest bike bags and perfect for trips where you'll be watching your bike.

i use a soft bike bag. option b is pointless.

tips:
put the bike in the bag and everything else in backpack, keep it light.
ask which carriage has the oversize luggae compartment, save you fighting for rack space if train is busy

Just turn up an hour early, go round the back, pay £20 and they put it in the 'bike carriage' all ready to go when you get off at the other end, no fuckin about with rebuilding

Just don't go, stay in London. Too much blooming hassle all this messing around removing a wheel and pedals.

When I get a puncture I buy a new bike. I hate getting brake residue and chain oil on my delicate hands.

That's £20 that could be spent at an off-license in Lille though. And another £20 that could be spent, again in an off-license in Lille, on the way back. Priorities.

Actually, it's the cost of that bike bag from Condor. Investment over convenience would be my decision there.

Definitely bike bag is the way to go, no hassle

clintsmoker and i coughed up the twenty quid. we know how to take bikes apart and put them together but paid for the convenience.

it's not really a big decision is it.

St Pancras 16:45 Tuesday the 9th of June:

ma3k - i am loving your current work dude

Every weekend hundereds of nodders cycle from London to Paris on shopping bikes for charity. If they can do it, so can you. HTFU and pedal there and save a few quid.

damn, I was actually hyped to be able to pay £20 on the eurostar to take a bike back from my trip to Paris. I guess it's easier if you are only doing it one way...

Right.. that's at least 3 attempts to book on tgv-europe that failed with a technical error and another 3 on the eurostar website.

Tomorrow some poor phone answering muppet is gonna get a tired angry me complaining at them about shit they can do nothing about and don't care about anyway.

Eurostar you are fail!

hippy, might be worth cruising by the rail europe office near lower regent street. quick and easy. the interwebz is a faff some times - go old school, face to face.

I went almost as old school.. I used a phone.

The woman was very helpful. I think the dealio was that the day I wanted was booked solid and rather than telling me this, the various websites just bombed out with some dumb error. Duh! Check availability BEFORE taking my card details you 'tards!

Anyway, I've sorted the train and accom. in Toulouse for the two nights I'm there. Need to do a bit of bike work and some packing and grab a bag off rjs but should be okay to go from there..

taking a bike on eurostar was no problem at all, all you need to do is take both wheels out and put it all in a sleepingbag or something, i made some bags from some sail fabric, worked very well

@ fruit, do you have pics of the sail / wheel bags? I'd like to see.

i paid 25 pounds; i took my bike as it is, no bags, nothing. it arrived on a different train because of reservations but just like it was.

no you paid £50 - you pay both ways.

Lets not pretend its a good deal.

yes i havehttp://www.londonfgss.com/attachment...1&d=1247964875

Interesting solution.

Am taking my bike on the Eurostar next month, shopped about and thought this might be the best option for carrying it: http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productD...roductID=21308

Although the DIY bag job above is very intriguing, although probably easier if there is two of you.

Will be on my tod.

Will also be documenting my rides / other people's bikes with my Holga camera, will post them once developed!

the cinelli bag looks good, but i dont think it will fold up and fit easy in a backpack after you take your bike out and you still have to bike to your destination, its very hard to do that with the big cineli bag, also i paid 2,89 euro per bag :)

Eurostar was fine with rjs's bag up on the top rack. The tgv's are shit tho with no place to fit the bike bag without up-ending it and having half of france load their shit on top of it. The little beaureau area thing is a bit better if youv are early enough to get it.

hey chunks, you back in the country?

Not yet. Just left bourdeax or however you spell it

Not out tonight. Don't get in until later anyway.

Bordeaux.

Lovely place!

Friends and I are using the Eurostar in August to get to and from Brussels with bikes. I was planning to take off the wheels (both on QR skewers), stick a bungee round it and put a bin bag over it to stop oil getting everywhere.

A big laundry bag seems like a sound Idea but, I don't fancy riding through europe with it as luggage.

if it fits in a sleepingbag it will be fine too

wot... my bike?

:/

as so simple as a giant laundry bag...thx for the tip

I'm going to use one of these. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Isn't that a bit large?

i just caught the train to Marseille and back, with my bike in one of these: http://www.parker-international.co.u...-Bike-Bag.html

just took the pedals and wheels off, and rotated the handlebars so I could turn them side-on, dropped the saddle down a bit.

getting it on the eurostar outbound was a bit of a pain, they had to put it in a little side room bit, but the return trip was easier (slightly different carriage configuration with more luggage space). had no trouble on the TGV either, there was plenty of room for it.

the real pain in the arse was having to carry a hiking pack with tent, clothes, sleeping bag etc and the bike bag on a connecting Paris RER train from Gare de Nord to Gare de Lyon (where the train to Marseille departs). I had about 20 minutes to do so and was basically running through the stations and up and down stairs/escalators carrying all this heavy and bulky stuff, which wasn't much fun, but I HTFUed. if not for this little connection hassle it would've been absolutely fine.

just a thought- ferry?

ferry is a bit slow, innit. also not as easy to get to as King's Cross.

'suppose- I am in Cornwall anyway so its all boats round here

@badtmy - next time change at Lille. You go up an escalator, wait a few minutes, then down another escalator. It really does cut out the hassle of dashing across Paris.

There's regular trains from Lille to Marseille, using the TGV Mediteranée line (spelt wrong I'm sure).

Paris Metro sucks when you're carrying a shitload of bike and related kit.. a bike bag with wheels is definitely recommended.. and they had no luggage gates and no one watching them to open the locked gate. My bike with pedals still on only just fit. Don't get your courier bag stick in the auto closing gates - take it off and carry it in front of you! Also, getting on at Paris and heading to Toulouse on TGV, people will put their crap on top of your bike if it's in the racks. Basically carrying a bike around sounds but riding it around makes up for the hassle. Eurostar top rack = fine.

@ tommy (a while ago) i paid 25, i rode to paris and came back on the train smart ass.

Taking my bike on the eurostar and tgv down to lille then onto montbard next weekend. Then a brisk 30miles to the lovely village of missary over hill and dale. At night :)
Tickets sorted with bike going whole, sod saving 20 to have to take it apart and bag it up. That and a royal mail bag should do me proud i reckon. Apparently the change at lille only involves crossing from one side of the platform to the other so no escalator madness hopefully.
Will hopefully be a fairly hassle-free undertaking despite my lack of french, will report back on the off chance anyone cares ;)

I was planning to take both wheels off and throw a bungee round it.

But... I lied. And I'm now borrowing one of these instead.



:0

You booked your bike on the 2nd leg also?