This year has seen 300% growth in the number of passengers travelling
with bikes on Eurostar.

More: http://www.london.gov.uk/freewheel/eventdetails/traininfo/eurostar.jsp

On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:07:16 -0700, EE507 wrote:

> This year has seen 300% growth in the number of passengers travelling
> with bikes on Eurostar.
> 
> More: http://www.london.gov.uk/freewheel/eventdetails/traininfo/eurostar.jsp

£20 is a bit pricey but if that guarantees the space between the two
cities then it sounds like it's worth it, and if people are paying it then
they obviously think so too.

You could cycle to Dover, catch the ferry, then cycle onwards if you were
so inclined but if you didn't fancy all that extra riding trying to get
the train (with bike) sounds like it would be a lot of hassle.

peter

On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:07:16 -0700, EE507 wrote:

> This year has seen 300% growth in the number of passengers travelling
> with bikes on Eurostar.
> 
> More:
> http://www.london.gov.uk/freewheel/eventdetails/traininfo/eurostar.jsp

It's a nice idea, the last time I looked into taking a bike on the 
Eurostar I decided against, what with the hassle of folding (actually 
dismantling) half your bike to go on a Eurostar, buy a "bag" for it just 
for the Eurostar leg. Sending it as "freight" to arrive 2 days later 
after you always was a ridiculous alternative suggestion of theirs.

On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:21:21 -0500, naked_draughtsman
 wrote:

>£20 is a bit pricey but if that guarantees the space between the two
>cities then it sounds like it's worth it, and if people are paying it then
>they obviously think so too.

It is a certain improvement on the nonsense that went before.  How
does it work for security - do you check it in at a separate office>

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

Ar wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:07:16 -0700, EE507 wrote:
> 
>> This year has seen 300% growth in the number of passengers travelling
>> with bikes on Eurostar.
>>
>> More:
>> http://www.london.gov.uk/freewheel/eventdetails/traininfo/eurostar.jsp
> 
> It's a nice idea, the last time I looked into taking a bike on the 
> Eurostar I decided against, what with the hassle of folding (actually 
> dismantling) half your bike to go on a Eurostar, buy a "bag" for it just 
> for the Eurostar leg. Sending it as "freight" to arrive 2 days later 
> after you always was a ridiculous alternative suggestion of theirs.

The NEW scheme is supposed to remove those problems...

You take your bike to the 'parcels' desk, and as long as you've booked 
it on, and arrive in good time, they are supposed to put it is the 
parcels (small-3x4mx2?) bit of your train. You don't need to put it in a 
bag, although it my help to turn handlebars anr remove pedals.

Because we didn't think we had a watertight deal we didn't use this 
method to get to Freiburg , as this required a change in Paris and we 
didn't want bikes left behind!

We use our bikes as a means of travel carring all or luggage rather than 
'sport'. On the one occassion we used Ryanair, we cycled to Stanstead, 
and cycled from our destination in Denmark. At least on Eurostar you 
shouldn't have to let your tyres down!

I'd like to try taking bike by Eurostar
Has anybody any practical experience?

Jim Chisholm

On Sep 21, 9:21 am, naked_draughtsman 
wrote:
<snip>
> You could cycle to Dover, catch the ferry, then cycle onwards if you were
> so inclined but if you didn't fancy all that extra riding trying to get
> the train (with bike) sounds like it would be a lot of hassle.
>
> peter

You could also cycle to Folkestone and take the bike on the shuttle
(when the tunnel's open again) - I believe it's a requirement of
Eurotunnel's charter that they carry bikes.

On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:59:22 -0700, Rich wrote:

> (when the tunnel's open again) - I believe it's a requirement of
> Eurotunnel's charter that they carry bikes.

Motorbikes?

On 22 Sep, 10:59, Rich  wrote:

> On Sep 21, 9:21 am, naked_draughtsman 
> wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > You could cycle to Dover, catch the ferry, then cycle onwards if you were
> > so inclined but if you didn't fancy all that extra riding trying to get
> > the train (with bike) sounds like it would be a lot of hassle.
>
> > peter
>
> You could also cycle to Folkestone and take the bike on the shuttle
> (when the tunnel's open again) - I believe it's a requirement of
> Eurotunnel's charter that they carry bikes.
>

This is the Eurotunnel Cycle Service - more info here on the
Eurotunnel website:
<http://snipurl.com/EurotunnelCycleServ>

This 2005 thread from the Cyclist's Touring Club Forum does suggest it
was once under threat:
http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=596&sid=3fd67f46b9a528efea68f6dcb0a1554a

I'm not sure how that squares with the possibility they have a charter
commitment to carry cycles.

The above CTC thread speaks very highly of the Eurotunnel cycle
operation, in essence this would appear to be thanks to a very
friendly and flexible driver - have a read of it to see what I mean.

Note that the tunnel reopened the day after the fire using a single
line working (i.e. using one tunnel only), and the car and coach
shuttles are running  again but at hugely reduced frequencies. No idea
what this means for the aforementioned Cycle Service, though I suspect
it's a good idea to stay well clear until things are eventually back
to normal.

There's always the ferries too!

On Sep 22, 1:43 pm, Mizter T  wrote:
<snip>
> Note that the tunnel reopened the day after the fire using a single
> line working (i.e. using one tunnel only), and the car and coach
> shuttles are running  again but at hugely reduced frequencies. No idea
> what this means for the aforementioned Cycle Service, though I suspect
> it's a good idea to stay well clear until things are eventually back
> to normal.
>
> There's always the ferries too!

Well they're definitely not taking any new bookings, even for frequent
travellers (such as myself) who normally would cross between Calais
and Folkestone many times a week. Communication has been awful and
they keep changing their story (or different call centre operatives
contradict each other)...

The ferries have been doing very well out of me recently...

J. Chisholm wrote:
> 
> I'd like to try taking bike by Eurostar
> Has anybody any practical experience?
> 

I've just got back from a journey London - Grenoble return, with our 
bikes in fully assembled and unpacked condition.

For Eurostar you have to buy your train ticket then try to book the 
bike. In our case our chosen outward train was fully booked for bikes, 
so we had to take them to St Pancras the day before. The bloke there was 
very helpful and told us the bikes woulg go that afternoon. In the event 
(fire) our train didn't run, but we got an earlier one and easily made 
the connection. The bikes were quickly collected at Gare du Nord.

For the return, we were able to book our bikes on the same train - no 
good because that didn't run either. Again the bloke at Paris was 
helpful and said he'd put our bikes on the next train, which was more 
than we were able to do for ourselves. So again the bikes arrived first 
and were ready to collect.

It's a long walk at both stations to/from the baggage registration place 
carrying panniers!

On some TGVs you can now book your bike into the bike space. It then 
works much like in Britain. On the outward journey an ice hockey team 
got to the bike space first which made fitting the bikes in tricky. You 
can't book this on-line - only at agencies or by telephone. We used Rail 
Europe - very efficient.

The whole thing cost about the same as the European Bike Express 
(overnight coach), but you arrive the same day and not as tired.

Ross Kavanagh