Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Rides and Touring => Topic started by: Redlight on 14 February, 2020, 05:15:41 pm
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I'm going to be cycling down to Nice in the late summer and coming back by train. You can't take assembled bikes on the TGVs but several people have suggested taking a bag and partly disassembling the bike (removing the wheels, I guess), so I was having a look at this clear plastic bag from Wiggle.
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/ctc-cycling-uk-plastic-bike-bag/ (https://www.wiggle.co.uk/ctc-cycling-uk-plastic-bike-bag/)
The reviews are generally favourable. I'm amazed that people trust their bikes to baggage handlers with so little protection, but perhaps the lack of protection helps. I'd be interested to know if anyone has used these on French trains and whether they had any problems.
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The TGV jobsworths are very likely to reject a simple clear plastic bag. The SNCF site says that you need a "housse" - a.k.a. bike bag and has quite mean maximum measurements. Googling will find a few suppliers.
Something we have used is a sheet of the black "j cloth" membrane you have for stopping weeds in a garden used as wrapping - remove wheels and cable tie either side of the frame, wrap the package with duct tape. Just chuck it all away when you reach the destination. Watch the size - if the bike has mudguards or a rack you'll probably be outside the size limit.
The reasoning behind the CTC clear bag for air travel is that the baggage handlers can see what it is and look after it (or give it an extra bashing, depending on how they feel!)
Rob
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Like he says, the bike basically needs to be disassembled to within the stated dimensions and then covered. A friend and I used bike rain covers that we bought from the nearest Decathlon and tapped down to size.
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I bought a lightweight bag to travel to and from Germany by train last year. The bag had no padding, and would take the bike with wheels removed. It weighed less than 500g I think, and I strapped it to the lower part of the bike’s downtube during the riding.
Within the trains it wouldn’t fit fully in the luggage areas, but it didn’t extend enough to cause any issues.
I’m planning to use it again this year for trips to Switzerland and SW France. I’d say these types of bag are good when you are moving it around onto trains, but I’d be tempted to add some padding to key areas if others will handle it ... bagged up clothing might be suitable. Just be careful not to put too much in, as the bag with bike is hefty to lug around.
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I'm going to be cycling down to Nice in the late summer and coming back by train. You can't take assembled bikes on the TGVs but several people have suggested taking a bag and partly disassembling the bike (removing the wheels, I guess), so I was having a look at this clear plastic bag from Wiggle.
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/ctc-cycling-uk-plastic-bike-bag/ (https://www.wiggle.co.uk/ctc-cycling-uk-plastic-bike-bag/)
The reviews are generally favourable. I'm amazed that people trust their bikes to baggage handlers with so little protection, but perhaps the lack of protection helps. I'd be interested to know if anyone has used these on French trains and whether they had any problems.
Have you checked whether your TGV has bike spaces? Many of them do now - but you have to book.
https://www.sncf.com/en/passenger-offer/travel-for-everyone/bike-on-board
Map of bike-friendly TGV lines. (http://medias.sncf.com/sncfcom/pdf/velo/carte_lignes_tgv.pdf)
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Have you checked whether your TGV has bike spaces? Many of them do now - but you have to book.
https://www.sncf.com/en/passenger-offer/travel-for-everyone/bike-on-board
Map of bike-friendly TGV lines. (http://medias.sncf.com/sncfcom/pdf/velo/carte_lignes_tgv.pdf)
Ooh - that's interesting. I had looked on the SNCF site recently but the impression I had (backed up by reports elsewhere) was that the Nice-Lyon and Lyon-Paris services* would not take assembled bikes. I shall explore more.
*(I'll be stopping off to see a friend in Lyon for a few days on the way back)
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https://www.seat61.com/bike-by-train.htm#France is useful for bikes on French trains but recent rolling stock and operator changes are making it more difficult to transport assembled bikes in TGVs e.g. getting to Bordeaux seems to have 1 train a day that allows assembled bikes and Ouigo never allows assembled bikes. I couldn’t find any Paris-Lyon train that allowed assembled bikes.
I understand that the new double-deck stock doesn’t have any bike spaces. By the way, you have to travel 2nd class with an assembled bike where bikes are allowed on TGVs. No bike spaces in 1st class TGV ever.
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I couldn’t find any Paris-Lyon train that allowed assembled bikes.
I think there may be a combination of local snail services that I can put together which will take bikes but, if not, my back up plan is to leave the bike in Lyon, which will give me an excuse to go cycling around those parts and then back to the UK next summer :thumbsup:
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There’s a TER service from Paris to Lyon via Dijon that’s not *that* slow. It’s advertised as a through service but I had to change at Dijon. It has normal French train bike hooks in the vestibules.
(Or at least there was a couple of years ago)
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Yes, HK and I used that multi-train option to get to the start of a couple of Flèche Velocio near Dijon (thanks T42) a few years ago.