Bikes on Eurostar?

Eurostar's email to me this morning, confirms most of the above

I have checked availability and there is currently availability for 7 bikes on the 16.13, 2 bikes on the 17.13, 6 bikes on the 19.13, 8 bikes on the 20.13 and 8 bikes on the 21.13. Please note that we require the bikes at least 90 minutes prior to departure and the cost is £30 per bike per journey. Once you have booked your tickets please call us on 0344 822 5 822 so that we can book this for you. Please note that I cannot guarantee when or if these spaces will be taken. I am afraid I am unable advise on ticket prices.

The alternative option is to arrive at the station without having pre booked. Your bikes will travel on the first available train to London. This can take a maximum of 24 hours and we can hold them for up to 14 days for you. Ideally you would drop off the day before or be willing to collect the following day. The cost for this is 29 Euros. If you would like to do this you do not need to do anything now simply bring your bike (bare of all accessories) and your ticket to Geoparts in the Gare du Nord.

I'm travelling tomorrow on the first service to Paris (how romantic) so I took my bike to eurodespatch today - sleeping bag attached to handlebars and roll mat on pannier rack; I'm bringing the pannier bag in the morning. Smooth so far

Much easier to get a bike on the Eurostar then First Great Western.....

was hoping to organise a weekend jaunt with bikes to paris, and this all seems very difficult indeed.
With the process being split and only limited bike space, it puts the kibosh on rolling up, breaking bike down (taking off wheels, pushing down seatpost, turning round handlebars), putting into soft bag and then taking overnight bag onto train and rebuilding the other end.

Which is what I was hoping to do.

If you're chasing cheap tickets, it means you'll never be sure that your bike will be with you when you get off the other end...

Frustrated..

If you live/work in London it's not difficult.
Just book your ticket as you would if you weren't taking a bike. When you've booked it, just take your bike to the baggage drop-off counter the day before your train journey. Show them your ticket, pay £25, get a receipt, go home by public transport. They'll put it on the next train with space. You get your train the next day, walk round to the baggage counter at Gare du Nord, show them your receipt, cycle your bike away.
Unless you arrive at Gare du Nord baggage and they've all buggered off for lunch. Then you'll have to wait til they get back.
The more trains between when you take the bike and your train, the more chance it'll already be there when you get there.
For coming back from Paris you can either do the same, or drop your bike off just before boarding your train, public transport your way home from London, and collect your bike from there another day.

Doesn't sound 'difficult'. But it does sound 'shit'.

sounds like a plan, thanks for that, but as I mentioned the thought for the weekend away was to ride up to station shove bike on board, ride bike from destination station to apartment.
Yours is a bit of a workaround, and the best way probably, but it still feels like a lot of work for something that should be so much simpler, and seeing as there feels like there's more cycling provision on the continent it would behoove them to make it easier to take bikes along.

Bikes on trains in France isn't always great. I'm hoping to post an overview of routes for bikes on here eventually but haven't finished it yet.
London to Paris/Lille/Brussels on Eurostar you can take them unbagged.
From Paris to Lyon TGV you can't, got to be bagged up. It's the busy intercity commuter line, so bagged up only. Same with Paris to Brussels. Which also means anywhere further on down south you can't either, ie. TGV Paris to Lyon, Grenoble, Avignon, Montpellier, Marseille, Nice, etc.
From Lyon and further south you can take them unbagged on slow trains (TER, not TGV) between towns, but it's like in the UK, you just get on and stay with your bike.
West from Paris you can book bikes unbagged on TGV to Brittany, and southwest from Paris to Bordeaux, and I've been on as far as Lourdes with it. They have to be pre-booked though, and it is actually a bit of a pain as it's not a bike/luggage carriage, you just get to put your bike in the end carriage where there are a few flip down seats. If it's a busy time this makes you unpopular with non-reserved seat ticket holders who wanted to sit in those seats. Haven't checked east from Paris yet...
Basically, TGV network in general is not great for unbagged bikes, but the non-TGV trains are ok. Paris to Lille, for example, nice and easy, with dedicated bike rack in the luggage carriage.

Bikes on trains in France isn't always great.

Nor is it in Belgium.

Belgium is great as you're bike needs a train ticket. What more do you want?

Slowest train ever to cut all the nonsense from LBL.

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Yeah Belgium is OK, I guess. You can't get the Thalys. Never had a problem on a normal train, although there's nowhere set aside to store your bike.

Let me get this right: when I used to be able to take the bike box on the train to Bruxelles myself I meanwhile have the to pay somebody else £25 for the privilege?

Bikes on trains has got an awful lot more complicated in recent years. I did a tour of Provence from Paris in 1999 coming back on TGV. All we had to do was get a bike box from a local shop, roll the whole lot down to the station and hoopla, they'd put it on and we'd arrive with the bikes same time other side. No fee.

@umop3pisdn who did you email at eurostar to find out the number of bike spaces available?

Are 'bagged' bikes allowed in the bike hold?
Ive got a connection on a TVG where it needs to be bagged and id rather only do it the once.

eurodespatch@eurostar.com

Was very easy taking our bikes, would do it again. Staff were very helpful.

Thanks

I emailed them and they told me the train was full.. seems strange for a tuesday afternoon outside of the tour de france.

I rang them up and a space magically was found.
Anyone know where in Lille Europe I need to take my bike on the return leg?

Successfully back from my trip here are my latest tips on Eurostar to TGV travel.
Heres what I learned:

To take a bike from St Pancras you need to use Eurodispatch to get your bike on the train.

Its £25 on the day if their is room or £30 to book in advance.
They limit space to only a few bikes and are not open to telling you how full they are prior to travel.

Basically you need to book in advance.
http://www.eurostar.com/us-en/travel-information/travel-planning/luggage/travelling-with-your-bike-eurostar

But if its in a bag then its £25 (just don't tell them its a bike)
Once you book they will send you a PDF receipt, print this and take it with you.
You take it to a depot window behind baggage services in the station.
You put it on a conveyor belt and hope its treated well.

Getting off the other end you can collect your bag on the platform from the porters taking it out of carriage 10 if you show them your receipt, otherwise you need to go and find the euro dispatch office in that station and hope its open.

Coming back I did not have time to find the eurodispatch office in Lille Europe (probably would have been closed anyway) I walked straight through ticket control with the bag and then security xrayed the whole bag with no problems.

The baggage room in carriage 10 was locked, but I got on anyway and a friendly train clerk unlocked and allowed me to put my bike in it. Getting off in London you are not allowed to collect baggage on the platform and need to go back around to eurodispatch. I didn't have my receipt and wanted me to pay double for basically loading my own bike on the train but in the end relented.

TGV is a different experience altogether, just make sure your on the right end of the train because they often spilt and SNFC employees can't be relied on. I had to move half way meaning all the best luggage spots where already taken.

The best place for bikes on a TVG are the bigger racks in the upper 1st class deck, if its a single decker then leave your bike in the dining cart, guards don't seem to mind and noone uses it.

Think im going to fly next time.. it was all just too much hassle and probably cost me double.

This looks a bit shit:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/14/anger-at-eurostar-plan-to-make-cyclists-dismantle-their-bikes

Eurostar has claimed the change is needed to accommodate other
passengers who are travelling with more luggage.

Yes. Of course that's why...

bikes will now need to be carried in a bike box, which we are happy to provide.

Hmm. I'll believe that when I see it.

Taken a bike on Eurostar twice, first time we blagged it by stretching their rule of "bikes must be in a bag" by putting them in bin bags, which they weren't too happy with. This year we did the £30 drop off the day before thing, which worked really well. Would be a shame if they spoilt it.

Jesus. Terrible.

Agreed, it's really bad, it changes the whole context of taking your bike on the train. Boxes, tools, time, oily chains, and just the whole faff of it, this will put a lot of people off completely. Which is probably what they want.

I should open a bike rental shop at Gare du Nord...

Box rental and packing service. Sister shop in St Pancras.

Good idea. Expand to chain of bike boxing kiosks at all major stations in Europe.

I, for one, welcome this brave move by Eurostar.

They say it's to free up space. But that's rubbish, I've seen the space bikes take up and it's tiny. Stacking boxes together will take up the same amount of space.

Business cunts.