Bikes on trains in the UK

Has anyone tried taking a bike on the London Overground during rush hour? I'll be heading against the commuter traffic, so heading into town, if that matters.

Technically not allowed on overgound during rush hour no?

See a few people getting away with it tho, all depends on which line and when and how busy it is TBH.

Sorry not a particularly helpful reply.

Yep, officially you'll have to wait to 7pm. Depends if the station is staffed with staff willing to challenge you when you try to get on though...

Both very helpful replies, thanks.

Has anyone tried taking a bike on SouthEastern trains from St Pancras to Dover priory. At the time slot I booked the website said they had space but when I asked their customer service on the phone they said it could not be guaranteed and was subject to space, etc. Any experience would be gratefully recieved.

It’s fine, basically SE are pretty chilled about bike spaces off peak. You can’t book but they just let bikes on ‘within reason’, which means you’re probably fine unless there’s a huge charity cycling event happening on the same day as your trip.

I came back from Dover Priory on the SE high speed train and it was fine. Fortunately there were no wheelchair users on the service as they rightly would take priority in the spaces provided. There were two of us occupying the space and a couple got on at Folkestone with bikes, so it got a bit cramped. But overall, absolutely fine. No straps for securing the bikes, though. You just have to lean the bike into the space.

Fucking lol

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Yeah.

Take a loop of something. Old inner tube, stockings, pedal straps, whatever.

Trying to get the rim and tyre into the hook is jokes.

Although with those bars....

Cargo bike (Bullit) on a SWR from Waterloo on a Friday night, what do we reckon?

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Any barrier staff ask any questions?

Negative, nor the guard. Was a quiet service though.

One of the hiplok z-lok cable ties is always handy in this scenario!

Southwestern: If you are travelling on our London Waterloo to Salisbury/Exeter trains you will need to reserve a space for your bike

Anyone had experience with this being enforced?

^ Nobody said anything in Waterloo. It's a tiny train with only three carriages and two slots for bikes, but fortunately they were empty.

Penzance to Edinburgh? Anyone have first hand experience? Loaded touring rig.

Not myself, but it appears that you have to get a GWR to Plymouth and then a XC to Edinburgh. Dunno about GWR but XC have room for 3x bikes on a regular train, they are hung up by the fron t wheel. 2x bike areas, one holds one bike and the other holds 2.
May be a push with a full touring setup.

as always, check https://www.atob.org.uk/bike-rail/uk-bike-rail-restrictions/

This looks very out of date. I know the Eurostar hasn’t taken bikes for 2/3 Years? If they haven’t updated the page in that time I’d be worried about the rest of the info.

It still has Virgin as the West coast operator too. It's a fair bit out of date.

I love - love - that whoever designed these sat back, nodded smugly, and thought yeah, I can definitely get another one in there. And then rolled them out across hundreds of trains with zero testing.

I've yet to be on a ride where someone has been able to get one bike in as intended, let alone two.

Ach too much hassle I'll have to ride it. big sigh

I used London to Penzance service a month or so ago. Pre booked and no problems. Probably aided by the fact that I got on where the train originated in both cases. On the train down there were plenty of people with large luggage that were eyeing up bike slots for their luggage

Friend managed to get her bike on without prebooking but think she was helped by delayed service which meant that staff weren't checking bikes for reservations

maybe it is a bit out of date
do you have a link to a better one-page summary of train restrictions? thanks