Bikes on Eurostar?

As cathartic as it is to call Eurostar jobsworth cunts, I believe the issue is that they generally used to ship your bike separately to you, which makes them liable for import/export paperwork and duties. I imagine that’s what they’re trying to negotiate with the authorities.

If you are travelling on/with your bike - like on the ferry, or the the euroshuttle - then it’s a) your problem and b) it’s assumed you’re travelling on it, not importing it for sale. That’s why you can still take a Brompton on the Eurostar.

Make Brexit Great Again!

Is it not possible to simply put it in one of these and take it on as metal laundry?

People have definitely done that. I've taken a 700c touring bike through appropriately rinko-ed (albeit in 2019).

The larger X-ray scanners are 85cm wide so as long as it's packaged to fit that and you can reasonably carry and lift it, you're not breaking any rules.

is it still possible to ride-on with the eurotunnel (the trains with cars), and then get another train from calais?

@danera did the rinko thing to get to ALPI4000 in Italy last year. It's a bit easier with fixed gear bikes I guess - not sure how you'd manage with all the hydro lines and stuff on modern bikes.

1 Attachment

Eurotunnel do have a cycle service, but it's once a day and you have to book 10 working days in advance and they take you across in a minibus. There's some details on this thread: https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=123181

Bikes on Eurostar looks to be resuming from 25th Jan on some London to Paris trains:
https://mobile.twitter.com/TrainManagerJo/status/1617496203087994881

Starting off small with balance bikes

1 Attachment

My penny farthing will never get onto the eurostar

Details on CyclingUK. Cost looks like it won't be too bad (between £25 and £55 depending on when you book and which service you go for).

has anyone actually contacted them since they announced this?

Yep, see reply I got:

Our bike and luggage service has resumed on selected trains between London and Paris. This will be a limited service at first. We will be servicing the London to Paris trains that run from 0755 until 1531, and from 1113 until 1813 Paris to London. Please be aware that this is subject to change, and you would be updated upon booking.

Currently only two boxed bikes can be accepted per. We will not be able to transport fully assembled bikes for the moment. Customers have to provide the boxes for their bikes.

You would need to drop your boxed bike off at our luggage area before heading to departures. When you arrive at your destination, your boxed bike will be handed back to you on the platform so make sure you only bring what you can carry safely. Trolleys will not be provided.

The current prices for boxed bikes are £60 for travel in the next 48 hours or if booked in advance of 48 hours before travel £45.

Has anyone ever shipped their bike to their destination? If you're having to box up etc it seems pretty equivalent.

Not since Brexit, but I got a bunch of bikes shipped from Cologne to London at the end of a cycle holiday and they all arrived fine. The problem now is that there will be import duties if you’re not accompanying your bike.

awful, pointless and expensive

i was just looking at return train tickets for Torino Nice route, they come up around £375. Just for comparison i looked at flights; £15 each way. What a fucking tragedy.

Anyone has travelled with a bike recently (On the Eurostar).
I'm planning on coming back from my next trip to London with a Bike but I don't understand the information provided on the website.
On one page it says that I can call a number and book some sort of service to carry the bike for me and retrieve it on arrival. On another page it says that they don't offer this service any more...
I'm confused

Yeah, I think I might wait until they start taking fully assembled bikes again. No use to me having to box it up.

The annoying thing is, they have entire compartments they can't physically fill because they don't have the time to process passengers (because Brexit, of course), so they may as well have at least one as a bike carriage.

On Sunday, I ran into a couple of cyclists while waiting for Eurostar back to London and asked them in detail whats required.

They said you need to email and book and its £40 each way. Goes on the same train and should be in a bag (not full sized bike bag as you would for a flight). If you book under 24h before departure its more expensive.

Great to know, thank you so much!

So, I’m in Paris, with my road bike having just used the new Eurostar bike service. Thought it may be helpful to share the experience..

Have to be honest it was pretty good, but I suspect it was largely because they’ve made capacity so limited that you get literally a personalised service.

I booked a space for my bike I my own box at specialservices@eurostar.com . It’s completely separate from the ticket process so you are in the mad situation of booking a bike space without having a ticket/risk buying a ticket without there being a bike space available. Important to note, they only carry bikes London to Paris trains that run from 0755 until 1531, and from 1113 until 1813 Paris to London. So there’s a fair amount of luck to it. Basically check tickets, email, get bike booked, then immediately book your ticket on the same train. Price was £45 each way, (2 months in advance).

On the day you need to go to the Eurodispatch counter with a printed out ‘consignment’ form that they send you on email, you use that to claim your bike at the other end. But otherwise, get there early, stick the box in the scanner and you’re away. The Eurodispatch staff were extremely nice, I don’t think they’re getting much use post Brexit - they even telephoned the passport (Brexit) queue to let me pass through in the business lane to ensure I got on in time.

In Paris you now collect your bike box from a big silver table located at the exit ticket barriers which is actually an improvement to walking down to the Eurodispatch office like you used to do. A guy drove my bike box to the table in a full size airport style cargo train, it was completely empty apart from my box which was hilarious. Basically it’s a mad personal service at the moment, be interesting to see how that changes.

1 Attachment

£45 each way?

Fucking crazy.

"Fucking crazy" is the whole 'gambling' booking system (that hasn't changed - useless fucks), the fact this main link to the continent is fucking shite when it should be a train with a fucking bike carriage and it should be fucking free because multimode transport of train+bike is the best and it's way fucking better than planes. But the shitarses are just after £££ so fuck these scum. Why don't you own a Range Rover anyway, you fucking poor person? Get a better job!

£78 per person and £90 for a bike? So, at limited times, £168 you're lucky?

It's bonkers

And implicitly approved of by 52% Brexit wankers. Why would we want to be able to get a train to Europe anyway. It's all great and dandy here. The fucking refugees like it here, why don't you? Also, fuck off you refugee cunts, why don't you like it in Rwanda?

Under the Brexit rules you also MUST travel on the same train as your bike, you can’t just stick it on the next train as you used to do.

Otherwise it’s commercial import rules, you have to literally ‘export’ your own property which Eurostar have opted to not offer.

On cost- they like to compare themselves to flying, airlines charge £60+ from personal experience so it sounds fine on the face of it. That said, it’s expensive, and they aren’t paying for jet fuel.

Pog land on the horizon.