Bikes on Eurostar?

You can go to the South of France through Lille, but all return journeys are through Paris, customs and immigration you see!
Getting the metro is a pain in the ass, as is trying to get a taxi at Gare du Lyon, it took a huge bribe to getme, my bike bag, and a back pack into a taxi.
Also worth noting is that if your train is late into gare du lyon, and you think you will miss your connection(this has happened to me 3 times, a non stop train from Marseille to Paris!) you can get a stamp on your ticket, which i think helps you with eurostar, ie if you miss your train they don't charge you for a new ticket.

You can go to the South of France through Lille, but all return journeys are through Paris, customs and immigration you see!

Not! There's customs and immigration at Lille. Which is why you have to go up and down and around, instead of just walking across the platform...

Plans have changed, after a couple of calls and a bit of confusion at the tdv office i'm bagging the bike instead. In a way it makes sense i guess - cost the same as booking it on whole and i'll still have a bike bag at the end of the day.
Off to evans (spits) to grab one. Riding to the station with it + luggage will be a bitch mind you...

Hello boys!

Am now in Paris and have just done the most amazing 4 hour ride around the city! As a bag I used the Cinelli unpadded bike bag from Evans, its not too bad actually perhpas a bit dear at 30 quid but you can get you bike pretty compact with all the tightening clips and it offers a tidy amount of protection. The shoulder strap is pretty good, could be a bit wider though.

Getting it on and off the eurostar was painstakingly easy, lugged it around the metro system as well. I would however reccomend getting old t shirts to wrap around your drop outs and chain set, bit of masking tape to keep them in place and jobs a good un.

It seems like Paris was made for riding fixed without brakes, the roads are excellent and very wide. One of the most satisfying rides to date.

Return on the eurostar cost me 59 pounds.

No excuses.

Get involved.

Great stuff, Charlie. I'm glad to hear bike carriage was so easy on the Eurostar. I've just returned by Eurostar myself and was pleased to see quite a few bikes being wheeled outside along the other passengers (people not using your bike bag method).

A mate and I traveled back back from Brussels last night. I used a chain/crank/cog covering bag, and the wheels off (bungeed to the frame). He did similar.

We did this both ways and got quite a lot of grief at the ticket pass point and customs. I had studied the ticket and the info on the website and I was under the impression that if you can carry it your basically ok. Staff on both sides let us through but a crazy french lady made my mate put a bin-bag 'over' his bike so it was technically in a bag. Pretty pointless and annoying. As soon as we got to the train there was plenty of room for bikes.

Because we were riding from Brussels I didn't want to carry a large bike bag (it would have doubled my luggage). But I'd recommend a proper bike bag unless your paying the 25 euro to wheel it on.

The regs say that the bike has to be bagged. If you are using Eurostar a lot, you might want to get the Carradice bike bag, which folds quite small, and is regulation TGV/Eurostar size.

http://www.carradice.co.uk/shoulderbags/pro-bike-case-inc-wheel-cover.shtml

Thanks Bill, I'll be using a bag for the next trip so your recommendation is appreciated.

I used a big 25 litre Carradice saddlebag for this trip and it was great. Their stuff seems really tough.

I'm currently sat in the departure bit of St pancras, with my bike in a home-made bag. Getting through security was a doddle, I just had to use the wide x-ray machine (last one on the right). There's plenty of space on the carriages, I'm just going to have to careful I don't stow it where some idiot can dump their suitcase on top.

Tip of the day - get a small block of polystyrene from some old packaging and wedge the teeth of your lovely chainring into it to keep it looking lovely after resting it on the floor / dropping it twice. Ditto fork ends. Bonus tramp points : collect said piece of polystyrene (or cardboard) from a bin at the station, saves you carrying it.

I'll update with photos and the return journey in a week - I'm too tight to pay the £3/MB that the bastards at O2 want for data roaming.

^skiver's guide^

:D

Just back from Ventoux. Bagged my bike with one of the £40 Cinelli ones from Evans. No probs at all on Eurostar or TGV, bag folds up nicely and rode 40km from Avignon to Bedoin with it attached to my rucksack with no problems. Two people I went with booked their bikes onto Eurostar unbagged at €20 each way, then when getting on the TGV at Lille encountered problems with the conductor who wasn't letting them on. After discussions with him, he stuck it in the luggage coach for €20. Though they are now trying to buy bike bags in France......

good work cycling from avignon to bedoin
looked a little hairy to me, did you find a good route how long did it take you?

bikes on the eurostar are a breeze probably don't even need a bag, just find the lugage van.

On the TGV theres nothing official, if your lucky you can fit them in the suitcase rack and hope no idiot plonks his 50kg samsonite ontop of it. Otherwise you just put it where ever you find space.

Bagging is the best safest option you need to do it anyway to get around the station, and it works out cheaper in the end and you get a bag.

On the way to Bedoin took the D901 to L'Isle sur la Sorgue, then due North to Carpentras via the D938, all very nice and took a long time as we had a couple of cafe stops. Did the return journey on my own via the D942 from Carpentras, took about 80-90 minutes, averaged about 20 mph as I was fucking terrified, the D942 is a 2 lane motorway with a 110kmh spped limit.

i came back on the eurostar from paris with you bike yesterday. I boxed it in one of the bike boxes that shops get thier bikes in and it was fine. You can fit box this size in some of the luggage compartments or you can just keep it inbetween carriages and sit with it there. If you dont want to box it you can pay 20 euros in advance and hang it in a special area

just saw this on a linked page

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/CTC_Plastic_Bike_Bag/5360041697/

...post 39.

I didn't use it in the end.

Eurostaring to Paris on Friday evening, coming back on Monday and really want my bike with me. The bike bag I have is a semi-hard sided affair with little wheels - it doesn't fold up at all.

Does anyone have experience of using this kind of bag? It sounds like getting it from home to work and then to St Pancras will be an arse-ache. In addition I will have to either get it from Gare du Nord to the hotel or pay to leave it in the station.

Any advice appreciated.

borrow a different bike bag?

I can loan you one for the weekend

I've used the same bag to Paris several times.

It's a hassle on London's tube and the Paris Metro.

But on the Eurostar train your bike is stored out of site so you'll need something safe and sturdy.

But on the Eurostar train your bike is stored out of site so you'll need something safe and sturdy.

Not if you just take it on a normal luggage

Not if you just take it on a normal luggage

Yeah, that's what i was thinking. Because of the time of my train, I can't use the despatch office method, It will have to come in the carriage with me.

dt, I may be interested in your offer. Cheers. Will PM you.

Last year I used one of the unpadded Cinelli bags, the bike then fits nicely on the luggage racks at the end of each Eurostar carriage, and the bag folds up to something approximating the size of a light sleeping bag. Sorted.

Definitely suggest a folding bag rather than a hard case...was in Paris last w/end and managed to ride to and from station. Large case like the above pictured would have problems fitting in the luggage area. Unfortunately the bag I used was not mine so can't really offer at this stage.

Paris was lovely - you'll have a treat...

How long is that bag? It should just slide onto the top rack of the carriage you're in. That's what I did. Tube wasn't too bad but the Paris Metro stations are fucked for getting bikes through.. I'd left the pedals on thinking it would help protect the frame but it only JUST fit through the Metro cages and then their automatica doors tried to kill my bag..

Does anyone have any experience with storage at Gare de Nord. I was thinking of a day trip using a padded bag, If there was somewhere to store said bag in Paris it would be pretty sweet