Bike on the tube

I'm picking up a bike from Harlow or Epping- then coming back to Victoria then back to Brighton..

I have looked at the transport for London page, can anyone give me confidence that I wont get given any hassle travelling on the tube between epping and victoria with a bike? (off peak)

Any advice?

Ride it?

The bike I meant :)

Put it in a bin bag

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread10078.html

you'll be fine if you take central from epping apart from between leyton and mile end but highly unlikely you will have a problem

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Hahaha I could ride it but i need to be back to work the next day at 7am!

Im thinking would I be better off with a bike bag?

UTFS and JFGI
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread20435.html
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread21634.html

look for the mainline link, not tube.

Ride to Victoria and then take the train you fool.

Epping is at the end of the Central line, and tfl states bikes are only allowed leyton-epping.

look at the attached map, looks like you should officially get off at Leyton and walk to Stratford / West Ham.

If it is quiet on the trains then I would just go on to West Ham and change to the District line there. There may be escelators / lots of stairs involved.

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• bicycle-tube-map.pdf

there's a mainline train that go from Harlow to Liverpool street, jog down to Farrington to take the train to Brighton.

you're a clever lads, you can sort out the rest.

err... what they said.

from expirience it all depends on the staff at the gate. I take my bike on the train almost every day, but i'm the end of the met line. Some will let you go through no questions asked, but the majority won't let you. Not a massive help, sorry.

When I tried to search on national rail ( dot com) for mainline services, it kept putting me through the tube!

Thanks for your help everyone!

I always like to have a plan A B C D E F.... Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tocs_maps/maps/

yeah that map is pretty helpful, I think Im just going to play ignorant foreigner and try to blast it on the tube... might be a bit of hot escalator action

If you can get it on at the start at Epping (which you should be able to by the sound of it) I'd say go for it, they can't stop you getting off, can they?

I think the tube dudes and dudettes can be quite militant, my fear is getting chucked off in some unknown (to me) part of London having to ride back most of the way and missing the last train. When I talked to the seller he said I can defiantly take the bike on at Epping

my fear is getting chucked off in some unknown (to me) part of London having to ride back most of the way and missing the last train.

My greatest fear is being buried alive.

if you get on that train at epping, be sly about it, there are ways, sometimes the driver will say it over the speakers and you're done, but usually they don't give a fuck, no one is gonna be coming along the tube and then kick you out, the only issue is the driver mentioning it, i would take the wheels off and put the frame ina bag or sorts that way no one can kick you off, u have a bag and a set of wheels!!!

even still just do that and hop on the train at epping... job done

Ok not my greatest fear.. my greatest fear is drowning while on fire in a freak oil rig welding accident , im going to take tools and a bin bag or 3 if they kick off im just going to bag it!

i've been told you can't take them into deep access stations. tried to get it on at waterloo with a puncture and was told to take it to embankment and could only use the district line.

also got told in stockwell that it can be taken on if i took off the front wheel and it was present as a 'gift' the guard asked me if i had a black bin liner i could wrap it in, and some paper to write an address on it with so it'd appear i was delivering it.

mental

Epping to Central London is quite a pleasant ride, about 20 miles. It is also downhill, which is nice.

Epping to Harlow (where you can get a mainline train into London) is about 3 miles. This will be much quicker than getting the tube, since it stops so often. In fact it is possible to cycle from central London to Epping faster than the tube.

If you get the train from Harlow to Liverpool St then you get the Circle and District lines to Victoria (if for some reason you don't like cycling), on both of which bicycles are allowed.

As previously mentioned, you could also go to Farringdon and get the First Capital Connect service to Brighton.

Another good idea, I do love riding don't get me wrong! my first excuse is i would have already done my commute de jour and its already going to be a pretty long day secondly my sense of direction is a bit rubbish and riding on a new bike through London i think i'd end up lost forever.. well a while... I always think of london to brighton via victoria - looking at it now farringdon looks more sensible