Airnimal Joey on Trains

[Kernowboy]

I am considering investing in a folding bike to combine my love of cycle camping and train travel in the U.K. and Europe. I have researched the various threads on the use of folders for cycle touring and the Airnimal Joey would seem to be the most appropriate for my needs. However my concern is that the National Rail guidance limits the wheel size of folding cycles to 20", and the Joey has 24" wheels. From the posts on this forum it seem that people regularly use Airnimal's on train but I would be interested to hear of any experience of using a Joey on UK trains. I would be happy to put in a bag so I guessing it would take an eagle eyed train manager to spot it was a bike.

My other concern is Eurostar as one dimension of the bagged Joey would be approx 900 mm which exceed the 850 mm Eurostar luggage limit.

The Joey would be a considerable investment and if i can't use it on trains then I may have to consider a Brompton..

Any experience would be much appreciated.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Mrs F has an Airnimal Chameleon, which like the Joey has 24in wheels.

We've never had any problems with it on UK trains, but we do tend to travel on intercity and regional services out of peak times. I wouldn't risk it on a London commuter train in the rush hour. But that shouldn't be an issue for you if you want it for leisure purposes too.

We did get a fairly firm "no" on Swiss railways a couple of years back: the guard was adamant that (unbagged) it was a full-size bike, not a folder, and therefore a bike ticket was required. On the way back, we bought some heavy duty bin-bags, put the Chameleon in them, and stashed it between the seats (tight fit!) and they were happy.

[drossall]

I have a club-mate who takes Airnimals (he has two, but he doesn't take them both at once ) on our line into KX, in the rush hour. He has no problems. He only does it on days when he's planning to ride back part way or something; he has a Brompton for normal use. There again, I've seen someone with one of those larger Dahon fold-in-half MTBs with full-size wheels, and even someone who just takes the wheels off a road bike and stacks it in three pieces.

Given the number of Bromptons on our trains, you have to say that it's a good thing that not too many cyclists push the bounds of what can be considered "folding".

[TonyR]

There is only a couple of operators (FCC & FGW) who have the wheel size restriction. You can find who requires what for folding bikes at http://www.atob.org.uk/bike-rail/uk-bik ... trictions/

[Richard Fairhurst]

FCC don't exist any more, of course: it's now Govia Thameslink (aka Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern). We live in FGW territory and have never had any problems with the Airnimal, so I suspect theory and enforcement are different.

[TonyR]

FCC don't exist any more, of course: it's now Govia Thameslink (aka Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern).

There you go then - the perils of making commuting civil servants fold their Brommies at the barrier and carry them on their way to review your franchise renewal

[drossall]

I happened to ride into London from Finsbury Park with my club-mate today. He was on his Airnimal again. He says he has disassembled it and got it into the over-head luggage racks on a high-speed train - not sure whether he meant the old 125s or more probably the newer ones on the East Coast Main Line.

[Kernowboy]

Thanks for all the responses, it has give me the reassurance I needed

[horizon]

Any further experience or updating of this topic wold be appreciated, especially concerning FGW (now GWR). This covers of course I presume all 24" wheel folding bikes.

[horizon]

Just to update this, I used my 24" wheel Tern Node throughout the summer on numerous trains (I bought it just after the last post on this thread on the basis of what I read here). I never had any problems with it. It was bought specifically for the Great Western HSTs. Just as well, I was ALWAYS challenged and always waived on. The bike lives in the wheelchair space in carriage C, well tucked away along with push chairs and excess luggage. One guard complimented the bike. The bike has racks and quite wide tyres so it isn't small but it's what seems to keep them happy. And given that I'm very happy with the bike, that doesn't seem like a bad deal.

[Cunobelin]

There is an nepotist and unhealthy relationship bewteen SWT and Brompton since they started the Brompton Dock and hie schemes

Fistly the policy started stating that folded bikes needed to fit into luggage racks, favouringthe Brompton and excluding bigger bikes, and no wthey have started referring to "small folding bikes", again in favour of Bromptons

[AM7]

There is an nepotist and unhealthy relationship bewteen SWT and Brompton since they started the Brompton Dock and hie schemes

Fistly the policy started stating that folded bikes needed to fit into luggage racks, favouringthe Brompton and excluding bigger bikes, and no wthey have started referring to "small folding bikes", again in favour of Bromptons

For some reason, this made me think of a post that CJ made a few years ago.