Bikes on trains

[wobble]

Have just started to use my bike to commute to work and found this site really useful for tips/advice. I use the train to commute some of the distance and this usually involves getting a Virgin train which despite my initial reservations has been fairly straightforward. However, today a rather officious train manager informed me that in order to 'stow' my bike properly I have to hang it by the front wheel rather than secure it with both wheels on the ground as I normally do. I pointed out that my bike is too heavy for me to lifted above my head (5'3" feeble female with a rather heavy but much loved bike). He was having none of it and rather rudely informed me that if I could not stow my bike as he wished and in the manner required by Virgin trains then he would be within his rights under certain circumstances to throw it on the track! Has anyone else come across this rule for taking a bike on the train and if I must change to a lighter frame can anyone suggest a relatively cheap option?

[thirdcrank]

As one who has more or less given up on the railway system I cannot help with that but if you must lift a bike up to store it on an overhead hook, you may find it easier to raise the back wheel rather than the front. It is obviously no lighter that way round but you are not struggling to control the front forks with one hand while lifting with the other so all your effort from both arms can go into lifting.

I have half-a-dozen bikes, including a heavily laden roadster, all of which I store on hooks screwed into the garage ceiling. Back wheel first is easy (ish) front wheel first is impossible. (I am a 61 year old weakling) Mick Agar

[Mrs Tortoise]

I've just ordered a folding bike, to try and avoid this problem. How heavy it will be remains to be seen. I'll let you know.

I'm not sure I'd be very happy to hang my road bike up by its wheels at over £200 a set!

[nella]

Like Thirdcrank I hang my bike up by the backwheel first, then hold the bars and then hang the front wheel. As for doubts, I feel less damage is done from 22lbs hanging down from the wheels, than 12st. sitting on it over bumps and pot-holes and all the strains and stresses of hill climbing, honking, etc.

[gar]

Looks as though I can get my handcycle on the local BUS outside my back door posing as a wheel chair, but SWT has length limits which are difficult for me to achieve: 700mmx1200mm and mine is about 1400mm, so I shall have to pose as half wheelchair and half kinda bicycle.... and hope.

If you can make your bike look like a wheelchair the world of local buses may be open to you.
Don't make yourself look disabled though... it is not worth it!

[thirdcrank]

I am happy to report that none of my bikes (all with handbuilt wheels, ranging from Open Pro through MA 40s to Mavic 517(??) appears to have suffered from hanging upside down from plastic coated hooks. (I am so confident in the arrangement that I do not even wear a safety helmet to walk below them.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I have a very nice folder, a Birdy Elox, but if all the humbug about integrated transport meant anything, it ought to be possible to turn up for a train with a standard bike and be welcomed as part of the solution, not as a problem.

Finally, I was hoping that among the eclectic cycling membership of this forum there might be someone on personal terms with Richard B who might mention to him that he appears to be employing at least one bullying job's-worth. Oops - just checked and I see it is now all electric electric, not eclectic. Glasses steamed up again

[pilgrimjen]

are your (thirdcrank) plastic coated hooks stationary ? what about change of momentum, etc.?

for the first time, i encountered excessive rudeness last nov. from a member of staff employed by Virgin. it was unfounded, very hurtful & stunned those around me. so far no problems with bikes on trains, but always have to book in advance.

[thirdcrank]

I am not sure why you ask but my hooks are indeed stationary. They are the type widely sold in bike shops for the purpose and at half the price in supermarkets and hardware shops for all sorts of purposes. They are shaped a bit like an elongated qusstion mark (without the dot) and plastic coated. I have screwed them into the beams of the garage ceiling, in pairs roughly a bike wheelbase apart. The beams are just the right distance apart so long as the bikes are head to tail, otherwise the h. bars get tangled. For a number of years I had a heavy pre-war tandem (Saxon 'Wings of the wind') up there as well. Luckily, I do not have to deal with any ignorant bullies in my garage. Incidentally, having been pretty upset to discover that I had spent the first ten years of my life romping in asbestos, I had not realised that the ceiling lining was asbestos board - now distubed witha dozen bike hooks. Rambling on further and further away from bikes on trains........

[thirdcrank]

With my feet back on the ground, if you are suggesting that a single meat-hook on a fast moving train may not be the best parking place for a bike, I am sure you have a very good point. However, if the choice is between a reasonable hope of completing a journey or fighting hand-to-hand with a railway guard to stop a bike being thrown overboard onto the permanent way, I was merley offering the advice that it is easier to hang a bike up rear end first. Incidentally, it was with some reluctance that I decided several years ago the the various train operating companies had no interest in my custom so I shelled out for a Citroen Berlingo. (In MS Office I can even put a couple of dots over the 'e' in Citroen.) None of which is much help to wobble.

[wobble]

Thanks for the advice about hanging the back wheel first - I hadn't thought of that! I have to say that in the main most of the rail network staff have been helpful and by way of a complete contrast, this evening the guard welcomed me aboard and lifted my bike onto the train for me. I also noticed that he happened to stow in the manner not approved by Virgin trains. In the end though I have taken the plunge and opted for a hybrid with a much lighter frame, I suppose it was becoming clear that my old bike was not built to commute. Thanks.

[thirdcrank]

I see from the latest CTC mag page 8 that the Association of Train Operating Companies at www.cyclerail.com invites nominations for the ATOC 2006 Cycle-rail awards 'which celebrate good examples (of) cycle-rail integration - including cycle parking, information and helpful individuals. (My emphasis)

I tend to think that this is just intended to legitimate pushing cyclists into either buying a folder or leaving their bikes at the station but, I suggest wobble's nemesis for a mass nomination, if his name is known.

[Mrs Tortoise]

Tried my folding Falcon nimbus on the train today from Dorchester to B'mouth. It went between a double seat with a bit of effort, obviously while folded and with cover on (made by Dahon). It also went in the regular bike rack. It's not as comfortable to ride as a bigger wheeled bike, but it worked okay if you want to see one either look in the CTC shop, or go to www.falconcycles.co.uk and look for nimbus.

[Mrs Tortoise]

Tried my folding Falcon nimbus on the train today from Dorchester to B'mouth. It went between a double seat with a bit of effort, obviously while folded and with cover on (made by Dahon). It also went in the regular bike rack. It's not as comfortable to ride as a bigger wheeled bike, but it worked okay if you want to see one either look in the CTC shop, or go to www.falconcycles.co.uk and look for nimbus.