Eurostar and SNCF - packing bikes

[SecretSam]

So I'm off on a continental adventure for a few days this year, travelling by train (Eurostar then TGV).

Both companies want you to 'pack' your bike, but in your experience, what does that mean? Full hard case bike bag, or just a soft shoulder bag with wheels off? I'll need to move the bike around so any advice is very, very welcome!

[simonhill]

First I'd read their rules on size. Probably buried in the T&Cs somewhere.

[Andrew-l]

I'm doing this this summer.

For SNCF, I use a plastic CTC bag, cut down slightly to save weight. Need to be able to get your bike down to 120x90, and on my road bike all that mean was removing the front wheel and I was close enough. Was never challenged or inspected.

I'll be packing it to those specs before getting the Eurostar to Paris, and they have confirmed that that should be fine as long as the bag can be secured closed, so I'll have a couple of old toestraps for that purpose.

Worth checking with them as they are rather imprecise!

Edit to add - I'll be carrying it around awkwardly, possibly might look at a shoulder strap, but I've only really got to get it from Eurostar to the Metro, to the final train.

[ANTONISH]

I've done this a few times - but with a touring bike - to get to the required dimensions I've had to remove both wheels and the handlebars.
It's a bit of a faff but it's just an hour or two either end and that hasn't been too much of a problem when touring.
That meant I could use a tgv which in itself is a time saver - the only problem is that a bike seems twice as heavy in a bag.
I notice in France there seems to be more bike space available occasionally on tgv - bookable of course.

A few years back I bought a cheap padded bag - Rockwell- small but does the job - it just travels on my bike as part of the luggage.

I think if you are just packing a road bike you shouldn't have too much problem.

I prefer to book with SNCF - I've had problems booking bike space with Trainline.

I'm not keen on Eurostar - for one thing living in Kent I have to trek to St Pancras in London only to do the reverse on the Eurostar - and I'm never too sure on their bike/luggage policy. I usually get the ferry at Dover and ter - (bike spaces usually no hassle) to Lille.
From there I can get tgv (bike in bag) to most major cities and avoid changing stations in Paris.

[SecretSam]

So if I'm reading this right, if you put it in a bag that's sufficiently small, you can treat it like regular luggage? Isn't there a risk of it getting whacked in transit?

If it does get put away separately by Eurostar, would it be safe?

[SecretSam]

Reading the Eurostar guidance, the bike needs to be folded to <85cm small to be hand luggage, so it's got to be a bike box or similar. Bl00dy annoying.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Eurostar don’t measure it IME. If you can get somewhere vaguely near 85cm and it fits through the large luggage scanner, you should be fine. I put mine in a soft shoulder bag (admittedly it’s a folding bike, but not a small one).

[MrsHJ]

TGVs don’t require your bike to be packed IF you book and pay 10 euros for a place for it (not all trains have a bike space and when they do they are limited). If you look in the SNCF app you can search for trains with the spaces and book the bike space on the app I find this more convenient than lugging a packed bike around. Annoyingly Eurostar only permit this approach on some trains on their Brussels route and you have to email them for the bike space and I guess you’re going to Paris.

[ANTONISH]

TGVs don’t require your bike to be packed IF you book and pay 10 euros for a place for it (not all trains have a bike space and when they do they are limited). I find this more convenient than lugging a packed bike around. Annoyingly Eurostar only permit this approach on some trains in their Brussels route and I guess you’re going to Paris.

And IF you can manage to book a space IF available - as you say not all tgv have bike spaces.
I would of course prefer to take an assembled bike on a tgv but spaces can go very quickly.
I suspect that there is some advance - just in case - block booking going on.
Two years ago in Brittany while waiting for a train in St Malo I noticed that an earlier train which I'd tried to book and had "no spaces available" was sitting in the station shortly due to leave and almost empty - we climbed aboard and had no trouble with the ticket inspector although our tickets were for the later train.
We had to change at Rennes and again we got on an earlier train (fairly crowded ) it was obvious that there were a couple of bikes over capacity but the ticket inspector didn't raise the issue from asking for the hanging racks to be used.

[scragend]

Eurostar don’t measure it IME. If you can get somewhere vaguely near 85cm and it fits through the large luggage scanner, you should be fine. I put mine in a soft shoulder bag (admittedly it’s a folding bike, but not a small one).

Good to know - I know Eurostar's official policy but I've been wondering about real world experiences with folded bikes.

I've acquired a Montague and am planning to take it away this year via Eurostar. Its normal fold (front wheel off) is more towards 90cm so I was wondering whether it would get through. I've found that if I take the back wheel off as well and also the handlebars, and just drop them inside the bag, I can get it down to about 80cm. It has the Rackstand so it will still stand up without the back wheel being fitted (I have a piece of aluminium rod to go through the rear dropout to support the skewer).

I have the proper Montague bag to put it in and some straps to pull the bag down tight round the contents so hopefully it will be fine.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I'd think that would be fine.

Carrying a bike in a bag down the long platform at Gare du Nord is horrid though!

[mjr]

I'd think that would be fine.

Carrying a bike in a bag down the long platform at Gare du Nord is horrid though!

Is there anything to stop slotting the wheels in once on the platform?

Aren't there luggage trollies on the platform any more?

[scragend]

I'd think that would be fine.

Carrying a bike in a bag down the long platform at Gare du Nord is horrid though!

Is there anything to stop slotting the wheels in once on the platform?

Aren't there luggage trollies on the platform any more?

Eurostar say this about full-sized bikes:

You will need to drop your bike off at our luggage area before heading to departures. When you arrive at your destination, your 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.

I would infer from this that it is OK to wheel a bike along the (arrival) platform, so by extension nothing to stop someone unfolding their folding bike and refitting the wheels there either.

It wouldn't work for departures of course, because the bike would have to be folded to go through security. So still a long walk in that direction I suppose.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I'd think that would be fine.

Carrying a bike in a bag down the long platform at Gare du Nord is horrid though!

Is there anything to stop slotting the wheels in once on the platform?

Aren't there luggage trollies on the platform any more?

I've never seen a trolley there but I may have been unlucky! And yes - you could put the wheels etc. back in on the platform but I'm always a bit wary because it's a pretty narrow and congested platform, so I usually do it on the concourse where there's more room. I should maybe just be a bit more assertive.

[ANTONISH]

I've never seen a trolley there but I may have been unlucky! And yes - you could put the wheels etc. back in on the platform but I'm always a bit wary because it's a pretty narrow and congested platform, so I usually do it on the concourse where there's more room. I should maybe just be a bit more assertive.

I've noticed in recent years that there seems to be an absence of luggage trolleys - I wonder if there is some new policy ?