On Saturday, August 25, 2018 at 7:19:59 AM UTC-7, Ned Mantei wrote:
On 24-08-18 16:35, Joerg wrote:
Couldn't believe it. Those great agency folks obviously didn't test the
bike racks for our local buses before signing the contract. Long story
short my 29er bike didn't fit in and neither did my friend's. Luckily
the driver was patient and helpful. We had to load the bikes reversed so
the hook goes over the rear wheel. Not easy because of my panniers but
worked, somehow. The front wheels now rode up on the other side of the
rack slot. We both had bungee cords with which we strapped them down as
hard as we could. Oh, and the slot width barely fit my 2.25" wide MTB
tires barely squeezed in and I had to push down hard. The rack looks
like this:

https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/sho...8df2678ec2064b


When we arrived another rider put his 26" MTB on there on even that
barely fit in (rear wheel rode up half an inch).

Does anyone know a better "strap down" method that is faster than
wrapping a bungee around rim and rack numerous times?


I have occasionally had a problem with my MTB in a Swiss train.
Depending on the train, there will typically be a space for bikes at the
end of the wagon. There you can hang the front wheel of your bike by a
hook, and the back wheel will be in a vertically mounted U-shaped,
fitting to keep it from swaying too much.
See https://www.radreise-wiki.de/Datei:S...lbstverlad.JPG
However, especially in older rail cars sometimes the hooks are too near
the ceiling and the wall, so that 2.25" tires won't fit. The train
operators (mainly the federal rail system) know about this problem, but
solving it involves more than just replacing the hooks.


Newer trains sometimes will have a wagon with a different sort of bike
parking:
https://blog.veloplus.ch/2015/03/24/...velotransport/
That works well, and it's easier to park your bike.

Ned

Both look like very good ideas. The Ferry Boats around here have very crude conditions for bikes. On the stern there are the semi-hanging bike hooks but that is only few in numbers. So in the passenger compartment there is a large space where people just throw all their bikes together leaning against one another. There isn't a lot of swaying because the boats are twin-hulls with turbines but I always try to be at the head of the line to get to the hooks in order to not get into that mess. The ferry-boats also have bars so I suppose that's why people don't care how their bikes are handled.