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bicycle travel on plane to France/Tour De France



 
 
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  #11  
Old June 1st 09, 05:16 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Mike Jacoubowsky
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Posts: 2,972
Default bicycle travel on plane to France/Tour De France


"OughtFour" wrote in message
...

" wrote in message
...

Do you know about the Rail Europe train and bikes?
I have purchased a Anywhere anytime France rail pass. Is this train

go by the same name as TGV?

1) Rail Europe is a travel agency that sells tickets and passes, not a
rail company. Bicycle policy for trains is set by the respective rail
company. In France, for insintance, this is SNCF.

By the way, to promote its passes, Rail Europe charges a huge markup
for tickets (to make the passes look like a good deal by comparision).
So don't buy tickets from them! They are OK for passes, but
point-to-point tickets t the regular price might actually be a better
deal.


Absolutely correct. I don't think I've found an instance where it's ever
cheaper to buy a regular ticket on Rail Europe than from the railroad's
own site. The primary "gotcha" for SNCF (France) is that, if you choose
to pick up the ticket in France, you *must* have the credit card with
you that was used to purchase the ticket, and if it's a US-type credit
card, it won't work in their automated machines (you'll need to go to a
ticket window, so add about 20 minutes to the amount of time you figured
you'd need to catch the train).

You can easily get around all this with the new option (on SNCF's
website) that allows you to print your own ticket.

In France, you can take your bike on every train if it is a bag. Many
local trains allow your bike without a bag. I'd expect the bag to be
OK on the Chunnel train, but wouldn't swear to it. If you've bouth a
pass or ticket from RailEurope ask them, as you've paid them a nice
commission.


The Eurostar website specifically allows trains in bags, on any train.
One thing I didn't bring up earlier is that, for my next trip, I'm
booking into first class on SNCF because there are slightly fewer
seats/car but the same overall luggage space, leaving a bit more room
for bikes (in bags). The cost difference is sometimes insignificant.

The best source of information about trains in France (and elsewhere
in Europe) is, oddly enough, the German rail web site (google "bahn
rail"). There you can search routes and specify trains that allow
bikes w/o a bag.


http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

2) Your rail pass is a rail pass, not a train. It will let you onto
any SNCF train in France. However, some trains, including the TGVs,
charge a supplement and require a reservation. The TGV supplement
comes to about 5 or 10 dollars per trip, though Rail Europe will
charge more. You can reserve for yourself at any train station or SNCF
boutique. Most trains do not require reservations.

By the way, have a great time!


--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


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  #12  
Old June 3rd 09, 07:56 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Dennis Ferguson
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Posts: 69
Default bicycle travel on plane to France/Tour De France

On 2009-06-01, Steve wrote:
On May 29, 2:14?am, wrote:
The rates have been going up. ?If you plan on frequent airline trips
with a bicycle, the savings on just a few (3?) round trips will pay
for an SandS coupling to be installed.


It's a great product, but remember, they only can be retrofitted onto
steel frames. I think there is one aluminum tandem that is built at
the factory with them. Also, they're for round tubes only.


Not only that, but installing the couplers in some round-tubed steel
frames is scarier than others. In particular if you have a bike
with light-weight butted tubes you'll be installing the couplers in
the thin parts of the tubes, something which makes me a bit queasy.

I have a Co-motion bicycle with the couplers factory-installed
(Co-motion uses different tubing for coupled bikes than for the
same models without the couplers) which cost a bit but which, over
5 years, has been on more than 50 one-way flights. At current
baggage charges the bicycle would have paid for itself more than
3 times over.

It isn't quite a perfect solution. My fork/steerer is too long
for the hard case so I have to use the canvas bag, which bulges a
bit to fit it. Sometimes one (or both) of the wheels gets bent
out-of-true laterally in that case and needs to be trued when I
get there. It seems to attract the attention of TSA baggage checkers,
who don't always repack it as well as I might (contributing to the
wheels getting bent). Some bicycle bits don't last long if they
are frequently disassembled; I've had trouble with my front brake
caliper, which needs to come off for things to fit (I'm really glad
I can get by without pulling the cranks).

On the other hand, I've never had any damage to the bicycle serious
enough that I needed repairs I couldn't do myself to ride it, there
is never any question about whether they'll let me take the bicycle
on a plane without charge or not and, as you point out, it is also
much easier to deal with on trains and taxis than a full-sized
bicycle box. I enjoy that bicycle a lot. I can take it with me
and ride it on trips where I'd never consider trying to manhandle
a full sized bicycle box along with me.

Dennis Ferguson
 




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