Transporting Recumbent Trike on Trains?

Mike Jacoubowsky

=====================
"Bicycles", dsimounted and put in a bike bag, can travel for free in
the baggage section of the TGV, but their dimensions must not exceed
1m20 X 90 cms. That barely covers my two longest dimensions and does
not take into account the third dimension. This solution would require
arriving perhaps 90 minutes early at the station and carefully
dismounting and packing the bike on the quai.
=====================
You have no other choice but to expect to have to do so. Having used the TGV
many times, including this past July with my son, carrying two bikes, I can
assure you that they will not hassle you if your bike is encased in a "bike
haus" (bike bag) of the dimensions you mention (120x90cm). A bag, *not* a
box. It doesn't matter that it's terribly awkward to deal with. It doesn't
matter that you're going to have to spend a fair amount of time taking it
apart and putting it back together. It doesn't matter that it's likely to
get pretty dinged up.

What matters is that that's what you have to EXPECT you'll be required to
do. You are 100% at the mercy of the SNCF staff, many of whom have nothing
better to do than tell you that you are not allowed on the train with your
bike because it doesn't meet regulations. Even on a train that has plenty of
space.

The fact that your bike must fit into a bike haus doesn't mean they have a
special place on the train to carry it. They don't. On a crowded train, it
will fit in between the cars, stacked in front of one of the two doors. As
you approach each station, you're going to have to figure out which side
passengers get on & off (it changes) and move your bike from one door to the
other (thankfully, there aren't many stops on a TGV).

The "local" trains can get interesting too. They'll often have a baggage car
at the end, where you hand up your bike, and they'll tell you that they'll
offload it for you at the end of the line (if that's where your stop is).
Don't trust them. There was nobody at the baggage car as we rolled into
Angouleme, with a 9 minute connection time for the TGV to Paris. After a
minute waiting for someone to show, we decided it was safer to just get into
the baggage car and haul them out ourselves. Within seconds of us exiting
the train, it left the station. Had we waited any longer to retrieve our
bikes, they would have been on their way to someplace else.

Expect an adventure! Could be that all will go easily, but plan for
otherwise and things will go OK. And, of course, print out all relevant info
from the SNCF pages, and attach them to your bags on the outside. That could
be one reason we got nary a glance from the coductors, while others did.
Just place the sheets in plastic binder page thingees.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA


"Artemisia" <e.roselli@free.fr> wrote in message
news:beacdefc-7268-4f9d-ada8-a3fe9e8f1a75@d1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
As some may remember, I am since last November the proud human
associate of an HP Velotechnik Scorpion FX folding recumbent tricycle,
Widdershins.

Next week, we are going on our first major excursion together, a self-
guided tour of Provence and the Luberon looping out of Avignon.

But first, I have to get from the Paris region to Avignon. No problem
- there's a TGV direct.

Now, all the demons break loose. Since the end of March, I have been
trying to make sense of the SNCF and its regulations regarding the
transport of this vessel. They have plenty of provisions for transport
of bikes and make much pretence of being bike-friendly, but there is a
tizzy-fit on every level when I mention the tricyle. The category of
trike for adults does not exist in their little minds.

I spent last Saturday taking the trike apart and putting it back
together, as Proof of Concept. The frame part, with the seat, front
wheels and fenders off, fits into a loose bag, forming an irregular
mass with the three longest dimensions about 1m10 X 1m X 70cms. This
mass is extremely unwieldy and fragile. There is no handle to take it
by, and all the prominent parts that you could grab are delicate -
chain, dérailleur, steering, etc. I could compact it with packing tape
and try to devise some sort of carry-handle out of the same, but would
probably need to put cardboard round the gears and fragile twoggly
bits, which could increase mass. The wheels, fenders and seat go into
a large portmanteau suitcase which will also have to take all my
clothes and personal effects for the trip.

"Bicycles", dsimounted and put in a bike bag, can travel for free in
the baggage section of the TGV, but their dimensions must not exceed
1m20 X 90 cms. That barely covers my two longest dimensions and does
not take into account the third dimension. This solution would require
arriving perhaps 90 minutes early at the station and carefully
dismounting and packing the bike on the quai.

There is also a door-to-door bike shipping service, which would add
some 100 euros to the cost of travelling and quite a few constraints
because they only pick up and deliver in standard working hours, which
means a risk of not having the bike on the start of my voyage, a
Sunday, after a Saturday, after a Friday which is a Bank Holiday. But
this service has a very rigid concept of "bike", because the bikes get
put in racks, and every time I discuss my special problem I get
stonewalled. I do not want to pay for and reserve this service,
spending days at home waiting for the pick-up (being all too well
acquainted with the unbelievable jenfoutisme of French services in
general), only to have it refused at the last minute (which apparently
they can do).

I have phoned two Darths of the Scorpion FX in the South of France to
ask them how the trike can be transported. They are totally adamant
that the whole point of the folding trike is that it goes on the
train, and "all I have to do" is put it in a bag. They say they have
30 customers or whatever who have never had any problems taking the
bike on the train. Well, they would say that. My own Darth in Paris,
much more circumspect, points out that the Scorpion FX is guaranteed
to go into the back of a Smart Car, and nothing else.

I don't drive, or I'd consider investing in a Smart just in order to
get Widdershins to starting point.

Anyone have experiences in this area?

EFR
Ile de France

Artemisia

On 23 avr, 16:03, dkahn400 <dkahn...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> What an elegantly simple idea!

Er, not exactly. The "next stop down the line" is Lyons!!

EFR
Ile de France

Peter Clinch

Artemisia wrote:
> On 23 avr, 16:03, dkahn400 <dkahn...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> What an elegantly simple idea!
>
> Er, not exactly. The "next stop down the line" is Lyons!!

What, /all/ the trains out of that station don't stop any place
closer than that?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/