Best way to get your bike to Europe?

the5thace

Hello,

I'm looking to go on a little not so little cycling trip in Europe.

I'm trying to weight the pro's and con's of different methods of bringing my bike to Europe.

The location is not so important as I can adjust my route accordingly and would like to hear the options available.

What experiences have you had and do you have suggestions?

iwillhtfu

Your location might be useful. Getting a bike to Europe from where its all a bit vague. Not exactly a tiny place Europe.

Pompous

the5thace wrote: »

The location is not so important as I can adjust my route accordingly

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Your location might be useful

Yeah... ok :rolleyes:

iwillhtfu

Pompous wrote: »

Yeah... ok :rolleyes:

Well if he's in Ireland it'll be a cheap trip to Europe smart arse.. Good work there sunshine :rolleyes:

Pompous

iwillhtfu wrote: »

smart arse.. sunshine

Ok, calm down xD

I thought it was obvious he is in Ireland, asking about going to Europe... anyway, I guess I was wrong. I'll shut up now for fear of derailing the thread before it even gets started.

07Lapierre

the5thace wrote: »

Hello,

I'm looking to go on a little not so little cycling trip in Europe.

I'm trying to weight the pro's and con's of different methods of bringing my bike to Europe.

The location is not so important as I can adjust my route accordingly and would like to hear the options available.

What experiences have you had and do you have suggestions?

1. Cycle to Rosslare and take the ferry direct to France.
2. Cycle to Dublin and take the ferry to Hollyhead. Cycle thru the UK to Dover and take the ferry to France.
3. Put your bike in a cardboard box and book a flight to to France..dump the cardboard at the airport in France.

All depends on how long your intending to go away for I suppose.

Tigerandahalf

I saw an article today re Ryanair and bike charges. 60eur to bring a bike. Don't know anymore.
Has anyone rented a bike out there instead?

07Lapierre

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I saw an article today re Ryanair and bike charges. 60eur to bring a bike. Don't know anymore.
Has anyone rented a bike out there instead?

Ryanair used to be €50 per bike..gone up eh?
Ryanair are great for bringing a bike. You can book it via their website and the weight allowance is a generous 30kg.

Aer Lingus are a nightmare..€40 per flight, 30kg limit, BUT you can't boom your bike via the website. You have to call them and check they have room for the bike before you book the flight. Once they confirm that there is room for the bike, go online, book your flights and then you have to call them back and book your bike!.. Once you do this, your booking Ois no longer an online booking, so you can't pre-check in. You have to check in at the airport. You can't print out your boarding passes either.

Wishbone Ash

07Lapierre wrote: »

Ryanair used to be €50 per bike..gone up eh?...

It was €50 a couple of weeks ago.

Tigerandahalf

http://www.ryanair.com/ie/terms-and-conditions/tableofoptionalfees/

It seems to be 60eur now.

whacker00

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

http://www.ryanair.com/ie/terms-and-conditions/tableofoptionalfees/

It seems to be 60eur now.

I wonder if you put it into a plain bike box and labelled it "sports equipment" or "large sport item" could you save the 10/20 Euro , as long as it falls under each weight restriction obviously ??

Koobcam

Aer Lingus is grand, €40 Euro. As someone else pointed out, you can't book in advance and there is something about you being able to take the bike subject to availability (a limit of 6 bikes I believe) but it's incredibly unlikely that you will have any difficulty getting the bike on the plane. Best thing to do is just book the flight and then show up at the airport a bit earlier than usual as you will have to check in at the desk rather than online. They apparently allow you to transport a bag for free as check-in now, so that, plus your carry on would be enough for your clothing & other needs (plus you can stash your cycling gear in the box with the bike to free up space if need be.
In terms of a bike bag, I would recommend the Biknd one (can't remember exactly the model, but the manufacturer is Biknd)-it's good at protecting the bike (a mate of mine has one so I've seen it in action) and very easy to carry around (good wheels, handles etc). It also folds down so it's easy to store and could conceivably be put in a bag and transported if you wanted to ride from the airport to wherever you were staying. It's kind of expensive though, so I guess whether or not you wanted to buy one would depend on how much your bike was worth.
Another option is to rent a bike box. There's a place in Rathmines I think which rents bags, so if your trip was for a week or two, this would make a lot of sense.

Sean Amhlaoibh

That cycling route in Mayo, over the closed railway line......greeway dot ie is brilliant.

nak

whacker00 wrote: »

I wonder if you put it into a plain bike box and labelled it "sports equipment" or "large sport item" could you save the 10/20 Euro , as long as it falls under each weight restriction obviously ??

Weight limit is less, as is cover for damage - large sports equipment is only covered up to €120 (I think) and bikes maybe €1200.

iwillhtfu

Pompous wrote: »

Ok, calm down xD

I thought it was obvious he is in Ireland, asking about going to Europe... anyway, I guess I was wrong. I'll shut up now for fear of derailing the thread before it even gets started.

Apologies. non sleeping babies leads to a cranky me. I'm guessing OP mean't mainland Europe if he's already here.

cdaly_

07Lapierre wrote: »

1. Cycle to Rosslare and take the ferry direct to France.
2. Cycle to Dublin and take the ferry to Hollyhead. Cycle thru the UK to Dover and take the ferry to France.
3. Put your bike in a cardboard box and book a flight to to France..dump the cardboard at the airport in France.

All depends on how long your intending to go away for I suppose.

4. Cycle to Dublin and take the ferry to Hollyhead. Take a train through the UK to Dover and take the ferry to France. Probably involves some pedalling through central London between train stations but no dismantling of bike involved.

CramCycle

Sail and rail to what ever port on the south of England, ferry over to France. Turn eastwards, cycle, enjoy.

07Lapierre

cdaly_ wrote: »

4. Cycle to Dublin and take the ferry to Hollyhead. Take a train through the UK to Dover and take the ferry to France. Probably involves some pedalling through central London between train stations but no dismantling of bike involved.

5. Cycle to Dublin and take the ferry to Holyhead. Take the BUS through the UK to Dover. (Cheaper than the train)

CramCycle

07Lapierre wrote: »

5. Cycle to Dublin and take the ferry to Holyhead. Take the BUS through the UK to Dover. (Cheaper than the train)

The sail and rail might disagree with you, think its 47euro for the ferry (stena, it is 50 for Irish Ferries) and train all the way to the other side of the UK, actually any train station (there is one near or at most ferry ports) regardless of number of connections.

Bus and ferry is 39euro but that will only get you to London.

ozzy jr

What do you do with your bike when you go on the ferry? Do you leave it on the car deck?

Carawaystick

Anytime I've seen it, they cycle on
( at Rosslare/Ringaskiddy) and use bungycords

07Lapierre

CramCycle wrote: »

The sail and rail might disagree with you, think its 47euro for the ferry (stena, it is 50 for Irish Ferries) and train all the way to the other side of the UK, actually any train station (there is one near or at most ferry ports) regardless of number of connections.

Bus and ferry is 39euro but that will only get you to London.

Fair enough...I'm beyond caring how he gets bike to France at this stage!:)

cdaly_

Sailing Stena, Dublin to Holyhead, they made me put the bike on the luggage van and board as a foot passenger. Coming back, they wanted me to do the same but, when I approached someone in the baggage hall he said "Ah sure just pedal on down". So I cycled the 2k to the boat and boarded with the motorbikes. On board, the car deck crew took the bike and put it in their office so that it would be out of the way of possible damage. I reckon at the dublin side, I could have walked down to the baggage drop-off and then nipped out the door to join the motorcyclists and boarded without a bother...

I've seen cyclists boarding the Rosslare - Cherbourg ferry and their bikes were just parked against the bulkhead (and maybe locked in place) under their supervision.

DeVore

Yeah, I've done this myself (many moons ago in fairness), and it was cheap and easy. We locked up near the back (fewer cars to drive past our bikes) and rolled off in Cherbourg. The only downside is that it takes 24 hours which I wasn't fond of but really was no big deal.

CramCycle

ozzy jr wrote: »

What do you do with your bike when you go on the ferry? Do you leave it on the car deck?

I tie it to one of the holds near the door, they normally have straps for bikes and motorbikes.

I have been told to load it with hand luggage before, learned that adds on time. The last few times I have done it I have just walked out the door and cycled over. It's quicker on and it is quicker off.

Normally you will be one of the first off, they might make you walk over the metal grates on a bad day.

poochiem

07Lapierre wrote: »

Fair enough...I'm beyond caring how he gets bike to France at this stage!:)

CramCycle wrote: »

The sail and rail might disagree with you, think its 47euro for the ferry (stena, it is 50 for Irish Ferries) and train all the way to the other side of the UK, actually any train station (there is one near or at most ferry ports) regardless of number of connections.

Bus and ferry is 39euro but that will only get you to London.

Sail/Rail only covered me to London, had to shell out another £35 to get to Dover. Also, what was British Rail is now the worst service in Europe so I swore "never again". Had to take 7 connections to get to Dover from Holyhead last summer. Running down platforms, getting refused, can't book in advance, sent on wrong trains etc etc. Kafkaesque.

Taking Rosslare-Roscoff this time.

CramCycle

poochiem wrote: »

Sail/Rail only covered me to London, had to shell out another £35 to get to Dover. Also, what was British Rail is now the worst service in Europe so I swore "never again". Had to take 7 connections to get to Dover from Holyhead last summer. Running down platforms, getting refused, can't book in advance, sent on wrong trains etc etc. Kafkaesque.

Taking Rosslare-Roscoff this time.

I used the sail and rail to get all the way to Portsmouth. You give your final train station and that was that. I do notice that Stena know says london although their fare map shows all of the UK.

I did find the prebooking inability annoying, and the likes of Virgin who would make you run over to the ticket office to get a bike ticket silly when they had a cargo hold.

I used the national rail trip planner so I knew how much time between stops as well as what train direction to take.

It was about 40sterling for the train over.

cdaly_

CramCycle wrote: »

I used the sail and rail to get all the way to Portsmouth. You give your final train station and that was that. I do notice that Stena know says london although their fare map shows all of the UK.

I did find the prebooking inability annoying, and the likes of Virgin who would make you run over to the ticket office to get a bike ticket silly when they had a cargo hold.

I used the national rail trip planner so I knew how much time between stops as well as what train direction to take.

It was about 40sterling for the train over.

I used it to get to/from Essex last september. Once I had my trains route planned, I phoned the individual rail companies to book seat and bike space. All worked fine...

mcgratheoin

So essentially the take away seems to me that if you can get a cheap flight, then the €60 on Ryanair is the best way to go. The Rosslare ferry will cost around €70 (someone correct me if i'm wrong) and will take 24hrs and going through the UK is the same. Ryanair has a pretty decent selection of sub €30 destinations which would get you somewhere (with bike) for €90. Brussels, Copenhagen, Oslo, Cologne, Tours, Poitiers, Bremen, La Rochelle, Nantes, Frankfurt - loads of choice for where you'd like to cycle and you can maximise your time quite easily.

benneca1

If you are going to Spain rent one it cheaper and less hassle. My missus is Spanish and we've been bringing bikes over and back for years. Used to be that there was no weight limit so we rented a box from cycleways and on way back stuffed it with bike olives ham olive oil and such as well as bike:) Now with weight limit and 50 yo yo each way its better to rent. A crew called cycling rentals spain will hire out a touring bike for 135 euro a week and a carbon bike for 180. Lot less hassle bike delivered to hotel and all in all a good service. You can of course rent rest of stuff panniers etc.