I’ve always been slightly apprehensive about taking my bike on the train around the UK. So in this video, I’m sharing my experience of taking my bike on the train from London to Nottingham for the first time. I was curious to see how easy it would be to travel with my bike, and thought you might find it useful to see someone’s experience firsthand! Follow along as I show you how to take your bike on the train from London. Whether you’re a seasoned cyclist or just starting out, this guide will make it easy for you to travel with your bike. So grab your helmet, and let’s get started!
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Road Bike: Canyon Endurace CF SL 8.0
Gravel Bike: Canondale Topstone
GPS Cycling Computer: Wahoo Element Bolt
Road Shoes: Lake CX332
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Helmet: POC Omne Air Spin
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#cycling #bikes #london
Good morning actually that’s a lie it’s definitely the afternoon but it is my last day in London today to do today a bit of a part two video to the previous video that I did cycling across London at the start of the week so if you’ve not watched that video then
I’ll link it above and below and you can go and find that to see part one but today I want to find out how easy it is to travel around the UK on train with a bike I’m currently in Richmond Park again which is awesome I’m on my way to some pancreas station
King’s cross okay just got a hill here just bear with me I’ve got quite a bit of weight on my back so I’m on my way to King’s cross which is like a 23 24 kilometer ride and I’ve never taken my bike on a train before which feels
Ridiculous just to see it and I think part of the hesitation to that is just not really knowing what it would be like so today I’m gonna go and attempt to figure out I am definitely getting a lot of strange looks riding through Richmond Park with all these bags on
Yeah I just don’t really know what’s involved um how easy it’s going to be getting through the stations how awkward is going to be on the train I don’t have a bike lock with me so that might make things difficult but yeah maybe like quite a few of You Are
Consider traveling around the UK on your bike I want to take some trains but maybe you’re hesitant because you don’t know what it’s like so today I will answer that question again I have quite a lot of stuff with me somehow it feels heavier today than it
Did earlier in the week I think I have accumulated some things I left late again honestly I need to fix the lateness thing but basically I’ve got to average like 22 kilometers an hour to get there on time which on a normal day would be fine but today I’m going through Central London
There might be traffic so we’re gonna see how that goes too but for now I’m enjoying the beautiful Richmond Park for the last time this week and let’s see what it’s like to get through London So a little bit of prep that I did for the ride I use commute to figure out how to get to some pancreas I don’t know the route so I literally just started with where I was which was new molding and then where I was going which was Ken cross
And we’re gonna see if commute has suggested the best route I don’t know maybe you londoners can let me know in the comments below whether you think this was the right route but that was how I started and the other thing that I did yesterday was I had a quick giggle about taking
Bikes on trains and with East Midlands Railway which is who I’m using they suggest that you pre-book uh like a bike slot um it’s just a suggestion but I thought I’d do it just to see if it helps it doesn’t cost anything it’s free but I
Guess it’s just so that they can know that you’re bringing your bike so that’s something that I don’t know we’ll see if it makes a difference on the other end but that’s one thing you can do okay leaving Richmond yeah foreign Already timing that part was super quiet from Richmond fire down here and I think this is Putney Bridge movie this is going to be the busy bird if it is going to be busy I don’t know by heading into proper Central for the first time and it’s nice
To see that there’s plenty of cyclists out it’s another quiet day in London England is just a way to get around the city and so far there’s been no Nutters in a car so I mentioned in my last video in London can get super annoying having to wait at
Lights all the time and what I’m now learning is those different kind of cyclists these guys behind me they don’t obey street rules they’ll just rage through any light and supposedly a loads of cyclists do I do not have that sort of audacity today
I’m not sure if I ever will I’m happy to wear light It’s getting busier but we’ve got a little psychopath until it is like this park what is that So we’re in Chelsea now middle of London I feel like such a tourist s people who live here this is just day-to-day life and I’m like excited about cycling through traffic in the busy City in the UK okay it’s getting super busy now both cars and pedestrians thank you
Yeah okay this is nice dodging cars buses pedestrians no cycle Lanes it’s no wonder people get injured here and the cars are so busy trying to not crash into each other then I’ve got time to think about cyclists probably not the best place to vlog five kids ago I think I may take your sightseeing foreign To take the bike don’t see these on the tube okay to respect over here comes the rain time to get to the train station I think I’ve got to navigate Trafalgar Square or whatever this place is what’s up what you can see is that most of the
Time I’m carrying this camera in a little mouth Mount and so it sits in my mouth and it looks really stupid and the amount of looks I’m getting is I ride around London it’s quite funny Okay the rain is coming down night I made it right gotta figure out where I’m going now assuming I gotta find a lift to get up one tree boarding at the moment I don’t know if there’s like cancellations or strikes or something but there’s a lot of people waiting jeez the train off
That ball too it’s a 15 32. Okay so we’ve just been told that our train only has four coaches what are the chances of getting my bike this is going to be so full where are you going man yeah yeah yeah all right thanks very much the big
Successfully on you know I got a figure out if I can get space Foreign Back in Nottingham it’s freezing it’s wet and that was a busy busy train this is cold I’m home um I’m not really sure what I think about that trip to be honest the train was meant to have 10 carriages and it got reduced to four carriages and so it
Was very very busy so I wasn’t really able to film as much on the train as I’d wanted to fortunately I got a seat which was great and the bait did get on no problems there was like a separate little compartment and next to the conductor that was locked off from like
The main carriages and you could store your bike there was like a hangy wheel situation but interestingly when you look on the app to see the train it basically said that the bike storage was full so I think if I hadn’t booked like pre-booked that slot last night there’s
A chance that I wouldn’t have got the bacon the lesson that I learned is definitely pre-book your bike if you’re traveling with EMR I don’t know how it works for other Rail lines you could probably just check on their website but yeah like the whole the actual bike part
Of the trip was like was great there was no issues like going into the station no problem got it through the left got on the tree and got it off the train felt really secure the bike isn’t damaged overall it was super easy I definitely
Would do it again I’m def I am I’m converted to using the bike traveling around London it is just the best way to travel and hopefully this video is helpful to you like if you thought about traveling if you usually take loads of public transport when you’re in London
Or you live there and you take loads of public transport or you usually drive to London or any of these different things then better like more climate friendly solution is to cycle around and from my experience like I said if the weather’s been if the weather’s good and you can
Afford to do it then cycling is an amazing option and even taking your bike from wherever you might be traveling around the UK seems to be pretty easy as well let me know down in the comments below if you’ve had any experiences of traveling around the UK on trains and
Any good ones and any bad ones and don’t just put the battle ones down below because it’d be great to hear from from you guys anyway I’m gonna stop talking um Danny’s made me some dinner which is great hope you enjoyed it and I’ll catch you in the next one cheers
18 Comments
So many bags
I reckon this video shows that we should bring the bike when we come up in the new year!
I really enjoy biking around London, I started with a hybrid then just because it's easier to throw around and not too be worried about it being stolen I found a cheap second hand single speed. I use it mainly to explore new places or to pop in and pick up a few items. Normally travel around 25-40km. It can be hairy on the roads, mainly when a car turns left and going into the cycle lane or when a bus overtakes you and then stops.
I have started to travel on the train with my bike, mostly off peak. My local rail company, Northern, do not require bookings and I have found I am not the only one traveling with bikes but so far never been stopped from getting on. Transport with Wales also do not require bookings but I believe TransPenine and Avanti-West Coast do, but never tried yet. For me, using the train has opened up a new world of cycling where I can do one leg of the journey by train, so can explore further afield.
Very helpful…thanks for doing the test run for me… 👍
Train companies don't like bikes on there trains , and certainly don't encourage it .
My local train company actually encourage bikes on their trains and provide adequate space.
I work a permanent late shift (4pm – midnight) and train in and cycle 12 miles home. Up to now 3 years, never had a problem.
I hope everyone watched all the way to the end where you eventually make the point that you need to book your place if you want to take your bike on the train. We have travelled to London and back from Oxenholme (using Avanti and previously Virgin) many times on our way to France. The only wrinkle, until recently, has been that you needed to physically go to a booking office to book the place for your bike. I notice that the Trainline app now seems to allow you to book your bike space online, though this is very new and I have not tried it yet. Another potential issue is that these mainline trains only have space for a maximum of 4 bikes.
Basically though, as long as you book ahead, train travel with a bike is good.
I hope your video does inspire more folks to try train travel with bikes.
I’m off now to check out some other of your videos, thank you!
I think one way to describe travelling with your bike on a train is hit or miss. My local train company Northern doesn't require bookings for bikes. This makes spontaneous journeys easy, but it really is a worry to know if you will be allowed on and whether there are already too many bikes onboard. Some conductors allow more bikes than is normally allowed, whilst others are strict. Also, the standard of bike parking on trains can be awful too making it very awkward to maneuver your bike on a busy train.
I know many other regional train companies require bookings, but I think this just complicates the process and doesn't help in making multimodal journeys convenient and simple.
Using the train to get to west Wales and then cycling home (300ish miles). I have booked ahead with Avanti and Transport for Wales so I just hope there's no unseen hiccups where a bus replacement would be part of the journey. Don't know how that would pan out.
London looks insane 😂😂😂 I’ve just travelled with Trans Pennine and Avanti , both require bike booking . I tried certain trains that wouldn’t allow me to book bike as full up so chose different times that weren’t . Process relatively simple but on avanti always contact the station staff before boarding as they unlock the door and make sure the guard knows where you are getting off !
TP you just walk on and off 🚲👍 but not very secure
I’ve done this on a few occasions. They require a train pass for your bike. But it’s enforced in some stops, especially the bigger train stations like Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Milton Keynes. I missed a train because the train conductor didn’t allow me on a connecting train on time in Birmingham.
Thanks for posting this, we're in Teddington and have done that ride and similar so many times to just about every station in London to go off in various directions by train. Great Western and Greater Anglia also require bike reservations but South Western Railway and Southeastern seem happy for you to rock up without a reservation.
And Beeston rounded off a great trip down memory lane – I went to Uni there and cycled everywhere … I suspect it is more cycle friendly these days. I really enjoyed the clip and your presentation of it.
Why are you using kilometres in the UK when our roads are in miles?
do you have to pay extra for bicycle
Always book a bike space on the train, a few years back I was on a train from London to Aviemore and when I got to Newcastle a group of 4 guys tried to get on with their bikes as they were doing a bikepacking trip from Inverness, 2 had booked spaces and 2 hadn't, even though all of them had booked seats. Needless to say they couldn't bring their bikes on the train as all spaces were full, so I assume they had to rebook tickets. I'm planning a trip next month, getting a train to Lincoln and riding 225km home the next day, I'll definitely book my bike space 😉
It will be my first time to bring my bicycle on board tomorrow from London to Brighton, hope that will be smooth. Thank you for the sharing.
Thank you for making this! I have to take my bike up to uni on the train for the first time and I’m really nervous about managing it (I have booked a bike slot already, it’s just the getting it on the train in time that’s worrying!) so this was helpful!