Happy Tandem Transport Story:
Berkeley-Paris
Berkeley-Paris
Subtitle: Planes, trains, buses and a truck ;-)
based on a posting to the touring@cyclery.com e-mail list.
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edited and converted to HTML by Sheldon Brown
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Joel and I wanted to take an independent bike tour of France on our new tandem. We got plane tickets on United, and the travel agent put a note in our reservation saying we would be bringing a tandem.
After calling many airport vans and taxi companies, we were still without a way to get the tandem-in-the-box to the airport, but Joel explained this to a group of people at work and one volunteered her truck. We obtained a bike box from our tandem dealer, and packed the bike in the box the morning we left. (Warning to those who have never done this: allow plenty of time for this operation. It took 1 1/2 hours ;-)
In the borrowed truck, we put the tandem-in-the-box with the tail open, and secured it with ropes. Then a friend drove us in the truck to the San Francisco airport. We arrived about two hours early for our nonstop flight to Paris. How do other people get their tandems-in-the-box to airports?
At the United check in counter, we pointed to our box as our luggage. The woman said she didn't know if she could take it, or take it without charging us, and we assured her that she could. After she typed silently for 10 minutes, they put on a few "fragile" stickers and a claim tag, and took the box off with no more comments (and no additional charge.)
On arrival in Paris, we stood around a while, and then inquired one of the porters about our box. Our box appeared shortly, with only a few scrapes in the cardboard.
We were then faced with the challenge of getting the tandem-in-the-box into Paris. We balanced our four panniers and our tandem on two luggage carts (the forward one facing backwards. This was more maneuverable because it was long and skinny than using just one luggage cart, which we tried first.) The best information we could get told us we had to take a bus to the RER (Paris area suburban train line) station. They have those articulated buses, designed for passengers with luggage, and the bus driver was even nice enough to help us get our box on his bus. (And people say Parisians aren't helpful.)
We arrived at the train station, but found that we had to carry the box down several flights of stairs (Some had escalators, which are a godsend for people with tandems!) and over the turnstiles to the train platform. (Plus of course, a second trip down each with the panniers, since carrying the box took two people.) The train was empty when we got on, so we just lo aded the tandem into the end of one car. It blocked the car into two areas diagonally. Then the train left. As we picked up more passengers, it became a problem that the box blocked the car, because some platforms are on different sides of the train, so we eventually wedged the box into a position that was less of a problem. On arrival at our stop, we carried everything up stairs and over the turnstiles, to the disapproving looks of the RER people.
We then carried the box and bags in shifts, to the work place of a friend of mine, who had agreed to store the box for us. After that we unpacked the bike, and rode off.
We also put the tandem on several French trains during our trip. We tried both sending it ahead as checked luggage, and taking it with us on trains that allowed this, with no problems. (The bike rides free if you take it with you. You can tell which trains take bikes by looking for the little bike in the notes section of the French train schedules.) It costs about $30 to send the bike ahead, but they will store it for several days.
On the way back, we did the reverse process. However, we took the tandem (with panniers attached) and box separately on the RER (and airport bus). This turned out to be much easier, as one person could carry the empty box alone, and one person could wheel the bike with panniers with ease. (It was not easy for both of us together to carry the tandem-in-the-box, not to mention the panniers in addition.) We brought tape with us, and packed the bike back in the box at the airport. We recommend this.
United made no comments on the way back, and the bike arrived fine in San Francisco, even though it had to change planes in Chicago.
Who says you need a folding tandem? (All our fellow RER passengers, maybe? ;-)