using the hanging bike racks on the new GW trains

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Florencepeneice

New Member
Location
Bristol
has anyone else had a problem with the hanging bike racks on the new Great Western trains? Yesterday was my 1st experience of them, and it's put me off using them again. first of all there was no space for both me and my partner's bikes to hang (2 standard road bikes, one a woman'sand one a man's). Worst of all, when we got to our destination, I couldn't get mine off the hook. Luckily a young man helped me, otherwise I'd have ended up in Paddington. I'm strong, but I just couldn't get it off the hook. Is there a knack, or have others had this problem?
 
They're bl--dy awful. They're not wide enough, it's a pain lifting the bikes up to them, and there aren't enough of them (or, to be accurate, there might be enough of them, but GWR refuse to allow bikes to use half of them and have turned them over to luggage).
 
has anyone else had a problem with the hanging bike racks on the new Great Western trains? Yesterday was my 1st experience of them, and it's put me off using them again. first of all there was no space for both me and my partner's bikes to hang (2 standard road bikes, one a woman'sand one a man's). Worst of all, when we got to our destination, I couldn't get mine off the hook. Luckily a young man helped me, otherwise I'd have ended up in Paddington. I'm strong, but I just couldn't get it off the hook. Is there a knack, or have others had this problem?

If they're like the ones here I found it worked better to hold the front wheel and push the bike up with my knee, otherwise the hook turned the front wheel and everything got tangled.

Fortunately they're increasingly mounting them lower down so it is easier to lift the bike:

2019_07_08_Lörrach_03.JPG


Unfortunately I doubt that would fit in British sized trains...
 

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Not used them on GWR but have on other services. Lucky none in use when we both got on so we had one each. Be pushing it if i'd had one of my drop bar bikes but with 2 flat bars. But lord knows how we'd had fitted two into the same space. Getting them hooked on was one thing getting them off was quite another. Good job we'd not got a loaded bike. We too will think twice about using trains with them.

lucky we only went one stop 920 mins max) we asked if we could just put them in. As we also ways say with our bikes it was not every full or blocking the way. But the guard was having no of it. So we had no choice.
 

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
If they're like the ones here I found it worked better to hold the front wheel and push the bike up with my knee, otherwise the hook turned the front wheel and everything got tangled.

Fortunately they're increasingly mounting them lower down so it is easier to lift the bike:

View attachment 479123

Unfortunately I doubt that would fit in British sized trains...

You've photoshopped that. No way is that a train , no mess, litter, clean, no wet floor due to over flowing none working toilet, a bin that you can use and a helpful ramp. Fantasy pure fantasy :laugh:
 
You've photoshopped that. No way is that a train , no mess, litter, clean, no wet floor due to over flowing none working toilet, a bin that you can use and a helpful ramp. Fantasy pure fantasy :laugh:

The view in the other direction is even more strange:

2019_07_08_Lörrach_04.JPG


And because I'm a nerd who takes pictures of such things, here's the local train I was on later in Switzerland, going to Germany; having travelled 100km plus through Switzerland on a German train...

2019_07_08_Lörrach_11.JPG
 

deptfordmarmoset

Full time tea drinker
Location
Armonmy Way
I'm just about to catch a GW train with a loaded bike. This thread is not exactly reassuring me ...
 

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
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