Please sign in to post.

Town for last night before LHR departure, bicycle complicates ...

Posted by (City of Seattle) on

Hello England forum, hope you are well and chipper.

Normally when I fly a bike home from Europe, I ride it to the airport, pack it in a flimsy bike bag, check it and hope for the best. No problems at all so far.

But this trip I'm taking a bit of a nicer bike, so I would like it properly boxed in a cardboard bicycle box for the flight home. Which means I need to schedule this service at a bike shop. Which means I can't just ride up to the airport tra-la-la.

Instead, I will need to arrive somewhere convenient to the airport early enough the day before to get my bike boxed by a shop. Then I will need to spend the night, and transport said boxed bicycle to the airport.

I'm wondering if London is not the right choice for this? I would have to return by bicycle or public transit all the way back to London. I'm wondering instead if there is some other place connected to the airport by public transit, preferably rail, where I could spend a pleasant final afternoon and evening, and then get to the airport easily enough for a 13:25 departure?

Obvs, there would need to be a bike shop open on Tuesday.

Oxford seems like kind of a nice choice, but the train doesn't get you to the airport too easily? I know there's a bus, but I'm not sure a bicycle box would fit in its belly?

Ideas and advice? As always, very much appreciated.

Hank

Posted by
7569 posts

"Large items such as skis, trunks and cycles can only be transported if space permits and this is at the driver’s discretion. A surcharge of £5 is payable per large item. Items must be suitably packaged. Whilst we take every care possible to ensure the safe carriage of your items, we still strongly recommend that you take out insurance."

https://www.theairlineoxford.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/

Posted by
6151 posts

know there's a bus, but I'm not sure a bicycle box would fit in its belly?

From the Airliner website, it sounds like it is possible but not guaranteed, so you may not want to chance it with Oxford.
https://www.theairlineoxford.co.uk/oxford-to-heathrow-bus/#faqs

Large items such as skis, trunks and cycles can only be transported if space permits and this is at the driver’s discretion. A surcharge of £5 is payable per large item. Items must be suitably packaged. Whilst we take every care possible to ensure the safe carriage of your items, we still strongly recommend that you take out insurance.

Posted by
1517 posts

The point about getting your bike boxed up is that as soon as you do it, it stops being the most beautiful form of transport and becomes a significant encumbrance to getting around. As such I would want to do it as close to Heathrow as possible. So, although I know nothing about them the link in Laura’s post which offers both to box your bike and then get you and the bike to the airport offers for me the easiest solution. Hounslow will offer both places to stay and eat for your last night

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.