# Transporting 4 bikes & 4 people to London to ride the off-road LTB



## Muddychic75 (11 Jun 2014)

Any thoughts on the easiest cheapest way to do this ? Anyone done this & got any advice or tips Please


----------



## Mr Haematocrit (12 Jun 2014)

Hire a van from a national hire firm, drop it off in London


----------



## Muddychic75 (12 Jun 2014)

User13710 said:


> Groupsave on the train is probably your best bet.


I thought this too. TY


----------



## Muddychic75 (12 Jun 2014)

Mr Haematocrit said:


> Hire a van from a national hire firm, drop it off in London


But vans don't tend to seat 4 do they ?


----------



## jefmcg (12 Jun 2014)

For some reason, I decided to check http://www.easycar.com/ which looks at multiple car hire companies. If you specify "return to a different location" and "england", you only get these choices. It doesn't seem like a practical option. Group save seems the best in this case.


----------



## Salad Dodger (12 Jun 2014)

When I was looking to hire a van recently, the max they had was 3 seats.
Of course, you could hire a 7 seater mpv type vehicle, but you wouldn't get 4 bikes in it......

So some sort of train deal looks favourite.


----------



## the snail (12 Jun 2014)

Ride your bikes to London. Well you did say cheapest...


----------



## Tim Hall (12 Jun 2014)

User13710 said:


> Off peak you can get any number of bikes on Southern trains. When the bike spaces are full the other bikes just go in the unused doorways - but watch out for East Croydon where the platform is on the unexpected side.
> 
> Why are people so keen on putting yet another vehicle on the roads here, when there is an excellent train service that's free for bikes, I wonder.


[QUOTE 3129101, member: 45"]I think people are discussing the alternatives, not forcing through the use of road vehicles.[/QUOTE]

TMN didn't say "force" she said "keen on". But I'd agree, from West Sussex to London Town Divine, the obvious method seems to be a bit of Groupsave Goodness.

To the OP: Deploy the Mk1 Winning Smile when jibbling more than two bikes into the available space. On the way back from our French excursion there were manycyclists onthe train out of Brighton. Announcement over the tannoy alerted everybody to this fact and that they should move if necessary to let the bikes go to the appropriate spaces.


----------



## Muddychic75 (12 Jun 2014)

the snail said:


> Ride your bikes to London. Well you did say cheapest...


Ha since I've signed up for 75 miles I'm intending not to exceed that really !


----------



## Muddychic75 (12 Jun 2014)

Thank - you everyone I feel a phone call to Southern Trains coming on : )


----------



## vickster (12 Jun 2014)

Certainly this weekend with the bhf l2b, there have been amends to cycle policy. There was a poster up at city thameslink yesterday. Here is southerns announcement

http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/cycle-policy/bike-ride/

I don't know whether this other ride will carry the same restrictions


----------



## vickster (12 Jun 2014)

On Sunday it reads like it's both directions, any southern or gatwick express.

http://www.southernrailway.com/download/26235.3/cycle-restriction-map-for-bike-ride-2013/

Ditto FCC

http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/plan-your-journey/major-events/


----------



## vickster (12 Jun 2014)

I don't know when it is, the OP doesn't say


----------



## mrbikerboy73 (12 Jun 2014)

It's on the 20th September.


----------



## Muddychic75 (12 Jun 2014)

TY 


vickster said:


> Certainly this weekend with the bhf l2b, there have been amends to cycle policy. There was a poster up at city thameslink yesterday. Here is southerns announcement
> 
> http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/cycle-policy/bike-ride/
> 
> I don't know whether this other ride will carry the same restrictions


----------



## 02GF74 (14 Jun 2014)

I would suggest a big car e.g. mpv and roof rack?


----------



## Ticktockmy (16 Jun 2014)

My partner and I travel regularly on the Southern Rail system, with no hassle, just check that they are not doing any rail works, depending how many carriages makes up the train depends whether there are 2,4 or 6 cycle spaces, but you can put your bike in the door spaces at any other point in the train, however if the train passes through Gatwick airport I would opt to board the train either in the front or rear of the train as at Gatwick during the summer the travelling masses tend to crowd into the Middle carriages.


----------



## Muddychic75 (16 Jun 2014)

Ticktockmy said:


> My partner and I travel regularly on the Southern Rail system, with no hassle, just check that they are not doing any rail works, depending how many carriages makes up the train depends whether there are 2,4 or 6 cycle spaces, but you can put your bike in the door spaces at any other point in the train, however if the train passes through Gatwick airport I would opt to board the train either in the front or rear of the train as at Gatwick during the summer the travelling masses tend to crowd into the Middle carriages.


Thank- you that's useful to know.


----------

