Sending bike home from France

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Post Reply
Aileen
Posts: 3
Joined: 9 Oct 2024, 4:48pm

Sending bike home from France

Post by Aileen »

Can anyone recommend a company who could take our bikes home from Nice to the UK? We would like to independently ride to Nice but as we won't have a bike box, it's difficult to fly home to Bristol with them. Alternatively, can anyone advise on travel from Nice to St Malo with bikes?
simonhill
Posts: 5484
Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by simonhill »

Most people go to a bike shop and get a cardboard bike box. Search Google maps for a likely place. Someone may suggest a name.

Pre booking on a flight would cost £40-60 ish for each bike.

Train is another option. No doubt someone else can give details.

Trying to send a bike unaccompanied tends to be very expensive unless you break right down. Plus possible import problems.
Attachments
1000000300.jpg
rareposter
Posts: 2726
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 2:40pm

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by rareposter »

There's more or less daily flights on easyJet from Nice to Bristol. A bike box on that will be £45 (your airfare will probably be half that!).

There are half a dozen bike shops in Nice (a google search will find them all plus contact info) - just give them a call them a week or so in advance and ask to get a cardboard box. They may charge for it but even then it'll still be far and away the cheapest and easiest option for getting the bikes home. The airport is an easy tram ride from town as well - we took our boxed bikes on the tram both to and from the airport when we were there earlier this year.

Nice, Bristol and easyJet are all well used to handling them too.
PH
Posts: 13713
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 12:31am
Location: Derby
Contact:

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by PH »

You can buy a box at Nice airport (EDIT - Obviously a free one is better, you can weigh up Rareposters good experience against the cost and take your pick) there's also a wrapping service. Haven't used it but know someone who has, can get the details if you like. Though you could probably find them yourself.
Unaccompanied goods can be troublesome, the problems are not insurmountable, but if you can avoid it, I would.
Jdsk
Posts: 27854
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by Jdsk »

We had to do this a few years ago. Two adults, two solo bikes.

By far the best solution for us was one-way car hire to a Channel port.

Jonathan
Aileen
Posts: 3
Joined: 9 Oct 2024, 4:48pm

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by Aileen »

I was rather hoping that one of the companies who do a supported St Malo to Nice might be willing to bring the bikes back in their van along with their clients bikes. We'd be very happy to pay their fee and we have proof of purchase for customs. The other thought had been catching the sleeper train from Nice to Paris then a local train to St Malo then the overnight ferry back to Portsmouth but it makes it a very long journey and bikes on trains in France seem to be a minefield.
sizbut
Posts: 237
Joined: 2 Oct 2018, 11:56pm

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by sizbut »

If you search around other threads, you'll find that many cases since the B-word, where bikes without riders have ended up with customs charges. Most cases have been bikes being transported into France, but in theory in can happen going into the UK unless you're travelling with your bike to say its yours. Hence why people are encouraging you to make life simpler and cheaper by just finding a box.
simonhill
Posts: 5484
Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by simonhill »

If your preferred method is to piggy back on an organised tour's transport, I'd suggest you contact them.

You could also seek out a French courier company that would carry it to St Malo. You'd probably need to box it.

Also is cost a concern. Passenger fare plus bike plus baggage on Easyjet will probably be about £100 and take 2 hours.
Bmblbzzz
Posts: 6790
Joined: 18 May 2012, 7:56pm
Location: From here to there.

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by Bmblbzzz »

When you pick up your bike box, get some drop-out braces too. These are plastic tubes that mimic axles to stop the drop outs on frame and forks getting bent out of shape in transit; new bikes arrive at the shop, in the boxes, with them. No, I don't know the name for them in French!
gregoryoftours
Posts: 2325
Joined: 22 May 2011, 7:14pm

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by gregoryoftours »

Are they regular bikes or electric? The latter may be problematic. I flew from Nice to Stansted just over a week ago with a bike in a box. I just Google map searched for bike shops (there are many) and emailed in advance. Got a couple of hits, ended up getting tired of looking around and bought one for €20 from this branch of Bouticycle:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/6rfqvkMgQebMrNoU8

It was a decent size to fit my touring bike partially dismantled.
DSC01056.JPG
IMG_20240927_223302.jpg
Last time I got one free of charge from 'Mode Cyclable' and they offered me one this time too.

ox6gene near the airport also had one in that was suitable but told me to come back at 6 when he'd unpacked the bike in it.

I'd just advise leaving plenty of time to sort it all, (about a full day) and buy a roll of gaffer tape from a hardware store. If you're going to need to drag the box anywhere flatten a mineral water bottle and tape it to the corner that will drag on the floor, it saves the box getting ripped open.

I imagine that some bike shops may provide a packing service but I didn't look into it. I do seem to remember one of the Google reviews for one of the shops I looked at where someone got this service and was happy with it though, so that might be a relatively cheap and hassle free way of doing it.

My Ryanair flight charged £60 one way for a bike, but weight allowance for it was 30kg so I put all tools, camping gear etc in it without issue. Kept the gaffer tape until I was sure that the box wasn't going to be opened at security.

It's all quite a hassle and you have to know how to dismantle and pack your bike in a way that minimizes the risk of damage, but it can be a relatively cheap option.
Rob D
Posts: 342
Joined: 9 Jan 2020, 8:00pm
Location: Devon

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by Rob D »

Another point, which may not be relevant here if it's a direct flight, is to keep with you some more tape. If you have to collect the bike between flights, you may find repairs to the boxes are required.
Aileen
Posts: 3
Joined: 9 Oct 2024, 4:48pm

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by Aileen »

Thanks all. This is really helpful. We are on standard bikes, travelling fairly light(rather than camping). We shouldn't have any problem dismantling the bikes. (Diary note to make sure the pedals as not seized before leaving). Much as the idea of enjoying a relaxed rail trip across France appeals, it is outweighed by the stress of worrying about a guard telling us we can't take the bike on the planned train. Booking a couple of cardboard boxes and a 2 hour flight seems overall less stressful.
Rob D
Posts: 342
Joined: 9 Jan 2020, 8:00pm
Location: Devon

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by Rob D »

Another point: my one tour on an old mountain bike showed me boxing the bike is easy. Turn bars round, remove pedals, job done. Maybe front wheel off? But now with a touring bike and drops, it's massively more complex, so we have written out the steps in a note on the phone. Makes life much easier.

Also included is the minimum size of boxes for our 2 bikes - really useful when trying to source boxes.
irc
Posts: 5289
Joined: 3 Dec 2008, 2:22pm
Location: glasgow

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by irc »

The good thing about the home leg is it doesn't matter how far you need break it down. re-assembly can be done at leasure. In Daytona Beach the only box I could get was for a small bike, maybe a childs. My 60cm tourer needed both wheels off, seatpost/saddle, front rack, bars and fork removed, and crankset and pedals off to get it packed between the box and my suitcase.

A benefit of Hollowtech 2 style cranks are they are removed easily with just an Allen key.

USA bike shops don't often have boxes lying around. A couple of times I have just offered to buy a box for a few dollars if they took the factory bike out it. Last time I was surprised when after doing that the mechanic put the sale through the till. I expected it to be beer money.
pq
Posts: 1415
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 11:41pm
Location: St Antonin Noble Val, France
Contact:

Re: Sending bike home from France

Post by pq »

If you want to go by train to St Malo and don't want to dismantle your bike, the SNCF aren't especially good at pointing you in the right direction. They should be your first port of call, but if the bike spaces are all taken on the fast trains, they will tell you the journey is impossible. That's rarely the case - have a look on velotrain.fr which will tell you the best route, then book each train separately on SNCF with bike reservation if necessary. Also look to see if there's a suitable night train to Paris, they tend to be very bike friendly.
One link to your website is enough. G
Post Reply