Storing bike boxes in Paris

[Eah]

Anyone have any suggestions on where to store hard shell bike boxes upon arrival at Charles De
Gaulle Airport/Paris? The airport has eliminated left luggage due to security reasons. I know that
many hotels will provide a left luggage service if you stay there but we plan on immediately heading
south out of Paris to the Pyrenees. Thanks.

 

[Mark]

"EAH" wrote
> Anyone have any suggestions on where to store hard shell bike boxes upon arrival at Charles De
> Gaulle Airport/Paris? The airport has eliminated left luggage due to security reasons. I know that
> many hotels will provide a left luggage service if you stay there but we plan on immediately
> heading south out of Paris to the Pyrenees. Thanks.

Are you cycling from Paris to the Pyrenees or transporting the bikes from Paris to the Pyrenees and
then cycling? If you're taking a train from Paris to the Pyrenees you'll need to have the bikes in
containers in order to take them on most long distance trains in France. If you're cycling from
Paris to the Pyrenees you might want to consider one night in a hotel in Paris just to get the left
luggage option. Another option is to fly into Paris with the bikes in cardboard boxes from a bike
shop, pitch the boxes when you arrive, and buy fresh boxes for the trip home. Lots of airports have
shops on the premises that sell various shipping containers to people in situations like yours.
Check the website for Charles de Gaulle airport and see what you can find.

A third option is to take the bikes on the plane fully assembled and unboxed. There are people who
believe that baggage handlers will treat an unboxed bike more carefully than a faceless box. I
suspect that this would work best on a direct flight to Paris.

Sorry if this isn't exactly the answer you were looking for, but maybe you could get a better
response by being a little more specific about your travel plans.
--
mark

 

[Robert Chung]

"EAH" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Anyone have any suggestions on where to store hard shell bike boxes upon arrival at Charles De
> Gaulle Airport/Paris? The airport has eliminated left luggage due to security reasons. I know that
> many hotels will provide a left luggage service if you stay there but we plan on immediately
> heading south out of Paris to the Pyrenees. Thanks.

There are a couple of hotels at CDG. You could check with them ahead of time to see if they'll take
your hard cases even if you're not staying.

Most of the TGV don't have baggage cars and bikes must be dismantled and put into a "housse" of
specific dimensions (I think 90cm x 120cm, but you'd have to double check) that will fit in the
carryon areas at the ends of each car. Some of the traditional corail do have baggage cars that will
take bikes, but they are definitely not a majority of trains, so you'd have to check there, too. If
you don't take a corail with a baggage car, you'll most likely have to put it in a housse, also. I
know a guy who was lucky enough a few years ago to take a nearly empty TGV so he didn't have to
dismantle his bike, but this is almost surely not something one can count on.

 

[Eah]

We will be renting a car in Paris and driving down to the Pyrenees with our bikes. I plan on
"rebuilding" the bikes at CDG airport and then using a trunk mounted bike rack for
transporting them.

The cardboard box suggestion is a good one and would probably work if we were just taking touring
bikes. However, we are doing L'Etape du Tour and will be bringing our very nice racing bikes. I
definitely do not want to chance what could happen to them in a cardboard box on British Air! We
went through an unfortunate experience years ago when the airline cargo guys almost destroyed a
front wheel on one of our touring bikes enroute to Amsterdam. It took several days to get it fixed.

Anyhow, perhaps calling ahead to some hotels near CDG to see if they are willing to let us leave the
hard shell boxes with them without staying might be the best answer at this point. Any other
suggestions would definitely be welcome. Thanks.

"Robert Chung" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "EAH" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Anyone have any suggestions on where to store hard shell bike boxes upon arrival at Charles De
> > Gaulle Airport/Paris? The airport has eliminated left luggage due to security reasons. I know
> > that many hotels will provide a left luggage service if you stay there but we plan on
> > immediately heading south out of Paris to the Pyrenees. Thanks.
>
> There are a couple of hotels at CDG. You could check with them ahead of time to see if they'll
> take your hard cases even if you're not staying.
>
> Most of the TGV don't have baggage cars and bikes must be dismantled and put into a "housse" of
> specific dimensions (I think 90cm x 120cm, but you'd have to double check) that will fit in the
> carryon areas at the ends of each car. Some of the traditional corail do have baggage cars that
> will take bikes, but they are definitely not a majority of trains, so you'd have to check there,
> too. If you don't take a corail with a baggage car, you'll most likely have to put it in a housse,
> also. I know a guy who was lucky enough a few years ago to take a nearly empty TGV so he didn't
> have to dismantle his bike, but this is almost surely not something one can count on.

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On 16 Jun 2003 13:00:26 -0700, [email protected] (EAH) wrote:

>Anyhow, perhaps calling ahead to some hotels near CDG to see if they are willing to let us leave
>the hard shell boxes with them without staying might be the best answer at this point. Any other
>suggestions would definitely be welcome. Thanks.

Make not-too-subtly clear that you don't mind paying for the privilege. Possibly you might even get
someone who's nice enough then to do it for free.

Jasper