Would you use this service?
YourBikeToEurope
Posts: 2
Your Bike and Luggage to France, Germany, Spain...
Hi All,
Starting in 2016 I hope to offer a service for cyclists who, like me, are fed up with the hassle of transporting bikes when going on holiday. I’ve had my fare share of woe in the past and we’ve all read of people trying to ride away from airports on bikes damaged by careless baggage handlers.
Instead, I can collect your bike and panniers and deliver them to your choice of destination—your first hotel, for example—ready for you to collect. At the end of your tour I will collect your bike and bags allowing you to return home with the minimum of baggage. Bikes will be transported without having to strip them down and will be well wrapped and strapped to ensure they are not damaged.
I’d like to offer a truly bespoke service including door-to-door delivery and on dates and to destinations chosen by you; however this would be costly. A cheaper option would be to service different areas one at a time in rotation throughout the season, each area being available to travel to for a couple of weeks at a time. Tackled like this I might be able to bring down the starting price for a bike and four panniers to under a hundred pounds return to destinations in northern France and western Germany with one-to-two hundred pounds being a likely figure for northern Spain, Switzerland, southern France and northern Italy.
I’d be very grateful for your help in telling me how you might use a service such as this; I’d particularly like to hear from cycle clubs.
Hi All,
Starting in 2016 I hope to offer a service for cyclists who, like me, are fed up with the hassle of transporting bikes when going on holiday. I’ve had my fare share of woe in the past and we’ve all read of people trying to ride away from airports on bikes damaged by careless baggage handlers.
Instead, I can collect your bike and panniers and deliver them to your choice of destination—your first hotel, for example—ready for you to collect. At the end of your tour I will collect your bike and bags allowing you to return home with the minimum of baggage. Bikes will be transported without having to strip them down and will be well wrapped and strapped to ensure they are not damaged.
I’d like to offer a truly bespoke service including door-to-door delivery and on dates and to destinations chosen by you; however this would be costly. A cheaper option would be to service different areas one at a time in rotation throughout the season, each area being available to travel to for a couple of weeks at a time. Tackled like this I might be able to bring down the starting price for a bike and four panniers to under a hundred pounds return to destinations in northern France and western Germany with one-to-two hundred pounds being a likely figure for northern Spain, Switzerland, southern France and northern Italy.
I’d be very grateful for your help in telling me how you might use a service such as this; I’d particularly like to hear from cycle clubs.
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Comments
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Honestly, I wouldn't.
With a car that doesn't have bad fuel consumption, and a few friends, it's already cheaper to just drive abroad anyway, and the projected price of £100-200 for the Alps, it's close to what you'd be paying for a return trip with 4 in the car.
If I absolutely couldn't drive, probably still no, as I believe there are courier companies that will do the same thing for less, and they have specific insurance. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how you'd be managing to do it without losing a ton of money, unless you had multiple deliveries per trip, and even then you'd have to ensure you have enough customers to make it viable.
Sorry.Check out my site - http://www.trail-dog.co.uk
It's good for you.0 -
Nope.
With a a couple mates it's cheaper to drive, just as quick (drive to airport, waiting, flight, transfer etc) plus my car is much nicer than a hire car.Transition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=130702350 -
Possibly but you'd have to be close to the cost of the airlines (Easyjet are £35 each way) plus maybe £20 for the hassle of not having to take my bike through the airport.
I've done 6 trips from Bristol to Geneva with at least 5 others & we've not had a single bike damaged & that includes some in cardboard bike boxes.
As said above, I don't think you'll get much trade from people driving down.0 -
Possibly but you'd have to be close to the cost of the airlines (Easyjet are £35 each way) plus maybe £20 for the hassle of not having to take my bike through the airport.
I've done 6 trips from Bristol to Geneva with at least 5 others & we've not had a single bike damaged & that includes some in cardboard bike boxes.
As said above, I don't think you'll get much trade from people driving down.
The one time I flew with a bike, they bent several parts on it. One of the other guys had his bike lost for 3 weeks.Check out my site - http://www.trail-dog.co.uk
It's good for you.0 -
If you want to do this, I wonder if you best bet might be to team up with one of the major tour companies like Saddle Skedaddle and offer it as an add-on to their service to their customers.
So for a tour like St Malo to Nice for example, you get maybe half a dozen bikes to pick up and deliver to St Malo then two weeks later collect them all from Nice.
That way you might even be able to combine a trip dropping bikes off for one tour with picking up bikes from another for the return journey as they often start/finish at a weekend.
Dont know if it would work out but seems a better bet than an ad-hoc service...0
