bhayes@Glacier.ARPA (Barry Hayes) (09/24/85)
I'm taking off on a train journey soon, and AMTRAK says that for $5.00 they'll sell me a box, and ship it as baggage. Anyone have any experience with this? They break things? Am I better off getting my own bike carrier/bag? -Barry Hayes bhayes@glacier glacier!bhayes
reintom@rocky2.UUCP (Tom Reingold) (09/26/85)
Yes, I have used their service of this type many times. I would say that it is a little less than adequate, but given that there are few or no other convenient choices, I often use it. They haven't battered my bike since they started requiring the use of boxes, but they did once lose my bike going from Boston to New York City. The claim check was essential to making a claim, so hold onto yours carefully. They did a "trace" and had no luck finding it, so they made an offer based on what I said the bike was worth. It took a few months, but I got it. If the bike is worth more that the normally insured amount (which was $500 last time for me), then DO insure it for the difference! It is cheap and if you don't and they lose it, that's it! After they lost my bike, I was in Boston soon afterwards. I had another bike and I told the same guy who had checked my bike when it was lost that I wanted to insure it for $1000. He said "What are you worried about? It's insured for $500 and nothing's gonna happen to it!" Hah.
gunser@ihuxx.UUCP (John M. Gunser) (09/26/85)
> I'm taking off on a train journey soon, and AMTRAK says that for $5.00 > they'll sell me a box, and ship it as baggage. Anyone have any > experience with this? They break things? Am I better off getting > my own bike carrier/bag? > > -Barry Hayes I cycled to Florida earlier this summer and returned via AMTRAK. The box that you get for the $5 is pretty good sized, and the bike will fit with both wheels in place. You do however have to remove the handle bars and the pedals. The box is made pretty sturdy but for some reason there is only one set of hand holes cut in the box. This makes for a real difficult time carrying the box after the bike is packed. In fact what happens is you can pick up the front by the cut out hand holes and drag the back end of the box. So what happened to me was that from dragging the back end of the box the rear tire wore through the cardboard. This in turn caused the tire to turn which caused the front chainring to turn which caught on the tent which was in the bottom of the box. Luckily the chainring only cut through the stuff sack and not the tent itself. But that was probabaly done by me as I drug it out of the basement at Union Station. The bike was too large to be checked with regular luggage on the main floor. All considered though the trip was great and I would just suggest that you cut a second set of handles in the box and don't try to put too much weight (tent, sleeping bag, ande panniers like I did) in the box even though there is room for it. My bike made it without a scratch and it even changed trains in Washington DC. Enjoy the train ride. Good luck if its an overnight trip. Sleeping on the train is next to impossible. John Gunser ihnp4!ihuxx!gunser