Rinko bicycles
 

The latest issue of Bicycling Quarterly has a piece on Rinko bicycles. In Japan you cannot take a full sized bike on the trains, so some Japanese cyclists developed a clever way of disassembling the bike so that it will fit into a bag. I guess with practice you can do it in ten minutes. That's more time than folding a folder, but with this system you still have a full sized bike.

The BQ issue is paper and I don't think it is available on line, however if you google rinko bicycles you can find more on it.

I think it is a clever idea that may interest people on this forum (as well as the Touring and Long Distance forums) who want to tarvel with their bikes on trains.

It should be noted that rinko is not a brand of bicycle, but traveling on the train with your bicycle.

Here's an article on it.

http://www.knoxgardner.com/2011/rink...bike-in-japan/

Way too much work and mess for something done regularly. I would definitely get a folding bicycle if I needed to use a train very often.

Interesting.

I never knew there was a name for the person who brings a full size bike into a train covered in a bag! Who knew? I guess you may one day call me a Rinko! LOL!

If I had to use a full size bike in a bag, (for touring purposes) I'd buy a bike with a Nexus 11 hub which is not going to have a derailluer that can get crushed in a bag. Better yet, get a full size folding bike like the Montague where the derailluer folds up (to prevent damage) and the cycle can be disassembled in minutes.

YouTube had a great presentation on the whole process of using a Rinko bag. WOW! It took forever! I would need to carry 15 pages of instructions on how to use all those straps.

Gosh, it's a lot of work...I wouldn't want to do that twice a day for commuting! But it would be great for taking a bike on a Greyhound bus, for example. They might not even charge extra to put it under the bus with other luggage.

You actually need a box with a Greyhound bus because they stack everything on top of each other. The driver does not care what gets on top of your bike and this bag does not offer enough protection. When the driver does find out there's a bicycle in the bag, he may force you to buy a box! However, the time to buy a box is not when everyone is boarding!

Why Resist the better solution? Folding, small wheel bikes, FTW ..


BTW ..

It's Amtrak thats the PIA, here..

Europe I had no problems .

SNCF took the whole Group's Bikes overnight, to Bern,CH .. left at the Paris Station a couple days early
they were there when we got there .. took the TGV to Lyon then a slower one to Switzerland, '88.

There is a difference between shipping bicycle(s) as freight in advance of departure, to be picked up at a distant location on a later date, and a passenger rolling a bike on train as is, or as accompanied baggage.

you have a Gig with the French railroads? or a recent equivalent experience ? IYHA US group tour ..
it was 26 years ago ..

ticketed passengers one and all, the overnight service was for the convenience of the railroad & the passengers .

Amtrak is its own Universe .. sitting on the siding while the freight moves instead.

If Amtrak is not helpful/convenient is there a problem using some other ground transportation mode "a couple days early" like FedEx surface or UPS?

LBS, here, .. gets and ships Bikes back for Touring cyclist's bikes all summer ..

What's the issue with Amtrak? I've been on a few tours where I brought my bicycle with me on the train.

Amtrak service is extremely limited both in location and service, and few stations permit the baggage handling that Amtrak requires for full size bikes. There is an Amtrak station located my hometown with terminuses in Chicago and SF. No baggage handling services at the station, hence no full sized bicycles allowed to be taken on board. Most other stations have the same limitation.

There are numerous other issues with long distance Amtrak service such as a watch being useless for meeting/catching a train, a calendar is about as good.

I've taken numerous trains. They were all close to on-time except for one in which teenagers dumped a pickup truck load of gravel on the train tracks as a prank. The train hit the gravel and it damaged the front of the train and required a welding repair. That was a four hour delay.

Yes, you do need a station with baggage handling and that's been a problem for me at times. Amtrak is in the process of expanding their walk-on service this year. Hopefully that's a big improvement to availability in many areas - we'll see.

In spite of its shortcomings it remains a valuable way to bicycle tour for me. Most places I want to go, a baggage-stop station is not more than a day's ride away.

The Amtrak bicycling issue in a nutshell.

I do something similar to fly with my bicycle.

Noticing that most airlines allow golf and hockey bags as baggage with no upcharge, but want $100 for a bike, I bought a big floppy hockey bag. With the pedals off, the fork and saddle removed the frame and wheels can be made into a sandwich that fits. The bars, fork, and other part are fitted where I can, using my other stuff, like clothing, as padding. The only worry is damage from the sides to the chainring and seat tube, so I pad the sides well with 2 layers of 1/2" thick foam sheets. These bags are so big that I have to stuff extra padding all over to keep stiff from moving, yet the airline doesn't care and, so far, neither does TSA.

When I took my bike on the SNCF, the bike never showed up in Calais. Six months later I got a note from them saying that it was waiting in Boulogne for me to pick up. I had an import export company spend another six months trying to pry it from their hands without success.

I think they were P.O.ed because my bike was a Peugeot with a SunTour groupo. Sacrilege. :rolleyes:

Early on, this video shows some North Americans using the rinko system during their journey. Starting at 2:23.

I just found out about Rinko, it is pretty cool.