I fly quite a bit and am a little bored with paying 25 quid taxi each way. I never need much and have toiletries left at my destination so am beginning to think I'll ride there. Leave my bike there on the Friday and then bike home on the Sunday. It's only 15 miles.
So am now trying to figure out what Heathrow means when it says bike parking? Does it mean a basic rack or do they have some more sophisticated plastic box parking? Ideally I'd like to leave tools and spares on the bike as I'm not convinced hand luggage -all I ever have- would let me through with leatherman/ multi tool / pump etc. it'd be nice to leave my bike shoes too.
Anybody ever done this? Am I barking?
Would left luggage accept something so large? Probably the most secure but not free.
Definitely don't try to take a multitool through security. They insisted on confiscating mine (I eventually bargained them down to just the screwdriver blades; they let me keep the hex ends and the chain breaker).
I'd be interested in how you get on though.
Yeah I read that left luggage will take a bike but like said it won't be cheap.
I guess I could reduce the price by only leaving a small bag of bike gear at left luggage.
I was sort of hoping they rented out those plastic bike sheds some councils use so I could leave my bike in it and also a few bits of gear then go to my terminal on foot or a free bus to catch my plane. Humph.
What you need is a friend with a tandem.
Bike parking is just racks, nothing secure as such. One bonus though is that the place is well covered by cctv cameras and there's a huge police presence so bikes are fairly safe when locked up. I've never heard of a bike getting stolen in the time I've worked there.
If you're leaving from terminals 1, 2 or 3 you can't cycle to the terminals any more. You'd have to go to T4 or T5 and get the train in from there.
left luggage will be a hell of a lot more than the taxi.
No bus/rail options?
Its T5 and notmyrealname is right I can cycle there and there are racks. I'm less worried about bike theft as I'd take the cheap commuter bike. I just spoke ton the hub, which is a bike community place set up for LHR employees. They have said I can use one of their bike sheds which is just ace, the only issue is now getting from them to the terminal. For this to work it has to be simple to do. A cab aint an option, too short a fair. upset cabbies. need to either walk from there or bus OR park in a rack on T5 and find something to do with multitools. Maybe I risk it without tools.
Bike parking is just racks, nothing secure as such. One bonus though is that the place is well covered by cctv cameras and there's a huge police presence so bikes are fairly safe when locked up..........
If you're leaving from terminals 1, 2 or 3 you can't cycle to the terminals any more. You'd have to go to T4 or T5 and get the train in from there.
This is a shame, I've always liked the idea of cycling to the airport! 🙂
Think it's the 423 to T5. Within the free travel area too!
And you can wear your helmet on, so it won't count as handluggage. Bonus !
What tools do you really need? Surely one tube, cheap pump, tyre levers and some emergency patches.
If you really must take a multitool, then either gamble on leaving it on the bike (e.g. put it in a waterbottle or something) or post it back home from the airport and ride back without.
I'd fly with only a rucksack as hand luggage and the main things would be lid, shoes and multi tool. more an inconvenience than real blocker. I'd have laptop and climbing clothes as well as jeans/T's and the likes. So ideally the less I need to take on the plane the better. free bus sounds good. will look into that.