Bon soir. The family is looking to spend a chunk of time in Paris and would like to bring the 3 bikes along. Understand I take my life into my hands to try to ride in Paris but would like them around for trips to Germany & Italy. How do you find out about the options available (shipping vis a vis as luggage). Once in airport CDG, how do you get them to "home"? Any help?

I brought a bike once from the US to Europe, and checked it as my second suitcase. I had no trouble at all transporting it this way. Also, depending on which airline you fly, you can ship it ahead. Take a look at the airlines' "cargo" pages, they have lots of information there. <BR> <BR>Getting it from the airport to "home" was trickier, but managed nicely with a station wagon taxi. You can get good bike bags in the US, by the way, although I brought mine in its original cardboard box. Don't forget to include a few basic bike tools -- you'll want to remove the front tire (or both) and the handlebars/seat, and reassemble when you get there.

Have you checked with the web site of the SNCF, the French National Railways? <BR>Many railway stations in France (outside Paris) rent bikes. This is true in some other countries, too. I rented one in Belgium a few years ago. Very cheap. Saved all that hassle of lugging a bike and avoided the damage done by the bag handlers. Also, in Paris, there are shops which rent bikes. But traffic in Paris is not bike-friendly. Stay in the pathways in the parks. But on the streets? Never.

We've taken our bikes to Europe with us 5 times, Dublin and Malpensa (Milan) once each and Frankfurt 3 times. To Dublin we used a box from the bike shop but these are designed to ship a very basic bike, sans handlebars, wheels, saddle, etc. Next time, to Malpensa we used bike bags provided by American Airlines. 3 times to Frankfurt we used bike boxes from a company in Florida. We check them as checked luggage and there is no extra charge, at least on AA. However, we do tour exclusively on our bikes, solo no tour group. You might follow Al's advice and rent bikes locally, we know that Austria has a great program for renting bikes. Getting the bikes to Europe isn't a big problem, it's transporting them once you get there, if you're driving and have a bike rack, no sweat, but if you're using trains it's a different story. Feel free to email if you have specific questions, we've cycled in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland,Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, we do Normandie this Spring. I'm 62, my wife 53.

Bikes travel as one bag on international flights. Domestically, there is a charge for each filegt - therefore be sure to check your bike all the way through to the final destination and don't get charged for any domestic section. <BR> <BR>Get the bike box from the airline. Get them as soon as you get your tickets, because they often don't have them in stock. Airline boxes are considerabley bigger than bike shop boxes. For the airline boxes, you will need to take off the pedals and turn the handlebars. Bike shop boxes require almost complete disassembly. TWA used to have the best boxes, but it has been 15 years since I used one from there. <BR> <BR>Getting out of the airport is a hassle. We took ours on the train to Paris, but it took us 3 hours to find someone who could tell us how to get to the train station (just telling us to take the bus wasn't an otption with our bikes). I would recommend the big station wagon taxi. It might take a couple of trips. <BR> <BR>If you are only going to use the bikes a little, and aren't serious cyclists, I would recommend using the bikes available at the train stations

Anybody know anything about getting a motorbike or full-fledged motorcycle to Europe from the USA? by air or by ship? and if by ship, any chance that those same ships offer "work-fare"? <BR> <BR>I suppose this question seems more like a www.lonelyplanet.com question, but I had to ask (a questioner has asked me). <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>www.allexperts.com

http://www.micapeak.com/~marcl/pages/shipbike.html <BR> <BR>Re, <BR>A thread from a motorcycle site on shipping to Europe. Sounds awkward and expensive.