Amtrak roll on bike service?

[Askel]

Anybody ever use Amtrak's roll on bike service? Looking to take Amtrak out west this summer, but both my wife's and my bike both exceed the size height and length dimensions by roughly an inch each. The width restriction of 8.5" I can only assume does not include pedals and bars....

I can probably do some trainside repackaging to make everything legal, but just curious how much I might get hassled. Planning on taking the California Zephyr.

[kendallf]

I've taken my bike on Amtrak several times; they usually just roll it into a car and strap it to the wall.  One train actually had sort of "bike racks" in one car and I loaded/unloaded my bike myself.  In no case did they actually measure or look at the bike in detail.  A couple of those trips were with a fully loaded touring bike, bags and all, FWIW.

[Askel]

Thanks! That's pretty much the impression I got, will order up some tickets soon!

[GuitarStv]

If you're only an inch or so over for height, you can just drop the seatpost and take the bars off if they make a big deal about it can't you?  That's just a mater of unscrewing a couple bolts and can be done in a minute or two.

[Askel]

Yeah, that's my plan if I get hassled- just rotate the bars and the stem so everything fits in spec. And deflate my tires if that extra inch of length is just going to kill them.

Although after asking around, it doesn't sound like it's a big deal. I probably wouldn't be able to get away with taking my Big Dummy, but anything that resembles a normal bicycle is fine.  They'll even accommodate bikes that don't quite fit in the onboard racks.   

[debittogether]

Anybody ever use Amtrak's roll on bike service? Looking to take Amtrak out west this summer, but both my wife's and my bike both exceed the size height and length dimensions by roughly an inch each. The width restriction of 8.5" I can only assume does not include pedals and bars....

I can probably do some trainside repackaging to make everything legal, but just curious how much I might get hassled. Planning on taking the California Zephyr.

Call Amtrak and verify you can bring your bikes on those trains at those stops.  I got left behind by Amtrak before b/c while the train allowed bikes they would only permit it at certain stations and they refused to accommodate.  Honestly I'll never attempt a bike on Amtrak again after that instance.