{"id":859,"date":"2014-11-04T14:17:51","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T20:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/?p=859"},"modified":"2014-11-04T14:17:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T20:17:51","slug":"bicycle-travel-southwest-chief-amtrak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/bicycle-travel-southwest-chief-amtrak\/","title":{"rendered":"Bicycle Travel on the Southwest Chief – Amtrak"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Amtrak<\/a>

Amtrak bicycle box<\/p><\/div>\n

This is the box my Bianchi Volpe touring bicycle traveled in from Los Angeles to Chicago. I had to remove the handle bar from the stem. It was then taped to the frame. I also removed the pedals. Because the bracket for the handle bar bag was in the way, I removed it also. Then the bicycle just rolls in to the box. There was not much space left at the end. I was able to leave the saddle in place. <\/p>\n

Amtrak charges $15.00 for the box plus a $10.00 check in fee. On my trip to Seattle, I used a box from a local bike shop. I had to remove the front rack and fender, the handle bars, seat post and saddle. It took a long time to dismantle and a long time to reassemble when I arrived. The Amtrak box is much easier to work with.
\n

\"Rolling<\/a>

Rolling the bike out of the box<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

With the bicycle out of the box in Chicago, I just reassembled the handle bar to the stem and put the bracket for the handle bar bag back in place. Then I put the panniers on and I was ready to take the bike home. <\/p>\n

\"Assemble<\/a>

Assemble touring bike<\/p><\/div>\n

If you are at Union Station in Chicago in the afternoon, you will find that you cannot take a bicycle on a commuter train between 3pm and 7pm. That left me with a long wait for the 7:40pm train. <\/p>\n

Traveling with your bicycle on Amtrak works well. It is likely to cost less than taking a bicycle on an airplane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the box my Bianchi Volpe touring bicycle traveled in from Los Angeles to Chicago. I had to remove the handle bar from the stem. It was then taped to the frame. I also removed the pedals. Because the bracket for the handle bar bag was in the way, I removed it also. Then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bicycle-train-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bikeacrossusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}