Hopefully the new class 810s fix this, but I have a feeling they won't...

Interesting that my two least favourite operators to take my bike on are two that aren't yet managed by the DfT 🤔( #crosscountry and #EMR)

This is honestly pretty dangerous and risks damaging either the bikes or injuring someone in the aisle seats. Given the only bike space is in the rear carriage on these trains, I'm not sure what EMR expect cyclists to do here? Block the aisle?

However, none of us realised that due to long eaton having a short platform, the doors on the rear carriage don't open, and we had a bit of a chaoric moment as I had to get out of their way as they carried their BMXs through the main aisle.

These require a reservation, and Avanti have no "first come first serve" spaces. LNER have the same policy, and I was in a situation a few years ago where I was scrambling to book a space from my phone on the platform, as the staff wouldn't let my bike on even though there was clearly space

This obviously means you can't keep an eye on your bike. While I felt confident my bike wasn't going to fall over, a thief could theoretically bring an old bike on the train, then walk off with mine (as I've read has happened to others)

You can just about get this belt around three road bikes. Can keep an eye on your bike from the seats opposite. When it's quiet this is pretty much as good as you could hope for 👍