I used to get around (including camping trips) on a Pashley ‘butchers bike’ with the big metal rack on the front. At 24kg unladen lifting it to hang on the hooks when they were using a HST rather than cl91 was barely possible. It was also too wide to get in the narrow cupboard for bikes they had on some of the cl158s.Yes, especially when loaded with camping kit!
225: Lift bike into DVT; lean against rack; secure in place with the provided adjustable strap; job done.
Azuma: Lift bike into train; remove front panniers and chuck into space by far door; remove saddlebag and chuck into space by far door; remove rear panniers and chuck into space by far door; get hernia lifting bike onto swaying hook in tiny broom cupboard - at a weird angle 'cos the end bit of the broom cupboard door seems to be permanently locked shut - as train is now moving; look for luggage space for bags; give up and launch them into bottom corner of aforementioned tiny broom cupboard.
I'm not a fan of the Azuma bike spaces, can you tell?
The other issue with having it in the passenger bit is people fiddling with it, on the transpennine DMUs of near recent times it used to have to be stood in a rack near the door, on one occasion someone (perhaps a child queuing to get off) removed the bungy cord I’d secured it with, and it fell over heavily on a bend breaking a couple of spokes.