To those who are about to ride in London...

[Warthog]

...I salute you! :salut:

I just rode from Streatham to the M4 and to Oxford for the first time. Unending miles of rammed traffic, angry cars, road works, diversions, no signposts anywhere, lanes all over the place, cones, cars trying to filter, blocked hatchings and just total gridlock. I filtered hard when I could but it took hours of concentration and it is so tight and narrow through half the streets you can't even squeeze past on a bike!

London is atrocious to ride in, well done to you Londoners who brave it everyday =D> but I am sticking to flowing country lanes from now on!

[TSM]

its briliant, makes it all fun :)

of recent i love the london mess over the out of town stuff, i feel like its natrual :)

[Lozzo]

Nick, you should try it in rush hour on a weekday. You had it easy, it's Sunday when the traffic is at its lowest

[madnlooney]

i ride from beckenham through clapham common to M4 via battersea to work and its always crazy like that. keeps you wide awake all the way

[FG1]

Girl.

[ArtyLady]

...I salute you! :salut:

.............
London is atrocious to ride in, well done to you Londoners who brave it everyday =D> but I am sticking to flowing country lanes from now on!

Totally with you on that Warthog!

its briliant, makes it all fun :)

of recent i love the london mess over the out of town stuff, i feel like its natrual :)

My old man is the same cos he's a an Eastender - cut his biking teeth riding round London on old brit bikes :riding: (still rides round there often as he can but on newer British bikes these days ;))

[-Ralph-]

My thoughts on the subject

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=136715

[mr.anderson]

Que? I thought that why people rode bikes... for the london commute.

[jambo]

I'm currently unemployed. You know what? I miss my London commute. It was a grind, but I was good at it and always arrived feeling fresh and ready to take the world on.

Jambo

[Cazza]

I'm currently unemployed.

It's called "between jobs", dahling. Don't do yourself down.

You know what? I miss my London commute.

You know what? I don't. I used to ride approx 7 miles from north London into the West End 5 days a week. Now I ride to about 3 different places, none of them more than 3 or 4 miles away (and nowhere near the centre) and it's great. Especially in the summer. Especially being on the TT and not the GS any more.

I'm totally 'happy' riding in town and heavy traffic, but I don't miss it.

[TSM]

Especially being on the TT and not the GS any more.

speed demon, whipin all thoes GS riders up

[Fizzy Fish]

Poor Warthog! :lol:

You get into the swing of it after a while, it's just a different kind of riding to learn. I love my commute, and always arrive at work feeling alive (and sometimes glad to be! :lol: ) Also helps if you find a good route as well, where you can filter easily, etc

Just heading out into the wilds of London round about now in fact! ;)

[Red Herring]

Look at it on the bright side, in London you don't often meet a hay tractor coming the other way on a single track lane, with it's prongs set at about chest height...! Plus there isn't the issue of horse **** on the racing (I mean progressive) line or the distraction of their young female riders rising on the trot. In fact the only issue i have with riding in London is that one traffic jam looks much like another and you can only filter for so long before it gets boring.

[Alpinestarhero]

I do like a good london filtering sesh. Wakes you up first thing in the morning and your always looking for something, so you dont ever settle down and your mind dosnt wander.

I come down the north circular every morning, then go through richmond and ham to kingston. Thats a giggle.

When I was at ucl I went down the A41 into central london every day. I smegging hated it, it made me hate riding bikes and made me hate being in london. I dont mind heavy traffic but I hate it when I cant make any progress...12.3 miles in 50 minutes? It takes me 60 mins to do the 22.4 miles to kingston. And I get slightly better fuel economy

speed demon, whipin all thoes GS riders up

of the GS riders i've seen, thy're all flippin' bonkers

[Kinvig]

Streatham's an interesting place to ride your bike - though it is easier thatn it used to be as bikes can now user the bus lanes. It makes it a bit less dangerous!

[SoulKiss]

I just rode from Streatham to the M4

You probably pretty much went past my door :)

Next time, give me a yell and I'll come out to play :)

Edit: Oh yeah, and what a big girl you are :p

[Cazza]

of the GS riders i've seen, thy're all flippin' bonkers

Really? We are talking about GS500Fs by the way. :D

I love my Booby Bike, but it gets very hot and can't get round tight little corners like my GS can, that's why I wouldn't want to have commute in really heavy traffic every single day.

[Alpinestarhero]

Really? We are talking about GS500Fs by the way. :D

I love my Booby Bike, but it gets very hot and can't get round tight little corners like my GS can, that's why I wouldn't want to have commute in really heavy traffic every single day.

Might be cos they are couriers, the ones i've seen :smt046

I found the bandit I had for a while got very hot, it was uncomfy in heavy heavy traffic. My SV is more comfy temp-wise, but upright bars (handlebars) would make it easier to throw around

[Spiderman]

its a skill you learn very quickly when you have to do it everyday .... and like me are usually running late. Its also a great way to build up your vocab of swears as you swear at muppets on phones etc a lot in your own lid.

Some hairy moments some days with very little margin for error but tbh i dont miss it much, lol.

[Red Herring]

I dont mind heavy traffic but I hate it when I cant make any progress...12.3 miles in 50 minutes? It takes me 60 mins to do the 22.4 miles to kingston. And I get slightly better fuel economy


Another good reason for living in the countryside... My daily commute is 45 miles, on an average day it takes me 40 minutes, in rush hour maybe 50, and allegedly on a quite day quite possibly less than 30...

[Alpinestarhero]

Another good reason for living in the countryside... My daily commute is 45 miles, on an average day it takes me 40 minutes, in rush hour maybe 50, and allegedly on a quite day quite possibly less than 30...

Yea, using country roads is great! From my parents house in brighton to box hill, it takes about 1 hour. Thats 50 miles in one hour. Sometimes a little less (50 mins is my best time)

The last 35 miles then from boxhill to maria's is an hour and a half :smt099

[PsychoCannon]

It's great fun once you get used to it!
I still remember one of the first times I took the SV into London, got lost int he one way system and made the mistake of asking a courrier for directions.

"sure I know where you need to go follow me"
Que the most intense 10 minutes of riding I had ever done trying to keep the guy in site without killing myself and big ape on the back >_<
That's now my daily commute! :cool:

[Spiderman]

You commute daily with Big Ape as a pillion?

[Alpinestarhero]

You commute daily with Big Ape as a pillion?

not only that, he follows helpful couriers

mad mad mad