Cycle Commuting in London

[ecs]

I'm due to start working in London in January - the last part of my commute is going to be Euston to somewhere near Liverpool Street station. Does anyone have any experience of riding this route in the mornings and afternoons?

Chopping out the Tube is over £900 saving on the railcard so the prospect is tempting! It's just that I've ridden in London a couple of times before and it's fairly manic compared to what I'm used to.

[Burrow01]

I cycle pretty frequently from Kings Cross to Southbank - once you are in the congestion zone I find its pretty OK - lots of cyclists about so traffic is aware of them, traffic speeds in this area are pretty low - the main hindrance to progress is the number of traffic lights.

[donfisher]

ecs said:

Does anyone have any experience of riding this route in the mornings and afternoons?

It's a busy route but very wide, bus laned and almost cycle friendly.

Will you be using your own bike or Borisbiking?

[okgo]

One thing I will say about London commuting - normal rules don't really apply (apart from the obvious, red lights, ped crossings, etc)

I undertake/overtake, filter, if you want to get anywhere you'll need to get used to filtering, both through stationary and slow moving traffic. The biggest thing that will save you from issue is your perception of potential hazards before they happen. Not sure of the best route between those two places, but Euston road is busy up to KX then its OK until you get near Old St I guess, then busy again.

I've done 5 years of Surbiton to Whitecity/Kings Cross/Temple and theonly issues I've ever had have been totally my own fault with no other vehicles involed, its possible to ride through London without ever really having any issue if you're aware, having a good sense of spatial awareness helps vastly, too.

[richardxjr]

I don't know how you guys do it. Only ridden in London once, on a quiet Saturday, nearly got killed by a fecking bus in the deserted City. (Nudged left into me in the cycle lane so he could turn right)

[anonymous-user]

Quite a few websites show cycle friendly routes, worth a look.
TBH I feel safer cycling in London than NSL B roads, where cars pass at 50+ !

[stu67]

okgo said:

One thing I will say about London commuting - normal rules don't really apply (apart from the obvious, red lights, ped crossings, etc)

I undertake/overtake, filter, if you want to get anywhere you'll need to get used to filtering, both through stationary and slow moving traffic. The biggest thing that will save you from issue is your perception of potential hazards before they happen. Not sure of the best route between those two places, but Euston road is busy up to KX then its OK until you get near Old St I guess, then busy again.

I've done 5 years of Surbiton to Whitecity/Kings Cross/Temple and theonly issues I've ever had have been totally my own fault with no other vehicles involed, its possible to ride through London without ever really having any issue if you're aware, having a good sense of spatial awareness helps vastly, too.

This really, I've done a few years commuting Barnet to Liverpool St and to be honest I actually feel safer cycling in London than some of the rural roads in Herts. It's generally well lit, traffic is slow. Yes there are dodgy bits and you need to have your wits about you but i'm still alive. From Euston I'd probably just go along City Rd, it's pretty wide with bus lanes. Old st roundabout can be a bit dodgy so perhaps come off at Bath st and down Bunhill row and then across.

[ecs]

donfisher said:

ecs said:

Does anyone have any experience of riding this route in the mornings and afternoons?

It's a busy route but very wide, bus laned and almost cycle friendly.

Will you be using your own bike or Borisbiking?

Doesn't sound too bad then if I can make use of the bus lanes

Will be on my own (folding) bike as it will speed up the trip to the station by about 10 minutes. I went to the Brompton shop and they offered to loan me one of theirs out for a couple of quid a day - I might take them up on the offer and do a trial run for a week or so before committing.

[ecs]

Cheers for the other advice too guys

[AyBee]

okgo said:

One thing I will say about London commuting - normal rules don't really apply (apart from the obvious, red lights, ped crossings, etc)

I undertake/overtake, filter, if you want to get anywhere you'll need to get used to filtering, both through stationary and slow moving traffic. The biggest thing that will save you from issue is your perception of potential hazards before they happen. Not sure of the best route between those two places, but Euston road is busy up to KX then its OK until you get near Old St I guess, then busy again.

I've done 5 years of Surbiton to Whitecity/Kings Cross/Temple and theonly issues I've ever had have been totally my own fault with no other vehicles involed, its possible to ride through London without ever really having any issue if you're aware, having a good sense of spatial awareness helps vastly, too.

Although when undertaking, allow for other cyclists to not be paying attention and close the gap without looking And to add, make yourself big, don't ride down the gutter and don't allow yourself to get bullied, nobody is going to run your over from behind if they've seen you (I'd hope).

[j00pY]

I have to say that Bromptons do get flipping heavy if you have to carry them for more than a few minutes. I'd definitely do a trial run and see if you get on with one.

Other than that, London is actually a really easy place to commute, you just have to realise the pecking order of mechanical vs flesh. I've had very little aggro and the one bit I did get was caused by me being a dick when a guy who'd probably been stuck in terrible traffic for ages had a go at me.

[Dammit]

I'd advise not undertaking other cyclists - it's really, really annoying, and being British I won't be able to say anything about it should you undertake me.

It's also a good way to get taken off as people move left in the lane without checking over their left shoulder.

[ecs]

I think undertaking is a definite no wherever you ride! Drives me mad when I'm in my car and people pass on the left - you can't see them when it's dark and they might scrape the car if the gap's narrow.

Hopefully wont have to carry the bike too much, but there are lighter folding bikes than the Brompton. The aluminium ones from Decathlon look pretty good, though I think they're let down by the finishing gear.

[MiseryStreak]

I cycled from Swiss Cottage to Euston area (UCL Gower Street) most days for nearly a year. Although that was (gulp) 15 years ago. It was pretty dicey then, I don't know if I'd want to do it now. Car, or more specifically van drivers seem to hate cyclists now. It feels like a war some days.

[Mr Will]

j00pY said:

I have to say that Bromptons do get flipping heavy if you have to carry them for more than a few minutes. I'd definitely do a trial run and see if you get on with one.

Depends on the spec as well. Start adding hub-gears and racks and dynamos and all the other extras and they'll weigh a lot of that the base model.

They do have wheels on though, so you can push them about like a trolley in a lot of places.

[nyt]

You could use a Boris Bike http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/barclays-cycle...

The journey is easily within the 30 mins free time (once you've paid for the day/week/mont hire)

Might be hard to pick one up at a busy terminus mind.

[ecs]

From what I've heard, I think I'd be lucky to get one at 8am from outside Euston. Shame really because there's a docking station right outside the current office. I'll need to scope things out when I start in Jan though

[v12Legs]

ecs said:

I think undertaking is a definite no wherever you ride! Drives me mad when I'm in my car and people pass on the left - you can't see them when it's dark and they might scrape the car if the gap's narrow.

I think it depends. I almost always prefer to pass on the right, but if there is a bigger safer gap on the left then there's nothing wrong with doing that if done with care.

[ecs]

Thinking about it, when you approach a set of lights with a cycle box there's often a bike lane on the left to access it so there's an example where I'm wrong!

[yellowjack]

ecs said:

Thinking about it, when you approach a set of lights with a cycle box there's often a bike lane on the left to access it so there's an example where I'm wrong!

That's an example of where road design in general is wrong. There are campaigns to increase awareness among cyclists of the dangers of passing on the left when approaching junctions, then the very 'system' that is trying to educate, goes and paints lines on the road which encourage it. The flipside, though, is the question of whether there's a better system that'll suit all circumstances.

I prefer to pass stationary or slow moving traffic on it's right, but the number of times I've been abused and shouted at for being on the "wrong side of the road" makes doing so seem slightly unpleasant. The morons doing the shouting, by the way, are never the drivers of oncoming vehicles, but the halfwits who are trapped in their cars going nowhere fast. Probably just jealousy, frustration, or an unhealthy mix of both.

There's no right/wrong rule for which side to pass really. Car drivers cannot have it both ways. They want us to shunt over to the left as far as possible, to ride 'in the gutter', but when we ride in the gutter to pass long queues they hate us even more. I've come to realise that it's impossible to please everybody, so now I just assess what the safest option is for me and just please myself (within the law, naturally ).