Cycling UK Forum

Wonder if there would be any demand in the UK for this kind of thing:
https://la.streetsblog.org/2014/09/10/g ... nsit-buses

I would not want to cycle on the main roads in LA, so I can see why people use it.

Once as a teenager a kindly bus driver let me onto his double decker with my bike when I was stranded with a puncture - got me into Bath and a bike shop.

Yeah, I was very confused when I wandered down Great Portland Street and saw Velorution had gone - thought maybe it was my old Portland/Titchfield confusion again!

Good to know about John Lewis - thanks!

I needed an emergency front light the other day when at work in central London - went to the last bike shop in the West End, Evans on Mortimer Street, to find that it's closing down in May and is running down its stock, so in a couple of months there will be no bike shops at all in the West End, presumably because, like me, all the bike commuters are now working from home a lot of the time!

Interestingly, when Evans goes, if you're in Soho or Fitzrovia, the only local place to get bike bits will be Sports Direct on Oxford Street... in a small corner of a dark little room up on the second floor (Evans didn't have any cheap lights left).

A few years ago, there were several Evanses, Soho Bikes, Tokyo Bikes, Cycle Republic, Cycle Surgery, probably forgetting one... Bikefix remains but is a shadow of its former self and is just a little workshop. There are still specialist bike shops in central London, just around the periphery...

Is it slightly uphill? That would add to the difficulties, I think, if you can't get your speed up - adds to others' impatience. I'd probably use the left+buses lane, middle or middle-right of it, because I wouldn't want to get undertaken by a bus going straight on, but it would depend on the speed of the traffic in the right-hand lane and whether lights were green etc. And no, you can't win at junctions like that.

Great stuff - thanks for the link.

Hmm, personally would not want to cycle round this on a regular basis...

Hiya. These people were good when I was desperate for a new rear wheel last year in lockdown #1: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/madspeed7cycles

Just make sure you've got inner tubes with long valves, which I didn't.... most of their rims need them.

I used to commute in a Decathlon raincoat a bit like this: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/men-s-wat ... 097&c=BLUE

Front pockets were lower than this one though.

Might work in one of the brighter colours?

iandusud wrote: ↑21 Apr 2021, 7:51pm I would agree with those who advise against the BHF route for the same reasons. The last time I rode to Brighton and back from London this is the route I used starting in Forest Hill.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/5297245
Ian

Good route out. A meetup at Brockwell Park in Brixton/Herne Hill might be better than Clapham Common if leaving London via West Wickham.

Looks like very hard work, but good luck to him. Is he going to have trouble on descents with that trailer? And crosswinds?

Generally I find I can't get much faster than a 12mph average commuting through London. I used to do a 16-mile commute which took me 1h15 at first, but got it down to 1 hour on a good day with favourable winds etc. The last half-mile through the heart of town can be very slow indeed....

I find the main arteries into and out of London are fine - you can cycle quite happily in wide bus lanes.

It's nice from Westerham up past Shirley / Crystal Palace / Dulwich / Kennington / Westminster if you wanted to go a bit east of Brighton-to-London. And if you don't mind a bit of a detour once north of the river, take the canal west from Paddington, past Perivale.

PH wrote:

xjs wrote:What do people do about calls of nature on longer rides? I've been enjoying slightly longer rides around SE London/North Downs of late (pre-lockdown only really cycled to work, shops or pub), but there comes a point after a couple of hours when I need a wee.... am I drinking too much?

No, if you're not needing to empty your bladder every 2 - 3 hours you're probably not drinking enough.
In normal times, there's plenty of toilets open, most are now shut, it requires some creativity, a lot easier in a rural area than urban.

Thanks! Yeah, that was a problem the other week - called in at a park where I knew there were loos, only to find them locked up.

What do people do about calls of nature on longer rides? I've been enjoying slightly longer rides around SE London/North Downs of late (pre-lockdown only really cycled to work, shops or pub), but there comes a point after a couple of hours when I need a wee.... am I drinking too much?

Speaking of novice cyclists, on a ride the other day, on a country road near me (very edge of south London), I passed a car following two boys (probably age 8 and 12) on bikes. Judging by the way the boys were communicating with the driver, it was their mum, supervising their ride at probably 10mph like a Tour de France support car.

Back on topic, I think everyone is very preoccupied at the moment as well. The other day I pulled out from a side road into the path of a car which I didn't see because I was deep in thought about the virus.... Luckily they saw me.