Cycling in London, England, has become wonderful

[enkei]

Do you live and commute by bicycle in London? What are your experiences like?

Here is a little rundown of my latest fun riding a Brompton in some of the busiest parts of Central London. (some pix at the bottom)

I lived in London throughout the '90s, and a bit, then returned in 2017 for a few months. I always enjoyed cycling in London, but on a recent visit with my Brompton, I truly discovered how cycling in London has improved, for the better.

I spent a few days, visiting friends and family. On my last day, on the way back to the train station, I did a little 'tourette' across Central London, stopping at several landmarks.

If there's one challenge, it is being unfamiliar with the various cycleways, which often follow very winding and indirect paths, making it hard to easily remember what takes you where.

To combat this, I used the Komoot and cycle.travel apps to plan my routes and upload them to my Garmin Edge 530 bike computer, which was fixed to the handlebars via a Garmin Quarter-Turn mount and a Ravemen FR160 light.

I found the Garmin Varia RTL515 radar tail light very helpful for warning me of faster cyclists (typically nincompoops on hired e-bikes) coming up from behind.

Although, this was for me a tour/holiday, rather than commuting, I can see how much nicer it would be to commute by bike in London vs public transport or car. Ok, maybe not quite so nice in heavy winter weather, but one can always dress for that.

The one drawback? After years (decades, actually) without a puncture while riding, I got one with just 500m to go before reaching the Brompton Junction shop in Covent Garden.

All in all, I found cycling in London to be a wonderful change from the stress and stupidity of cycling in the little seaside town where I live. Even in relatively busy traffic in London, I never felt threatened by cars. Typically, the closing speeds seemed much lower than those I experienced at home, whether in town or on one of the countryside lanes. The biggest threat I find comes from the ignoramuses on hired e-bikes, who tend to whizz about in every direction at speed, paying no heed whatsoever to pedestrians, other road users, red lights, etc.

I'm looking forward to future London visits aboard my 2004 Brompton 6-speed.

   
   
   
   
   

[Zviedrs]

I was pleasantly surprised (about cycling culture) last Autumn when I visited London for the first time. Was told that the bike rental system is good and well organized there + car and bus drivers respect bike lanes. Knowing that London is such a metropole with more than 8.8 million population but finding out in real life that there are lots of bike lanes and riding on the street, next to two lanes of cars, feels safe - that was a very positive experience.

I have to say that London’s double-decker buses are intimidating at first, but once you realize that the drivers are skilled and respect cyclists, you start feeling safer and more confident in the bike lane each day.

We used Santander Cycles (https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles) to ride in and out of Hackney, the City of London, and other destinations. We planned our rides in 30-minute segments since this allowed for unlimited trips. This wasn’t an issue as there are plenty of Santander docking stations scattered throughout London. The app is also easy to use.

Here's an example of a single Santander ride we did with a 20-minute moving time and a 25-minute elapsed time (including traffic light stops).