Folding Bikes - Former & Present Londoners-Is This What You Have To Put Up With?

Idiots In London

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjS6Oe8ZSVw

Complete with an insulting crack of a motorcyclist's you-know-what. (The video repeats this obvious flash of someone's body part poking through his/her ill fitting pants one more time as the photographer is cut off by the motorcycle!)

Anybody with a bicycle commute like that deserves some comic relief on their ride!

If you've seen one, you've seen them all.

That pretty much sums up a commute on some of london's roads - it's not for everyone, though there have been some recent schemes with led group rides into the centre to help new riders gain skills and confidence. You can't predict the moment you'll fall prey to the actions of an idiot, but you can at least ride well and with hopefully a good sense of what's going on around you to avoid mishaps.

A big issue at the moment here is the number of lorrys (semis) turning at lights and killing cyclists as they wait patiently to cross a junction. It mainly seems to be happening to less experienced riders who don't understand they are hard to see and should probably be edging ahead of the vehicle or keeping well back. It's a tragedy but people are oft to point the finger at the lorry drivers when in fact it's a bit of both.

The biker wasn't doing anything at all to mitigate the circumstances that I could see. Was that JoeyBike?

Well, it might be just me - but as an ex-Londoner, it didn't look too bad

Cars leaving space, busses signalling and leaving space, tolerance of filtering

OK, a nit on a scooter, but even that was out of the way before potential collision

Maybe my standards and expectations have been conditioned by bike commuting in Jakarta and the Middle East - but it all looked pretty civilised :thumb: No cows, no camels, no flat-out trucks oncoming on your side of the road

+1 Looks like a pretty decent commute to me. Although the view of riding on the left side of the road made me dizzy.

I mean, seriously, is that all London has to dish out? Where are the projectiles? Where are the pedestrians lunging with knives and bats? Where is the high speed merging as motorists race to the next red light at 40mph over the speed limit? And where are the bumps in the road to launch you into the air when performing said merges?

Pft!

Today was my first day commuting.. it was awesome! got lost because I didnt really check directions I was having so much fun.. if you pay attention and you dont go too slow you are fine, the problem is when you go slow and you start getting overtaken by buses..

Av speed on my Reach was 27km/h highest of 42/km/h on a small downhill :p