Riding in London

[alan sherman]

Pedestrians are the biggest danger in my opinion.  When filtering really make sure you can stop if someone runs through the stationary traffic.  Because they do.  A pedestrian crossing the road at Hammersmith shouted at me to F off this morning.  I tooted my horn from a long way back to warn that I was coming (and the lights were green for me)! 


Be Zen and laugh at the absurdity of a lot of it.

[JZS 600]

I had a granny in wheelchair have a go at me after pulling an emergency stop going round a corner to stop hitting her as she obviously thought she had the right of way to cross the road any bloody where she saw fit!

[DILLIGAFF]

Many years ago I mowed down a pedestrian near Waterloo. She stepped straight out from behind a stationary van as she was trying to catch her bus on the other side.
Of the dozen or so rubberneckers who encircled us, entangled in the middle of the road, not one offered me any support and ALL were convinced I was at fault???

[Lawrence]

Rode in on my POS 125 (not done my mod 2 yet so can't ride the Fazer yet :'( ) today.  If you noticed a brown streak from Liverpool street up the A11 I'll apologise now, that was probably me  :eek :lol

[rufus t glasgow]

i'm about a week away from my first taste of london traffic.tbh i'm looking forward to the craziness of it all.


i just have to remember it's just a ride, just a ride.

[breadlord]

Well, I nearly got murdered by a guy in a post-office van at the junction between Farringdon road and Euston road on Friday. Proper sideswiping. My shoulder was touching it when he'd stopped, but the bike wasn't. From the state of the van and the tell-tale, bar high scrapes on the side, it wasn't the first time this has happened.

[Fuzzy]

Don't know if parking has been mentioned but it's quite complicated as each borough has differing policies.
Westminster charge as you might know already and some boroughs have dedicated bays whilst others don't etc etc.

I find these pages especially useful:

http://www.parkingforbikes.com

http://www.motorcycleparking.com/parking_london.shtml


I ride through the West End everyday. I think the swiftest riders are the smoothest and look way ahead & plan there filtering in advance. No point getting silly with risky overtakes & filtering if you're only going to be stopped by a red light so pick your spots too.They don't waste time getting confrontational with other road users and are more likely to get to their destination safely. More than likely to come across very poor driving ( terrible riding, cycling, and especially walking too ) in any one journey in London so just expect it, keep your wits about you, keep a cool head and get on with the task in hand which is getting to your destination quickly and safely.