I’ve been off the bike for a while now and will be starting a new job soon in London and have a few Qs for the commuters.

I need to get from St Pancras to Liverpool St area and would like to get a folder and cycle. What’s the best, quietest route?

I’m aware I could get a train to Liverpool st but don’t want to. I want to avoid the tube and get some exercise most days.

Also, for those with folders (I’ll be honest, a brompton is most likely) , where do you put it? Will it fit under the seat?

Ta

Have a look at openstreetmap with osm cycle layer on. You can get on the canal at Islington then go along towpath to haggerston I think then south by road. Nice in summer, wouldn’t recommend at night.
What about a Boris bike, now Santander cycles? I do that now and have sold my folder. It’s 90quid for a year’s use ,loads of racks near your start and end points. Sh1t heavy bikes but gives the option to cycle in then come back not eg if getting pisshed after work etc. Use the app and you don’t need to pay by card every time.

I reckon for such a short distance I would use one of the Santander hire bikes.
But then n+1….. 😀

Just use the shortest route

So many bikes in Lonfon now that cyclists are the traffic

Boris bikes are good 95% of the time, but the one day you’re running late there won’t be a bike, or a space to dock it or something. I love my Brompton for regular commuting, although I do use Boris bikes periodically too.

Dunno what you mean ‘where do you put it’? It goes beside my desk. On the train I leave it in the vestibule by the doors, or in the large luggage racks.

See what Google Maps suggests for cycling (and compare to what it suggests for roads). There are 5 different routes is pulls up across car and bike. All of them are the same length so work you way through them all and work out which is the most comfortable/fun.

get a 20″ wheeled bike with 1 or 3 speeds they are way more comfortable than bromptons, especially given the roads in LDN

My commutes takes in St.Pancras and Liverpool Street on the way so, after a few attempts I reckon I’ve got that bit sorted.

Am happy to supply if needed – not sure how to post images/snapshots

What time are you in? As that makes a difference. Avoid Old Street like the plague.

I would leave a BSO at the station unless you need it at your home end. It’s only 20 mins.

Even then, you could probably get two BSOs for the price of a Brompton.

I’d use the hire bikes.

£90 a year, no issues with maintenance, repairs, storage and it’s very rare that there isn’t a bike or a docking space. The app is actually very good, shows live docking station / bike availability, offers route plans etc.

As a registered hire bike user you get a key, just pop that into the dock and it releases a bike, no hassle with credit cards or apps.

As a registered hire bike user you get a key, just pop that into the dock and it releases a bike, no hassle with credit cards or apps.

Yep. This is especially amusing if there’s one bike left and someone’s faffing away at the machine 😆

Rarely an issue getting or docking a bike, the busy ones either have people dealing with the overflow or there’s other docks close by. Places like Waterloo get super busy but you can walk 3 mins away and get a bike easily.

Will check out the Boris bike idea and have a look on openstreetmap

N+1 is appealing and I could use the Brompton at the home end, but a Boris bike does sound convenient. Will grab one next time I’m in – thanks all

Even then, you could probably get two BSOs for the price of a Brompton.

WTF do you define as a BSO!

The cheapest Brompton is about £800. £400 would a get you a decent, light, comfortable hybrid/commuter.

Personally I would get something s/h for about £150 of Ebay and make sure it looks worthless and leave that at the station.

A brompton will not go under a train seat (ime)
I used Boris Bike. You will find times when they are all taken or worse still when the docking station is full at your destination. Still great value at £90 a year imo, heavy as sh.t is good for a workout 🙂

Pleasant to ride too. However if you are more than about 6’2 you might have to hunt for one with enough seatpost.

I ride my Brompton and they are great folders / crap bikes. I’d probably get a bigger wheeled version (Dahon / Tern) if I was going to get another folder. However they never give me any problems putting them on the trains.

I’d go to the TfL website for route planning and you can look for quiet/fast/slow etc roots, but as said above there are so many cyclists in London that it sort of doesn’t matter which roads you are on.

Personally I would get something s/h for about £150 of Ebay and make sure it looks worthless and leave that at the station.

This is what I do

(cable) Discs and marathon plus tyres with a 1x drive train

As said it’s the days where you can’t find a bike or docking station that make Borris bikes extra hassle

I had a dahon 26 inch folder and they are the quickest way of doing it if you are in a rush, can be a squeeze on busy trains (i snapped mine trying to ride off a kerb )

A brompton will not go under a train seat (ime)

Not under, but they were designed to fit in the luggage space between seats. Rail companies have changed the coach configs many times over the years so those spaces don’t exist on all lines.

I ride my Brompton and they are great folders / crap bikes.

YMMV. Mine doesn’t get used daily but it’s had remarkably little maintenance over it’s life and I can cover ground remarkably quickly. Different, not crap.

If you’re lucky then you might find seats that are back-to-back (without a bin or train bits in the gap) that a Brompton fits in. But on a busy train it’s dicey trying to slot a bike in there without hitting anyone with it. I used to do this when I was riding into London and taking a train out to where I was working, so nice and quiet.

Luggage racks have been disappearing on many services, so you’re really down to sticking it by the doors of the train. On a packed service that’s an annoyance to everyone else, and if you can’t sit where you keep your eyes on it then very easy for someone to liberate at a station along the way.

and if you can’t sit where you keep your eyes on it then very easy for someone to liberate at a station along the way.

Yes, that is a potential issue. We have some very cheap, small, light wire locks (type of thing people use on their skis) to reduce the worry factor.

I’d go Grays Inn Road, Clerkenwell Road, Goswell Road, London Wall.
It’s not a quiet route but it’s well trodden by cyclists and will be as quick as anything else. Back street routes round there are a pain in the bum as you’re bound to end up the wrong way on a one way street.

Try to avoid Euston Road/ Pentonville Road. You could go via Old Street roundabout but it’s a tricky one without a lot of lane etiquette.

I’ve been occasionally cycling from Euston to Tower Bridge using a Santander bike and was wondering about a Brompton but not being to easily sit on the mainline train puts me off. I might get myself a hack to leave at Euston as sometimes it’s abit of a pain finding a bike or a docking station to return a bike a peak times and they’re quite inefficient if you’re riding 4 miles.

Finally sorted the image issue. This is the route I use:

Relatively quiet and quick with not too many traffic lights.

Hope this helps.

It does – thanks dickster 🙂

Don’t think of it as exercise – you don’t really want to do anything that is going make you breath too hard in todays London air, it’s pretty nasty.

Might be better one day when they ban all those diesels…