Commuting into London

In the new year I am going to be working in the City of London, travel up to Waterloo and was planning to do the mile to the city by bike.

Just checked with the train company and Im not allowed during commuting time to take a bike on the train (south west trains)The thought of using a folding bike makes me sick in my mouth. So I was thinking of leaving my single speed locked up at Waterloo.

Is it going to get nicked? anyone do the same?

Cheers

Personally for a mile i’d just get a Boris bike, they really are good fun 😀

Alternatively be a man and ride the whole route!

Worth looking at the Youtube link halfway down this thread

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-holy-grail-of-bike-locks

I left a bike at Paddington for years with no issue but may just have been lucky. £50 hack bike, bit rusty looking and a ripped saddle to reduce desirability even further.

It’s simple really. Scrotes won’t nick a shitter so just buy one and use either the bike racks on the platforms or the multi-storey ones outside the station.

If it does get nicked (which probably is highly likely), just replace with another cheap shitter.

A mile? I’d walk for the hassle of carting a bike around.

Someone will pringle your wheels though

I’ve not locked my bike up at Waterloo before, but there a millions of bikes there on the racks outside and along the platforms so the chance that it would get nicked is slim I reckon.
I work in the City and plenty of people in our office walk from Waterloo.

Great responses, thanks all!

Where are you commuting from?

Isle of wight…..

Comutted into Waterloo some days when I was too knackered to ride and as others have said for a mile use a boris or a cheap bike locked in the racks. The better idea is to ride further if you can, but thats down to your works facilities (showers, bike racks, drying room) and your motivation. Enjoy. Riding in london can be like going to war, or a very pleasant ride. ;o)

EDIT: just seen youre coming from IoW. Ouch. Forget my last suggestion. lol.

For a mile, I’d walk – easier, quicker, cheaper and you get to watch the office Totty.

Its not as bad as you would expect from the IoW!

It’s still 90 miles each way! 😆

I used a folding bike to commute Liverpool St – Waterloo, worked a treat and I carried it on train into Liverpool St at rush hour without a fuss.

[The thought of using a folding bike makes me sick in my mouth]

thats the mistake your making….think of it as a tool for a job….I regularly use a folder going into London…. I never use it for any other purpose…….

get over it! make sure your not seen by your friends….never mention it in the pub and you’ll be fine…..

I’m going to scour the free papers at home and get some dirt cheap bikes to use. Seems the option that I like best.

It’s more than a mile from Waterloo to the City – whereabouts precisely?

To St Pauls it’s about 25 mins brisk walk. Slower if you are reading the Metro on the way.

My Birdy folder is ace – apart from the extra twitchiness of the front end it is as fun as any other fast/agile bike.

Where in the City? That can make a big difference!

Tudor street, so just over the bridge!

Walk along the river, over Blackfriars Bridge. Nice stroll.

If the bike is locked up with two decent D-locks then it’s unlikely to get nicked.

I used to go from Waterloo <-> Fleet St on a Boris bike twice daily, my route went along Tudor St as it happens 🙂

I used to work in the west end for many years and noticed that any bike that was left anywhere overnight seemed to vandalised.

Folder is the way forward – yes I know its basically being bent over by Southern and given one up the **** but you don’t have to buy a brompton

Mezzo, birdy, Airnimal and Dahon make some great folders which ride almost like proper bikes. I’ve riden my Mezzo D10 20 miles across the sussex countryside some days on the way home by getting off a few stations early and it does wonders for your stress! In town its a race track and folders are ideally suited to whip round traffic

Plus you get the bonus of being able to take them on planes easily – meeting in wherever? bring the bike and have a great evening cycling out to a pub/bar/taverna instead of being stuck in a corporate hotel

Ended up doing the L2B on mine last year for extra charity money
Just don’t get a brompton

Tudor street

crikey, that’s no walk at all – definitely not worth getting a bike for – by the time you have unlocked it, got it down from the rack and locked it up at the other end you would be 3/4s of the way there if you were walking.

Takes me 30 mins to get to Trump street at a non-slacking walking pace.

You are going to be about 20 mins, maybe faster if you got straighter than walking by the Thames, but you would miss wandering past the skateboarders on the south bank, the pretty blue lights laced through the trees, and the retro caravans selling mini-doughnuts and waffles.

Beware that Dahons are 20inch wheels and some train companies have an 18inch max restriction.

folders are ideally suited to whip round traffic

and also accelerate to 10mph in 0.001 seconds but go no faster, and get trapped in potholes

The train companies need gripping – they are now insisting you fold your bike before going through the turnstiles at LB

The train companies need gripping – they are now insisting you fold your bike before going through the turnstiles at LB

Is that in the cycle policy wording?

A SWT platform assistant tried that on me, I just ignored him and then a colleague told him to be sensible.

You can hire a Brompton from SWT

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/bromptonbikes.aspx

and also accelerate to 10mph in 0.001 seconds but go no faster, and get trapped in potholes

maybe some do, but not mine 🙂

I’ve had my Brompton chugging along nicely at 35mph down Fleet Street before without much effort.

Anyway, for the short distance you are doing I’d be inclined to walk

Thanks guys. I will try jogging, cycling & walking. See what’s best!