24
votes
Is 17 miles (27km) each way a lot for a newbie cyclist?
As a one-off, that should be completely doable. Your fitness from running and the gym should be plenty enough, especially as the route is pretty flat. Bear in mind that it will be tiring, since ...
- 17k
14
votes
Is 17 miles (27km) each way a lot for a newbie cyclist?
Man, just do it! There isn't much that can go wrong. If you feel tired, turn around midway. Take a mobile phone with you in case something happens, look up the weather forecast, take something to eat ...
10
votes
Accepted
How do people store bicycles in London?
To add to Michael's comment if it's your property you can't be forbid to bring a bicycle into your apartment, unless it's somehow unlawful to be in possession of said bicycle. Would you be forbid to ...
- 5,498
8
votes
Is 17 miles (27km) each way a lot for a newbie cyclist?
Nope - go for it. Here are two suggested routes from Strava, which were generated at https://www.strava.com/routes/new and then clicking a start and end point, and changing some options.
This first ...
- 121k
7
votes
Accepted
How to tell if a folding bike is faster than a boris bike
Neither Boris bikes nor folding bikes are exactly built for speed, so we can consider mainly the gearing. For this, gear inches are a convenient measure taking into account not just the gear ratio ...
- 57.3k
6
votes
Type of permitted folding bikes on London trains & Tube?
Some UK rail companies, such as GWR (who operate some local trains in West London as well as mainline services) only consider bikes to be folding if the wheels are up to 20".
Folding bikes with a ...
- 57.3k
6
votes
How do people store bicycles in London?
In my experience, it seems fairly standard practice for the tenancy agreements supplied by agents to forbid the storage of bikes in properties. I have always just done so regardless, though I can ...
- 61
6
votes
Right of way for a raised crossing?
The vehicular and cycle traffic has priority, since the crossing is not a zebra crossing and there are no traffic lights, which are the only situations in which the Highway Code talks about ...
- 17k
5
votes
Is it advisable to travel 11 miles one way to office every day
This is really only a question you can answer for yourself.
How fit are you? How much do you ride currently, is 11 miles a long way for you? Are you comfortable in London traffic? Is it raining?
...
- 5,766
5
votes
Right of way for a raised crossing?
According to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (TSRGD) and Highway Code pedestrians only have priority at zebra and parallel crossings (which include stripes flashing orange ...
- 51
4
votes
Is 17 miles (27km) each way a lot for a newbie cyclist?
Our LBS has a Saturday morning ride for which we often get beginners. Many are no longer young and not particularly fit. They can do 17 miles of flat ride before lunch. I wouldn't worry about the ...
- 2,708
4
votes
Is 17 miles (27km) each way a lot for a newbie cyclist?
I typically tell people that any normal healthy novice can get on a bicycle and do 10 miles per hour without difficulty, so if you can walk for two hours stop for lunch and walk back, then you can do ...
- 440
4
votes
Is it advisable to travel 11 miles one way to office every day
It's subjective whether it's advisable for you. I do it, but you have to think about the following things:
How often? Don't jump in to trying it every day to begin with
Route. To begin with, allow ...
- 1,185
4
votes
How do people store bicycles in London?
As a former and occasional landlord, I can see why folks would try to forbid bikes in building. They have a nasty habit of leaving gouges in hallways and doors right about the height at which pedals ...
- 29.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Wheel builder London?
The wheel that finally worked for me is a Mavic A719 with Sapim Strong spokes and a spoke freeze as well as the thickest Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre they could fit on the wheel. It was built by ...
- 352
3
votes
can you use a cycle path to bypass red lights?
It depends totally on the design of the cycle way. Here are three examples, all from the same intersection in Christchurch, New Zealand. Note, we ride/drive on the left side of the road.
Satellite ...
- 121k
3
votes
How to tell if a folding bike is faster than a boris bike
I have a folder, and its not fast. Riding at about my FTP for an hour returns an average speed of "high twenties km/h" where the same power does mid to high thirties km/h on a normal road bike.
My ...
- 121k
3
votes
London Embankment cycle routes - are e-bikes allowed?
According to https://www.gov.uk/electric-bike-rules the rules for eBikes (electrically assisted pedal cycle, EAPC) in the UK are very similar to other European countries:
An EAPC must have pedals ...
- 26k
3
votes
Type of permitted folding bikes on London trains & Tube?
Being a Londoner I would say this.
If you want to guarantee being able to take a folding bike on the tube go for a Brompton or something that folds to the same size. Decathlon do very similar folding ...
- 126
3
votes
Accepted
Type of permitted folding bikes on London trains & Tube?
The authorative source would be Transport for London's website at
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/cycling-in-london/bikes-on-public-transport
which states:
Tube: You can take a folded bike ...
- 121k
2
votes
London Embankment cycle routes - are e-bikes allowed?
There are two varieties of E-bikes: slow (25 km/h that is less than a speed of a fit cyclist, may be more restrictions) and fast (more like a small motorcycle). Simplest way to tell apart, a ...
- 7,482
1
vote
Is 17 miles (27km) each way a lot for a newbie cyclist?
It's do-able. We have some guests, a couple in their 20s or 30s, who both know how to cycle but aren't accustomed to it. They were able to go somewhere and back, 25 km each way.
Caveat:
It took them ...
- 12k
1
vote
Is 17 miles (27km) each way a lot for a newbie cyclist?
If you were a little older I'd say work up to it over a month or so, doing progressively longer rides to give your body time to adjust and tell you how it's doing, but at 17 you can recover from ...
- 2,461
1
vote
Right of way for a raised crossing?
English law is actually very clear. It is deemed to be who is at fault. Pedestrians are very rarely at fault (a resent case of a pedestiran crossing a road whilst looking at her mobile phone only ...
- 11
1
vote
How to attach maps, etc to handlebars of a Boris Bike? (London bike hire scheme)
Updated answer: The "Finn" phone holder: https://getfinn.com/. Cheaper at Amazon than direct, though smaller choice of colours.
- 153
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible