Right, I lost my license in 2002 (got caught doing 115 mph on the M1 at 08:20 on a sunday morning. Unmarked police cars are not fair!. Although I was on me way home from work). I have not ridden in London since the congestion charge came in. I now commute from Southend & I see the city bods on there twist & go’s and I’m genuinely frightened at there state of riding as I used to ride a Triumph trophy 900 then a Gsxr600 & i would easily take out 5-6 per week as they have never even heard of a life saver:w00t:. Am I alone, or does anyone else feel the same?. Has riding in London got that bad?. As all I keep reading Is alot of you going down?. Also I will be commuting to old street and I work nights. Any input would be much appreciated. Dave.
Its not all that bad, especially at the time of day you will be travelling. Yes there are a lot of people that have taken up biking (not just scooters, there are bad bike-riders out there as well!) and not many of them have good experience. But they will always be bad riders/drivers out there, no reason to put yourself in a cage and get stuck for hours…However, it looks like you do, and the fact that you see some of the bad riding is also good, it means that you can anticipate what they will do and ride accordingly. Main thing is to keep your head and maintain steady progress. Traffic lights are so restrictive there is very very little to be gained from trying to rush everywhere.
it will be a bit hairly first time in, but dont get yourself a top of the range sports, just a decent commuter bike (with full fairing if you are coming from southend) and you will be OK.We have a few crashes on here, but to be honest, given that we have so many members and most ride in london on a daily basis, the numbers dont actually seem that bad.
I agree with Elad. You certainly have to keep up good observation and read what other drivers are likely to do, but you should still be able to ride safely.
I have found since I started commuting by bike last March that I drive less aggressively on the bike than when in a car. With the bike my journey time is more predicatable and if I have to stop at lights or someone gets ahead of me - so what. In the car things like that can make a material difference to the journey time and so you feel more pressure to press on.
I agree with you about the variable standards of bike riding. I keep the closest lookout for other bikes as the most frightening moments have been with other bikes, especiallly those that you can ride without passing a test.
Its a good point actually, you take the most dangerous machine, a bicycle with an engine so it has lots of power but no protection like seat belts, airbags or metal surrounding them, then you tell children that they can ride it without having to pass a test… that wouldn’t work for a car which has PLENTY of protection, so why do we let kids, the most inexperienced people, ride on the roads without passing a test in a LESS protected environment…?
Britain is officially an insane mad uttely inexplicable place… seriously, we’re loonies considering what we think is sensible, we really are.
It’s not all doom and Gloom. If you’re worried why not book some training and before commuting properly again do some practice runs.
It’s as dangerous as you want to make it at the end of the day.
Always keeps your eyes open for the idiot (and it’s not me in case people think otherwise…)
I must say that the closest shaves i’ve had (and seen for that matter) in London have been from the twist and go brigade. Apologies to any on here that are considerate scooties but it must be said- 90% of Scooter Riders in London seem to have their own rule book. Actually to be fair a lot of ordinary bikers too. I think as said above you need to ride for the idiots out there.
I find that often it is best to hang back a bit back when filtering and give space to them. let them zip past and annoy the trafic while you calmly wait for the right opportunity to filter. ‘Smooth’ riding is essential in London. nice and dominant position and calm careful observation.
Also- watch out for pedestrians looking to cross the road while you pass a cue of cars. Just this morning I just managaed to glimpse someone making to cross the road in front of a big truck and I stopped and just like clockwork she walked straight out from in front of the truck without a glance. the lucky thing is my stopping caused the bike who was behind me to stop and he was annoyed until this lady suddenly walked out of nowhere. hope that gave the fella a bit of food for thought.
i’ve seen some crazy things but I wouldn’t give up the bike for commuting to be trapped in the car.
hey ya
i commute from leyton to islington every day, just started on dayshift again, you should have very few probs commuting while working nights…its like a different planet comapared to daytime rush hour!
I commute most days on my R1 and often do the A13 Southend to Central London.In my experience, I agree with Pat…It’s as dangerous as you want it to be…I’ve rarely had close shaves with other traffic to be honest.
The key thing like someone else said is to hang back, even for a split second, and not razz aimlessly. Make every overtake be worthy of the risk involved and only filter when traffic is moving slowly or not at all. You should not filter at much more than 10 MPH faster than other traffic around you.
You can often judge a driver / riders actions on approach. How are they changing lanes? Indicating? Is their speed constant or erratic?
When performing an overtake, I position my bike so that it is visable in the offside mirror of the vehicle ahead. I wait briefly and then I make a quick overtake leaving plenty of gap between me and the vehicle when I pull back into the lane.
I also advise that you should have a look at the orientation of the front wheels of the vehicle ahead during an overtake as they can give an early warning indication of any change of direction that the driver may about to make.
I also look at the wheels of any vehicle waiting at a junction I am about to pass. Any movement and I sound the horn.
In 4 years riding in the big smoke from 125cc to 1000cc bikes, I’ve only had 1 altercation with another vehicle and that was my fault.
As others have said, give yourself and everyone else lots of time and space - always assume every hidden space has a cyclist, pedestrian, car, rhino, whatever, about to charge out, and act accordingly. It is not a race, and never hurry. The quiet Christmas new year period is a perfect time to do some dry runs to get used to the route during daylight when it is quiet. It is always easier riding a route you are familiar with.
I have ridden 25 London miles a day for four years. I had one nasty accident on an unfamiliar road when I hit a poor surface at only 15 mph - no other vehicle was involved. My only other incident was a low speed collision with a taxi when I was hurrying. We both came round the blind side of a large vehicle and couldn’t see one another until the last minute so didn’t brake in time. It would have been a knock 4 knock but we agreed it wasn’t worth exchanging details - a smashed mudguard verses a dented wheel cover. The accident was completely avoidable and would never have happened if I had been riding in the manner I normally do.
As with many on here, i do about 25 miles a day round trip, both suburban and Central London - Many a time ive seen the worst driving in the suburbswith dozy drivers driving a mile or two on the streets they ‘know’…
I have to agree whole heartedly that there are sectionable scooter riders out there - im sure natural selection will thin the number over the years though !txtPost_CommentEmoticon(’:w00t:’);
However - there are riders who are just as bad - one rider i encounter 2-3 times a week on my commute is posibly the most dangerous agressive b*stard going- but having sat back and watched him ride, rather than trying to stay ahead of him, i now know to just pull across when i get the chance, give him (or it may be a her!?) the room the so valuably require, and carry on with my ride.
The only thing i personally would have issue with, is the 80 mile round trip each and everyday - however as your a nigh owl, im sure that will be a pleasure to ride most days! A decent size faired sports/ tourer eg - Bandit 650/ Fazer will do you amply for the motorway miles and will have MORE than you require for town centre riding…
Most of all though… Stay safe and enjoy it
Many thanks for the replies Guys & Gals. I’m not singling out the scooter riders, just an observation. I’ve got over 150,000 miles of biking under my belt what with me being 2 days younger than god:P. As for pedestrians, they most definately have a death wish. Appologies for the delay in replying only my pc @ home is going to get launched through the window soon!.:w00t:
I know scoots get blamed often, and I’ll be the first to admit there’s a lot of sub-standard riders in London, particularly on 50cc scoots with no qualification whatsoever, but equally, there’s a lot of sub-standard riding from people on CBTs, who, worse even, think they’ve got the right to cut scoots because they’ve got their engine in between their legs rather than underneath/behind them. I guess what I’m trying to say is just to try to spot the ones to look out for and let them do what they’re doing.
Also, I think bicycles are becoming a real problem in London. Especially riding in the dark. Numerous cyclists don’t know the concept of “lights”, think traffic lights are some sort of xmas decoration, and don’t know which side of the road “slow” traffic belongs (I kid you not, I regularly see cyclist, no lights, in the dark, on the right hand lane of the Old Kent Road, with 30mph traffic passing them on the inside). They’ll often come out bus lanes to overtake a stationary bus, without looking over their shoulders. Mostly they’ll never have heard of life savers. Watch out for them!
my 2p worth…
I do not ride in London much but two experience that stick in my mind.
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was on my own, ride a bandit 600, and going thro Brixton high st, rush hour and pedestrians appear from all directions and cars pulling in front of me, pretty scary, i then realised i was riding in a very timid way, so i reclaimed ‘my space’ and then the rest of journey was manageable.
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on way home from BM, all these scooters, knowledge boys and pizza boys, cutting me up at lights and trying to race you away…stoopid kids. Problem here was they just stuck to me like a rash, gave me no space, felt like smacking them one!..decided it was their terriitory and best option was to ignor, difficult tho.
But i will still ride in London, practice makes perfect…
Use a lot of common sense, do not get involved with the other idiots on the road, eyes open and lifesavers all the time, do not try and follow couriers (unless you really are very good in traffic) and don’t let the scooter riders make you angry. I know that not all of them are bad but most of them are. I have had to have words with a few over the years (adults new to it as it turned out too, not kids) and really, if I rode like they do I would have been dead 20yrs ago. Unfortunately a lot of new bikers/scooterers in London look at the couriers and think that they can do what they do or they just think that as they are on two wheels they can fly up the inside of traffic as a god given right and then look all supprised when they get side swiped by the car who’s lane they were trying to get into (illegally and stupidly) Now don’t think I am on the car drivers side because I’m not. I would say that car drivers in London are bloody appalling and a lot of them will deliberately try and take you out. I drive in London a lot more than I ride but as I was riding before I drove I am allways on the lookout for bikes, especially couriers and the special retard scooterers. Hopefully I will never be the cause of a bike accident, although I might run one of those fool pedestrians over who like to just step into the road in front of me without looking. If you want to see what a pedestrian does to your bike look at the Flickr.com account of Amethi http://www.flickr.com/photos/amethi/sets/72157600187142867/ (Jay, the guy who runs this site) Riding in london is fun but be aware.
Hands up all here who’ve done Bikesafe or any other training beyond CBT and the Test.
I will be doing this in the summer when hopefully I’m on the blade!
I have to agree that riding in London is quite scare if you are not used to it! I see ‘youths’ (and not all before I am shot down!) riding past my shop in Hammersmith doing wheelies and all sorts and it makes you really think. I get really angry, fair enough we are based on a quiet street, but there is a school 2mins away and lots of residential housing…!! 
I think that the police really need to be putting more resources onto catching ‘unsafe’ riders. Lets face it there is a time and place to pull wheelies and stunts, and that certainly is not in a residential area.
However, when riding home today from work I was following a ‘city guy’ on a Vespa 50, and he looked well up to scratch. Life savers, safe distance…the works!! 
my advice mate: don’t rush, just relax and enjoy the ride.
johnp and mr chips,i’m not having a go at scooter riders over all, but it is a fact that the modern scooter phenomenon has produced a lot of new people to two wheels who just don’t get it and are particularly dangerous on the roads to themselves and others. I don’t have a problem with scooters. if i didn’t live and work in central london then i would have one myself. for the record i have done the bikesafe twice, once in '03 and once in '07, and i am toying with the MAC course and would like to to the I.A.M.
My style of machine is a ‘scooter’, even if I think it is a motorbike. And I agree, many older (perhaps from over the Channel?) scooter riders take their lives for granted and seem not to give a fig for ours.
I don’t fuss about it, I just hang back and relax, and get to the front at the next lights without scaring anybody.
Riding in London is fine if you think ‘assertive’, perhaps even ‘urgent’, but not more urgent than delivering eggs or an unsecured wedding cake intact.
Smooth leads to safe…