Cycling in London

nm123_2

My journey to work at the moment is 10 minute walk to the station, 50 minute train journey and 15 minute walk from station to office in the middle of London.

I'm considering getting a cheapie bike and leaving it in London, so I could use it for the station/work leg of the journey.

Does anyone else do this? I think it would be interesting to see how long before the bike got nicked, but if it's something cheap I don't suppose I'd be too too bothered... Am I allowed to leave a bike chained to a bike rack overnight/at weekends??

jebervic

nm123 wrote: »

My journey to work at the moment is 10 minute walk to the station, 50 minute train journey and 15 minute walk from station to office in the middle of London.

I'm considering getting a cheapie bike and leaving it in London, so I could use it for the station/work leg of the journey.

Does anyone else do this? I think it would be interesting to see how long before the bike got nicked, but if it's something cheap I don't suppose I'd be too too bothered... Am I allowed to leave a bike chained to a bike rack overnight/at weekends??

Why not buy a fold up bike?

nm123_2

jebervic wrote: »

Why not buy a fold up bike?

I can't be dealing with carting it around on the train with me... Plus I sometimes get a lift to the station from home so wouldn't need it then.

vikingaero

Which London mainline station are you coming into? Some London stations have loads of cycle racks. For instance Euston has loads of double decker racks in which many people leave cycles for the same purpose as you are proposing.

nm123_2

Fenchurch Street, and I work at St Pauls.

vikingaero

nm123 wrote: »

Fenchurch Street, and I work at St Pauls.

Oh dear. According to the Network Rail website there are no cycle storage facilities at Fenchurch Street Station.

nm123_2

There are tons of bike parks nearby though, can I just leave it there? I mean the rack/bar type ones on the pavements...

joolsybools

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=66

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11598.aspx

http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Advice/CyclePatrol/cyclesecurity.htm

angeltreats

I worked for a long time right beside Fenchurch St station. There are tons of bike racks just around the corner and as far as I know there are no restrictions on how long you can leave a bike there - just make sure you get a decent lock (preferably two, of different types as thieves generally only carry the tools to break one kind of lock).

I was lucky because I had a basement in our office building to leave my bike, but I did use it a lot around central London and it never got stolen (apart from once from the hallway in our block of flats). I always tried to leave it locked somewhere that was busy with lots of passers by.

I cycled from east London (near Hackney) to Fenchurch Street and it only took about twenty minutes or so - door to door it was far faster than taking the train and infinitely more reliable, and it saved me about £90 a month. I loved it.