To commute or not to commute....

[shielsy]

Well, my rail ticket expired yesterday and the weather man said it was going to be dry today. That coupled with the fact the train was over an hour late in last night meant that today I was riding in.

What started out a lovely ride, seeing the sunrise, enjoying myself soon turned into a wet, stty ride. Really didn't enjoy it once I hit the North Circular. To make matters worse the bike started making a weird rattle once it started getting hot in traffic. I was nearly run over twice on Kingsway and turned up to work slightly shaken and pretty wet, albeit relieved.

Suffice to say, I will be calling in to the train station on my way home to purchase Octobers ticket. I probably sound like a bit of a pussy, but at least I gave it a go.

[anonymous-user]

You sound like a bit of a pussy.

[The Moose]

To be fair, it's one of those things that takes a few goes to get used to. I wouldn't advise commuting through winter as a start anyway. Try again next year!

[shoestring7]

shielsy said:

Well, my rail ticket expired yesterday and the weather man said it was going to be dry today. That coupled with the fact the train was over an hour late in last night meant that today I was riding in.

What started out a lovely ride, seeing the sunrise, enjoying myself soon turned into a wet, stty ride. Really didn't enjoy it once I hit the North Circular. To make matters worse the bike started making a weird rattle once it started getting hot in traffic. I was nearly run over twice on Kingsway and turned up to work slightly shaken and pretty wet, albeit relieved.

Suffice to say, I will be calling in to the train station on my way home to purchase Octobers ticket. I probably sound like a bit of a pussy, but at least I gave it a go.

I sympathise - I'm not a regular into London, but when I do I find the constant filtering exhausting, and when the weather's poor stressful as well.

SS7

[kiethton]

I started commuting into the city a few weeks ago, albeit on a CBR125 and only 30 miles a day.

Bike - £1400
Gear - £300 (used dad's old suit)
Fuel - £1.20 a day
Parking - free
Insurance - £450
Tax - £17

All compared to a monthly £220 train ticket (excluding driving to the station @ 16mpg and reultant increased beer consumption) Depreciating both bike to £500 and gear to £0 over 3 years it works out as costing me:

Bike - £25
Gear - £8
Fuel - £25
Insurance - £38
Tax - £1.50

Per month- £97.50 or a c.£120 per month or £1500pa saving, more if I keep the gear/bike longer and I get some NCB

[Tall_Paul]

kiethton said:

I started commuting into the city a few weeks ago, albeit on a CBR125 and only 30 miles a day.

Bike - £1400
Gear - £300 (used dad's old suit)
Fuel - £1.20 a day
Parking - free
Insurance - £450
Tax - £17

All compared to a monthly £220 train ticket (excluding driving to the station @ 16mpg and reultant increased beer consumption) Depreciating both bike to £500 and gear to £0 over 3 years it works out as costing me:

Bike - £25
Gear - £8
Fuel - £25
Insurance - £38
Tax - £1.50

Per month- £97.50 or a c.£120 per month or £1500pa saving, more if I keep the gear/bike longer and I get some NCB

You'll get an easy £1k for a CBF125 regardless of mileage, they don't lose that much value even over several years.

[kiethton]

Tall_Paul said:

You'll get an easy £1k for a CBF125 regardless of mileage, they don't lose that much value even over several years.

That's a result, true of the CBR also?

I just assumed that it'd be more like my car as its still less than a year old and has 4k miles (although Cat D), got to love a flat (ish) depreciation curve!

[Tall_Paul]

shielsy said:

Well, my rail ticket expired yesterday and the weather man said it was going to be dry today. That coupled with the fact the train was over an hour late in last night meant that today I was riding in.

What started out a lovely ride, seeing the sunrise, enjoying myself soon turned into a wet, stty ride. Really didn't enjoy it once I hit the North Circular. To make matters worse the bike started making a weird rattle once it started getting hot in traffic. I was nearly run over twice on Kingsway and turned up to work slightly shaken and pretty wet, albeit relieved.

Suffice to say, I will be calling in to the train station on my way home to purchase Octobers ticket. I probably sound like a bit of a pussy, but at least I gave it a go.

Just looked at the route and TBH that seems like a piss easy commute, you only actually have 8 miles of "London" after you come off the M1, that's 50 miles of motorway, even if it's at a standstill motorway filtering is dead easy - so most of the route is boring, with some nice filtering at the end to wake you up in time for work! Get some proper textiles, heated grips for winter etc and you'll be fine. Try it on a nice dry day, and that feeling of being able to jump on your bike and blast off home rather than sitting on a bug infested sweaty train is awesome.

I commute 20 miles each way in kent with a few miles filtering at each end (not london, but still busy traffic) and there's no way I'd choose the train if I was commuting into central London (40 miles ech way for me)

[Tall_Paul]

kiethton said:

That's a result, true of the CBR also?

I just assumed that it'd be more like my car as its still less than a year old and has 4k miles (although Cat D), got to love a flat (ish) depreciation curve!

CAT D might mean it's worth a bit less, but yeah becuase of the demand for 125's they tend to hold their value, anything under £1000 tends to be either shagged/underpriced/an ancient CG125.

[shielsy]

Tall_Paul said:

Just looked at the route and TBH that seems like a piss easy commute, you only actually have 8 miles of "London" after you come off the M1, that's 50 miles of motorway, even if it's at a standstill motorway filtering is dead easy - so most of the route is boring, with some nice filtering at the end to wake you up in time for work! Get some proper textiles, heated grips for winter etc and you'll be fine. Try it on a nice dry day, and that feeling of being able to jump on your bike and blast off home rather than sitting on a bug infested sweaty train is awesome.

I commute 20 miles each way in kent with a few miles filtering at each end (not london, but still busy traffic) and there's no way I'd choose the train if I was commuting into central London (40 miles ech way for me)

Indeed, the route looks fairly straightforward (and it is really). I think my displeasure was mainly down to it pissing it down and the bike sounding like it was going to implode. On the plus side it's dried up now so the journey home should be more enjoyable.

[thatdude]

shielsy said:

Well, my rail ticket expired yesterday and the weather man said it was going to be dry today. That coupled with the fact the train was over an hour late in last night meant that today I was riding in.

What started out a lovely ride, seeing the sunrise, enjoying myself soon turned into a wet, stty ride. Really didn't enjoy it once I hit the North Circular. To make matters worse the bike started making a weird rattle once it started getting hot in traffic. I was nearly run over twice on Kingsway and turned up to work slightly shaken and pretty wet, albeit relieved.

Suffice to say, I will be calling in to the train station on my way home to purchase Octobers ticket. I probably sound like a bit of a pussy, but at least I gave it a go.

I hated riding the north circ in the pissing rain too

I was going to ride to work today until I woke up and looked out the window, it was pissing down. It wasnt forcast

You can always ride when its a nice day, that being said you'll be paying for two journeys if you buy a season ticket and then ride in...

Summer time in the rain isnt too bad

[defblade]

Commuting pleasure turned out to be 90% dryness for me, for which the answer is, simply, Goretex. And plenty of it.

The other 10% is heated grips (+muffs/handguards) and a chain oiler (knowing you'll have to get off and oil the chain, in the rain, after a long cold wet ride, after a stty day in work = no fun).

[HiFiHunter]

kiethton said:

I started commuting into the city a few weeks ago, albeit on a CBR125 and only 30 miles a day.

Bike - £1400
Gear - £300 (used dad's old suit)
Fuel - £1.20 a day
Parking - free
Insurance - £450
Tax - £17

All compared to a monthly £220 train ticket (excluding driving to the station @ 16mpg and reultant increased beer consumption) Depreciating both bike to £500 and gear to £0 over 3 years it works out as costing me:

Bike - £25
Gear - £8
Fuel - £25
Insurance - £38
Tax - £1.50

Per month- £97.50 or a c.£120 per month or £1500pa saving, more if I keep the gear/bike longer and I get some NCB

You have forgotten to factor in for:-
Security chain/lock (£200)
Tyres (£100-200/yr)
Chain/sprockets(£30/yr, set every 2-3 years)
Brake pads (£20/yr ish)
Yearly service/mot (£200/yr, unless you do it all yourself)
Chain lube (~£20/yr)
ACF50 treatment for winter (£10/yr)
Gear - one set off your Dad ain't going to last you 3 years. In three years time, you will have got yourself a nice winter set, a summer set, an assortment of gloves, neck gaiters, a drawer full of thermals, a couple of visors, a Pinlock, worn at least one pair of boots out. Through a combination of wear'n'tear, desiring better kit and spotting bargains, you will have spent far more!
You have have also gotten pissed off in the winter and splashed out on heated grips/gloves or muffs. (£50-150).
You haven't factored in a camera. Not essential, but after you've been taken out once, dealt with insurance firms, you'll soon change your mind. (£70+)
Then they'll be the repairs you will have made after dropping the bike a few times, bike being knocked over, mirrors bust etc.

Just tot that lot up and see how the numbers compare then. Probably not as cheap as you first thought. I'd still definitely go by bike though!

[shoestring7]

graphene said:

defblade said:

Commuting pleasure turned out to be 90% dryness for me, for which the answer is, simply, Goretex. And plenty of it.

The other 10% is heated grips (+muffs/handguards) and a chain oiler (knowing you'll have to get off and oil the chain, in the rain, after a long cold wet ride, after a stty day in work = no fun).

Keeping the hands warm is essential for me. Once they are cold my concentration and bike-handling suffer, an they are limited to begin with.

Not so sure about the chain oiler (admittedly, never tried one). If I don't faff about then I can do the chain in under two minutes, even without a paddock stand.

Warm core is the way to go, keep that warm and your extremities look after themselves.

SS7

[Deranged Granny]

kiethton said:

I started commuting into the city a few weeks ago, albeit on a CBR125 and only 30 miles a day.

Bike - £1400
Gear - £300 (used dad's old suit)
Fuel - £1.20 a day
Parking - free
Insurance - £450
Tax - £17

You get 150mpg commuting?

[Hooli]

Someone on here did a link to DIY heated waistcoats, cost about £15 to make IIRC. Think it was on a TeDiuM forum IIRC.

[fwaggie]

Bike!

I did Milton Keynes to Watford daily for just under 2 years. Company had decent parking with allocated bike parking.

90% of the time it was via bike and took 45 minutes door to door + 10 mins either side getting kit on/off.

10% of the time it was via car and took anywhere from an hour to 2.5 hours door to door.

I worked out that driving to the train station (15m), parking (5m), waiting for next train (10m), getting to the closest Watford station to work (45m), then walking to work (15m), would take a lot longer than using the bike.

The first time I took in work shoes and a few ties, and a couple of emergency shirts (in case the waterproofs leaked), that makes changing into proper shoes easy.

Decent waterproof kit isn't tight fitting means work trousers and shirt under them look OK after the commute, I shave my head #1 or #2 so, helmet hair? Uh?

My first job here I worked in a building overlooking Bletchley railway station and if I got into work early enough I could see people parking up at 7.30am to get the train, and coming back to their cars at 7.30pm. 12 hour day? Sod that!

[John D.]

Personally I'd get the train (and that's what I do!). Reading to Whitechapel every day. I could ride but it would be dull as hell on the motorway (spiced up by 90mph filtering no doubt...hmmm), then dicing with London traffic for 30min. fk that. I've taken the bike in once on a Sat just to see how it do-able it was. Quite pleasant riding along the Thames in the morning light with little traffic admittedly. Kicker is I always get seat on train and tube both ways (fortunately travel earlier than morning rush too).

Not worth the hassle and wear and tear on the bike for me. Plus I'd soon get cocky and too used to the route/filtering etc and be trying to do it as fast as I could every day. Did Reading to Luton for 6 months on the bike and things went that way.

I do like seeing all the bikes in London and can see the attraction blasting through all the traffic. Fair play to all that do it.

[dapearson]

The way you describe filtering you're better off on the train

[John D.]

dapearson said:

The way you describe filtering you're better off on the train

Exactly.