And today's commuting highlight is...

[kiethton]

I wear a formal shirt under my textile jacket each day without any issue - do however wear Kevlar jeans and change into suit trousers at work

[Dakkon]

I wear over trousers and a proper long textile jacket, occasionally my shirt is a bit creased but not too often, my biggest issue is that the overtrousers make me very hot and summer temps can be a bugger.

I am in the process of looking at a proper gortex jacket and trousers with venting, but must be waterproof as I commute year round.

[Fish]

I wear textile trousers over my suit trousers and a textile jacket over my suit and tie. Spare pair of leather shoes at work in the office...

[308mate]

Join a gym with somewhere to put the bike whilst you get around London. Then you have showers and a change room. And a gym.

[shoestring7]

kingb said:

Hoping for a little advice from seasoned commuters

Just taken a job that will put in in London 3/4 days a week to meet customers. I sell laboratory kit to university research groups.

I will need to wear chinos and a shirt to meet customers but wont have an office to store them / change out of riding kit. Its about 30 miles from home to London bridge.

Any advice on how to sort clothing and general tips? Cheers

Aerostich is usually the answer, a quality one-piece oversuit that is waterproof, protective and easy to put on/take off. I appreciate this doesn't work for everyone, but I'm unaware of any more readily available alternatives that are anything like as good. You really need to be able to collect from the US too, so it might works if you travel there or go on business.

SS7

[kingb]

ok cheers for the tips guys - very useful

[ClaphamGT3]

308mate said:

Join a gym with somewhere to put the bike whilst you get around London. Then you have showers and a change room. And a gym.

This!

[Bikesalot]

A man in a van seemingly not liking my overtake this morning, proceeding to then shout and get rather close to me at the next junction.

Most exciting it's been all year.

[tjlazer]

kingb said:

ok cheers for the tips guys - very useful

Someone recommended these https://cabinmax.com/accessories-1/188-shirt-tidy-... a while ago and they are super useful for business travel and keeping a formal shirt nice and sharp when you arrive at work. I just keep my suits in the office and change when I arrive.

[SteelerSE]

kingb said:

Hoping for a little advice from seasoned commuters

Just taken a job that will put in in London 3/4 days a week to meet customers. I sell laboratory kit to university research groups.

I will need to wear chinos and a shirt to meet customers but wont have an office to store them / change out of riding kit. Its about 30 miles from home to London bridge.

Any advice on how to sort clothing and general tips? Cheers

The biggest issue that you'll have is wet kit. The gym idea is good one as having somewhere to leave stuff is important as only the really expensive goretex stuff lets the water run off and even then wet gloves are a bh going home. The other issue will be footwear. There are plenty of boots that look OK under trousers but you will need to find some that are comfortable enough to walk around London all day in whilst being waterproof and providing protection, as leaving them behind will add considerable bulk.

The only other option that comes to mind is a self-storage place. Somewhere like www.safestore.co.uk is about £15-20/week for secure storage depending on where it is. You may even be able to negotiate leaving the bike there...? The added cost may defeat the whole point of the thing though.

[kiethton]

SteelerSE said:

The biggest issue that you'll have is wet kit. The gym idea is good one as having somewhere to leave stuff is important as only the really expensive goretex stuff lets the water run off and even then wet gloves are a bh going home. The other issue will be footwear. There are plenty of boots that look OK under trousers but you will need to find some that are comfortable enough to walk around London all day in whilst being waterproof and providing protection, as leaving them behind will add considerable bulk.

The only other option that comes to mind is a self-storage place. Somewhere like www.safestore.co.uk is about £15-20/week for secure storage depending on where it is. You may even be able to negotiate leaving the bike there...? The added cost may defeat the whole point of the thing though.

Or it depends on what bike you have - this is where a GS or Dulville with panniers and a top box comes into its own

[sjtscott]

Todays commuting highlight an empty bus and less than rammed full tube! Beverages of the beer variety after work being the reasoning for subjecting myself to this.
School summer holidays have kicked in making the public transport commute that little bit better than normal.

[terry tibbs]

kingb said:

Hoping for a little advice from seasoned commuters

Just taken a job that will put in in London 3/4 days a week to meet customers. I sell laboratory kit to university research groups.

I will need to wear chinos and a shirt to meet customers but wont have an office to store them / change out of riding kit. Its about 30 miles from home to London bridge.

Any advice on how to sort clothing and general tips? Cheers

don't forget when you meet people - glove hands especially when they are wet - you'll leave a real lasting impression

[Drewbs]

Pothole said:

What do you ride, Drewbs? I'm on that section most days (J11-J6 and back) on a red Tiger Sport with a tail pack. Try and keep up when I pass you! I live in Cheslyn Hay if you fancy a run out one weekend/evening.

On a green ER6F most days although it'll off the road for the next week or so while I get the clutch fixed.

[Cbull]

Went for a small ride up towards Beeston today. Joined a at low speed because of an immediate sharp turn. Some lady in a large new black Range or Land Rover entered the road behind me in the bend. Proceeded slowly as cyclist was on coming then suddenly my turn was there, indicated, braked and started to turn. Heard a small screech and got shunted forward. I stopped over the road, turned around and she shouted you fkn Dhead and sped off.

WTF!

I chased her down. Eventually after a brief argument she apologised loads for not watching the road, hitting me and leaving. She claimed she never knew she'd hit me. No harm done I think, the bike seemed fine but it left a few scratches on the front her new car.

[Bikesalot]

Apart from the lorry with its rear door open and swinging around on the dual carriage way everything was relatively boring. No car driver seemed to care so I stopped and told him - was thankful.

Everything will be boring today after spending this weekend poodling around Wales with James Hillier...even in the rain/hail it was a great laugh.

[sjtscott]

Much lighter traffic today even on the usual clusterf**k of the highway it was flowing a bit better than normal. Met Mr NC750 again who struggles to filter but absolutely nails it off the line at the lights with no traffic up to the speed limit.. very strange riding indeed but each to their own. No other real highlights today apart from the lovely wet/cooler weather which has cut back all the summer posers sorry I mean commuters of late.

[kiethton]

Rain wasn't appreciated, neither was the traffic - seemed so much worse today!

Also something tells me that they've either fked up the traffic light phasing or something's not quite right - stuck for 2 cycles of lights at 2 different junctions today (unable to filter past buses). The worst of this traffic issue was here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4441031,-0.02025...

Traffic coming round the 1 way system from the right gets stuck, blocking the traffic where the google car is above, as it waits to turn at another red light up toward Catford hill (same in the car yesterday) - really needs to be sorted!

[Iang84]

kiethton said:

Rain wasn't appreciated, neither was the traffic - seemed so much worse today!

Also something tells me that they've either fked up the traffic light phasing or something's not quite right - stuck for 2 cycles of lights at 2 different junctions today (unable to filter past buses). The worst of this traffic issue was here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4441031,-0.02025...

Traffic coming round the 1 way system from the right gets stuck, blocking the traffic where the google car is above, as it waits to turn at another red light up toward Catford hill (same in the car yesterday) - really needs to be sorted!

I managed to get to work today before the rain started so at least I'm not trying to dry out as I sit at my desk forecast for later looks like I wont be so lucky though, that bit of the gyratory is always a pig they should really have the box junction extend another car length to the left rather than just for the contraflow bus lane and I reckon that would sort the blocking problem for people going straight across

[SteelerSE]

My highlight is not having to travel in to London this week. That's approximately 12 hours of my life back!