London: Bikefanclub.com

Jas0n,

Be careful!

Since this past fall I've spent about 5 weeks there and I can't tell you how concerned I'd be travelling that city's streets. That said...

London is one of the most wonderfulest cities. Bicyclists are all over the place, especially now that there is a tariff imposed on car commuters in order to lessen city traffic. Still, the traffic whizzes about the wrong way and most of the roads I've seen have no shoulder, a space to call your own. I don't even want to tell you what the Trafalgar square traffic looks like.

One weekend I got out to Salisbury (1.5hrs out)and saw a lone roadie not too far from Stonehenge. I'm travelling in a double decker and this guy is pedaling on a pretty busy narrow country road. He has hedges to his left that are kept trimmed by the passing traffic, no shoulder again, and my bus is going to have to try to scoot right, into the oncoming lane, giving the cyclist the barest margin of space. I couldn't watch.

There's a guy in our office there that participated in the PBP and I'm thinking I might ask him to do a ride with me during my next visit, assuming he can comply with 20 or so riding requirements I have.

To each his own, pedal softly is all.

Never saw a Calfee, but then it ain't exactly a city bike. Lots of Dawes and Thorns and mostly utility style bikes. MTB's are popular.

I've heard there are a couple nice lbs's, but I haven't as yet found them. Most are US equals. Too bad, I was hoping for something exotic. The big names Giant, Trek and the like have their name and products slammed against the shop windows.

The dollar is toast to the pound so buying anything there is mostly a waste.

Now their pints are a different matter...