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noxx

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Lads, I am contemplating leaving Ireland for Camden, London.. What's the UK like from a bikers perspective? MOT, Police, Tax, Insurance, Roads, Noise regulations, aftermarket parts, FPN, etc etc?
 
LOL - he's not wrong.
You'll need to store it somewhere super secure to even get insurance.
Tax is about ?90p/y
 
I lived there for 9 years during the 1980's, I don't regret living there then, but would not even consider it now.

The likelihood of buying or even renting a home with any kind of secure garage, is out of most people's reach, especially in anywhere near a central part of London.

As far as riding, you will have to be prepared to take at least an hour to get to anywhere without total camera and speed monitoring.

Just my 2 cents.
 
LOL - he's not wrong.
You'll need to store it somewhere super secure to even get insurance.
Tax is about ?90p/y
I pay 130 in tower hamlets. They are not collecting garbage for 1 month
 
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the best thing about london is that there are 4 airports nearby that allow you to get out of london
 
I live in Richmond, West London. As Vlad and others say security is essential. You need to have a garage or keep the bike in the house if you are closer to the center where garages are near impossible to find. A little way out it is easy enough to find a garage. If you leave a bike on the street it will almost definitely get stolen if not in a few days then in a couple of weeks. I regularly see groups of lads checking the streets for stuff left out. A neighbor of mine left a crappy Kawasaki road bike in front of their garage for two days and lads tried to steal it. It was actually broken down and only there to stop cars using the space so it wouldn't work. They even had the tool kit out from under the seat trying to make it work!

Riding in London is sh*t and pretty much a waste of time for anything other than work purposes where you can get through the traffic easily. I have to ride for about 30mins to get to good riding roads.

All that negative stuff aside - it's London so you have access to pretty much anything you might want to do and the work often pays double what it would outside of the M25. It's fairly easy travel to most of the UK tracks and you can easily fly to anywhere in the world. So in summary its a bit rubbish for owning and riding a road bike but if you are doing track work then it works really well.
 
Yup, all that ^
Garage in Southwark is ~160pm for me
Insurance is 800 on a 3 y/o gen3. Full No claims.
Tracker is ~120py
Massive chains.
40 mins to get out of zone 1/2 to anywhere fun, and even then the roads are full.
Basically cone here to work, ship the bike to Spain to play [emoji58]


- Alex
 
When I had a bike in London, my usual commute out was towards Guilford to reach New Land's corner. It meant East London to South West journey via Vauxhal bridge.

Before Boris fu?ked up the roads of Central London in order to please a bunch of barristas and hipsters on a fixed-gear bikes, it was a nice ride along the embankment via Big Ben.

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I quite liked tiny roads around Surrey Hills, was my favorite place to ride.
 
I live in Swindon which is just down the m4.... lots of people moving out of London due to costs of living... security and safety. For example I had some customers who bought a house north Swindon for 600k... same house in Windsor was 1.4m... easier to commute for just over an hour. Good links with the m4... lots of alternatives. Wokingham... reading... Newbury... do ur research is my advice before moving
 
I?m just moving to near Bournemouth, loads of corporates in the area for work, probably the largest number of bike dealers in the UK and fantastic sandy beaches, great roads and a 4 bedroom detached house with double garage in a posh area... ?390,000. I just had to get away from the south east. Surrey road surfaces are dangerous. J
 
I?m just moving to near Bournemouth, loads of corporates in the area for work, probably the largest number of bike dealers in the UK and fantastic sandy beaches, great roads and a 4 bedroom detached house with double garage in a posh area... ?390,000. I just had to get away from the south east. Surrey road surfaces are dangerous. J


Not sandbanks then :eek:
 
I?m just moving to near Bournemouth, loads of corporates in the area for work, probably the largest number of bike dealers in the UK and fantastic sandy beaches, great roads and a 4 bedroom detached house with double garage in a posh area... ?390,000. I just had to get away from the south east. Surrey road surfaces are dangerous. J

Quick hi-jack. Perhaps we'll have a meet up on the Quay when times permit. :smile-new:
 
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