How to cycle in London as a tourist (without annoying locals)

Telegraph

20-05-2025

For a quarter of a century in a bygone age, I was a Londoner who used a bicycle for travel to and from work and play; to the office, the pub and the Café des Artistes. London made no provision for us. Apart from a few bus lanes, we shared the same spaces as cars, motor bikes, lorries and buses. We were minnows in the slow-moving river of traffic, ducking and diving to keep out of trouble. There were scary moments and a few painful collisions, usually with a car door that opened into my path.
Since moving away from London, I have kept up the cycling and swear at motorists about as often as I curse cyclists while driving. There's no escaping the fact that sharing the road is a confrontational experience. Or is there?
Word has trickled out to the shires that 21 st century London is a city transformed by cycling superhighways, special 'bike friendly' traffic lights and widely available public bikes for hire (both the official Santander Cycles, which have permanent pavement docks, and a raft of e-bike options from the likes of Lime, Forest and Dott). A friend whom I would never have imagined on a bicycle tells me she uses the Santander Cycles because there's a docking station near her flat. 'It's efficient and I've started using their e-bikes,' she writes. 'After a busy day the bike is a breath of fresh air that pushes me home.'
Clearly, it was time to give London cycling another go, this time as a tourist. I downloaded the Santander app to my phone and paid £3.50 for as many sub-60-minute rides as I could manage in 24 hours.
Having found a docking station – with some difficulty, such is the chaos of building work at Paddington – I took possession of my first Boris bike (as they are still affectionately known, named for the city's erstwhile mayor who was in power when they arrived) and embarked on a 20 mile tour of central London: to the Bank of England and back via many famous monuments, museums, bridges, parks and shopping streets.
An energetic cyclist could manage that in a couple of hours, but I took most of the day over it, stopping to change mount, eat, drink and see the sights. And loved almost every minute of it.
How could I not? On a sunny but not oppressive May day, London was looking its best, decked with blossom and VE Day flags. As I paused at the Serpentine to survey the colourful scene, the heart swelled with unexpected pride at the beauty of our great capital city. Has earth anything to show more fair? What better way to see London and get the feel of how it fits together than on a bicycle?
London used to swing. Then it rocked, got rich and stayed cool. These days, London rides. All cycling life is there – delivery boys and girls on bicycles, cyclo-taxis and gaudy rickshaws, students, bankers, tourists. In Chelsea, I suspended docking negotiations to watch an old couple pedal slowly up the King's Road on a tandem. The sight of a cyclist with what looked like a coffin over the front wheel gave me an idea for a start-up, but Cycle Hearse UK has beaten me to it. Helmet wearers were, it must be said, in a minority; headphone wearers not so.
Dangerous? Of course it is. I saw two near-calamities, cyclists entirely to blame in both cases. At the Vauxhall Bridge crossroads, a cyclist too deep in conversation or music to hear the siren of a police car on a mission pedalled serenely across its bow, inches from the front bumper, while all other traffic stood still.
Later in the day, at Marble Arch, I watched two cyclists converge at full tilt like jousting knights. After a clash of handlebars, a skid and a shouting match, they went their separate ways, doubtless excited by the cut and thrust.
Those incidents seem symptomatic of the state of things. Motorists I found less numerous and far more aware and considerate than of old. Not once did a black cab squeeze past me in a narrow lane and turn hard left.
As for any change in cyclists' behaviour, there are many more of them and I even saw a handful of them on the phone. In many languages they ride and chat, some with phone in hand, others hands-free. Rules of the road are there for the flouting. It is as if the improved infrastructure has brought a sense of herd immunity. Well done London, for putting up with us and making it such a pleasure, and so easy, to ride a bike.
What (and how) to hire
Your first decision is which provider to opt for – the two most readily available of which are Santander (both pedal and electric) and Lime (electric only).
The Santander day pass (£3.50 for an unlimited number of rides of up to 60 minutes each) suited me best, and for a mostly flat ride I felt no need of an e-bike. The bikes were fine for the purpose, comfortable and easy to adjust. Santander also has e-bikes (£1 per ride extra), but not everywhere. Using the app, it wasn't difficult to find docking stations close to popular sights. Of the dozen I looked at, only one station had no spaces, but several had no e-bikes.
Limes are more expensive (£6.99 for 60 minutes, or £18.99 for 200 minutes valid for a week) and heavier; easy to handle once you get going, but less manoeuvrable slowly in tight spaces. The advantages are clear: Limes have a phone holder, the app connects seamlessly with satnav, they go faster for less effort and you don't have to park them in a dock.
I saw many more Limes than Santanders in use, and little evidence of the much-publicised issue of abandoned bikes obstructing the pavement. Forest e-bikes operate in much the same way as Limes and are to be found in many of the same places.
Practical tips
Do
Charge your phone. Santander bikes can be unlocked and paid for with a bank card, but the app is essential for finding stations where bikes and spaces are available. Using Lime involves a QR code.
Prepare your route in advance. If you don't already know your way around London, navigation is not straightforward. Useful websites include TfL's cycling routes and maps page, Visit London's cycling guide, and the London Cycling Network, which has created a fantastic map of the city's cycle superhighways.
Check the bike before committing to it. I didn't see any obviously broken ones, but the state of repair varies. Wobbly pedals and bald tyres are bad indicators. Does it have a bell?
Adopt a defensive mindset. Don't be seduced by the specious argument that you're less likely to be hit if you go as fast as everyone else. It's not dodgems.
Keep an eye on parked cars as you approach: if there's someone inside, a door may be about to open.
Keep to the left in the cycle lane, and only overtake when necessary.
Consider buying a helmet if you plan to use the bikes a fair bit during your visit. Likewise, invest in a fluorescent vest if you plan to cycle after dark.
Wait in the 'cycle box' (in front of queuing cars) at traffic lights.
Don't
Get straight out onto the major thoroughfares (or on-road routes) – find somewhere quieter to get into the rhythm first.
Rush. Most other cyclists are, understandably enough, in a hurry, working, delivering food or people – but you needn't be. You'll have far more time to enjoy your surroundings if you take things at a more leisurely pace.
Speed. Rental e-bikes are said to be limited to 15mph, but there are plenty of cyclists going much faster than that on their own machines. You'll have more time to react and make decisions if you keep your own speed down.
Run red lights: you will likely see many other cyclists doing it, which is exactly why you shouldn't.
Assume pedestrians on the pavement will stay there. On shopping streets popular with overseas visitors, they're likely to look the wrong way and step out into the road.
Wear headphones. It sounds obvious, but it's increasingly common and makes it impossible to be sufficiently aware of what's around you.
The golden rules of London cycling etiquette
Give clear hand signals, and look over your shoulder to check before making a move.
In addition to giving yourself time to get comfortable before heading out onto busy sections, make sure your first forays onto London's cycle lanes do not coincide with rush hour: nothing is more irritating than being stuck behind a slow and weaving tourist when you're trying to get to work.
Never abandon your dockless e-bike (eg. Lime) so that it's blocking a pavement or bike lane.
Thank other riders or waiting cars with a nod or a raised hand as you would when driving.
Do your fellow cyclists a favour and, should your Santander bike develop a major issue while you're using it, flag it by holding down the 'fault' button on the docking point within 10 seconds of returning the bike. It will then show a flashing red and be inaccessible to fellow riders until the fault is fixed.