Hey forum, ill be coming from San Francisco to London for a few days in June and thought id hit you guys up to make sure i dont miss anything while im there. For the most part ill just be doing the tourist thing and sight seeing, but if theres spare time im hoping to drop into a couple bike shops and see whats you guys have that we dont. I havent been overseas so after London im taking a few days to see Paris and Florence. I dunno if any of you know any bike shops in said towns, or other things you think i ought to check out, but if you do let me know!

Oh and im bringing my bike, so if any of you have some nice routes youd care to share thatd be great too.

We at fixedgearlondon will gladly show you around, drop us an email and let us know your schedule.

Prices here are dead expensive compared to the states so be prepared for sticker shock. BrickLane Bikes, Condor and Brixton Cycles are worth checking out but really theres little here (aside from Royce and Goldtec) that you can't get easily in the states apart from dope old british track frames, the fancy schmancy stuff in Condor and the very fresh Brixton Cycles branded clothing :)

Witcomb Cycles might be worth a visit. Its the shop that Richard Sachs, Serrata etc all trained at but for a shop with so much history theres not too much eye candy to look at. If its quiet they often take you into the frame shop and Barrie Witcomb is a very nice and knowledgable man.

Definitely head to Herne Hill velodrome on a sat or race night. Theres always a good scene and folks are very friendly. Easy ride from the centre of London.
http://www.hernehillvelodrome.co.uk/

Paris is weird. Not really any bike shops worth checking out there IMHO.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=283810&highlight=paris (for shops)
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=279374&highlight=paris (for the velodrome)

Best places to check out:

Brick Lane, Greenwich Park and the Tate Modern.

let us know the dates and maybe we can organise a bit of a group ride - show around some pubs, etc

As far as bike things go, i think you're going to be dissapointed - especially at the prices!

Southbank ( of the Thames ) from Tower Bridge down to Westminster you can ride all the way nice peadestrian route from there you can spot other interesting things

Portobello and Camden

Happy to meet up for drinks and show you around.

There's a lot going on in June, especially towards the very end in the run-up to the Tour de France, so let us know your dates and we'll see what's on for you.

As for rides and routes, I'm sure we can come up with some great routes for taking in all of the tourist sites. Just give us an indication of comfortable distances and we can knock up a few routes on Gmap Pedometer for you.

Are you a go-with-the-flow kinda person? Or would you like stuff planned and routes and stuff organised in advance? Pretty sure we can make you feel welcome either way.

in florance watch out for crowds of spanish tourists trying to snap your picture if your over 6ft tall 'moi alto'

+1 on Greenwhich Park, do the thing of standing with one foot in the western hemesphire one in the eastern.

When your here ask about places to eat. I am sure we shall all have some good eating recomendations.

indian veg all you acn eat vegan/veggy food for 2.95... foods not the best in the world... tis england after alll.... but its all you can eat, which is alot.

oh and bring home one of those bags that says 'fish and chips the compleate nurtioush meal'

Where is this palce?

its near angel, up the big hill, see the station on your right, make the frist left, then down the smelly market street (i think its the seccond left) and its towards the end on your left.

It's called the "Bhel Puri" and youl'll find it at the end of Chappel Market, not ala carte but it fills hollow legs.

here?
Edit;yep I was correct.

what is the best place to get fish&chips in London? Best place i went to, can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but i remember it was in Kew, SW London. Mmmmmm.

Faulkners Kingsland rd is pretty hard to beat but it aint cheep.

Fitzrovia, tottenham street top notch Italian. big tasty calzone about £3.50.

Indian ymc nr Warron street,

Chuyneys and other Indian Drummond street Euston,

South Korean place Store street ..

Load of places, lotts of good food i could keep on listing... but I am hungary

Strange statement.

We have the best food in the world bar none, and the best chef in the world bar none.

http://www.fatduck.co.uk/
http://www.lenclume.co.uk/

The touble is most people visiting London have never have the chance to eat good Britsh food.

edited to mean more what I ment.

i'm just saying, i have had soem amazeing meals in my life (thinks of a small restrunt i stoped into while hitch hikeing in italy), adn engald has just not matched it, and besied british food does have a reupataion... bangers and mash any one?

yuppers

Fair enough, raise the bar for where you eat then. Sounds like your fault you eat rubbish, yet you want to blame a whole country for it.

Yeah I'm British, yeah I'm proud. There's a few things I'll defend if pushed; food, ale and track cycling being a few things that are way up there. The place isn't perfect, but there's some stereotypes that need killing in the right way. That said, we do need dentists.

Yes please - you're a vegan so I'll excuse your ignorance.

Yep good bangers are hard to beat.

I love food. Eat it every day you know.

haha :)

I do agree somewhat with the food thing. It's taken me quite a while to find some nice eateries in London and I still have RUBBISH now and then (no fault of mine - just places not caring what crap they serve) but you'd get it anywhere. As for Heston being the best... snail porridge = fsck off!

Why doesn't anyone in London cook pancakes???? I'm not talking My Old Dutch crepe crap, I'm talking proper pancakes!
AND why can't I find any decent, scratch that, ANY iced coffee?? Aussies fruit & veg is better although we don't have any water now so that may have changed.

On the flip side, Aussie beer is rubbish and english beer rules! Cider here rocks - we only really have strongbow to my knowledge.
Due to the sheer number of people here the variety is huge. Australia has a lot more asian influence which I really like.

Aussie junk food is better but I have english mates who argue otherwise so I guess it's what you grew up with. I miss Milo and TimTams and Natural Confectionary company lollies (that's 'sweets' not 'iced lollies').

German kebabs are better than the ones here. Belgian and Dutch chips are better than here. I really miss Flake (shark meat) as the "fish" in fish and chips. Cod?? Yuk. I happen to like bangers and mash and the ESB pie at the Fullers pub near me is tops. There's lots of cool Thai places here. Um.. I think you win some you lose some is what I'm getting at.

david if you want to kill the steroy type i segust you start with the afore mentioned fish and chip bags.

and to raise up where i eat i would need to raise up my income bracket....

london has good food, just i have had better food thats all im sayin

You are part of a very small market so your experience will be more varied, your subset of eatories is going to be small so it is more likly that if you are well traveled you will come accross better food. Britsh food and vegan do not do together. Like most places get out of the big cities for the good food.

RIGHT Bastards! No more talking about food! You're all making me hungry!

Good cycle route: Westminster - Southbank - Tower Bridge - Wapping - Canary Wharf - Isle of Dogs - Greenwich
Short, sweet and scenic. And plenty of good pubs along the way....


p.s. vegansdontneedgears - clearly you haven't tried my cooking ;-)

veggy roast... thats good brithis vegan food, but i have never had it eating out, only when some of my english mates cook.

Yep that is a good one. My missis is veggy so I have alot of veggy food but not much vegen. I find I have to eat more often the less meat I eat, I run of room in my bag for food.

I used to go out with a vego and eating vego for me is fine. I tried doing the vegan thing but only lasted 1.5 weeks.
I'm the sort of person that _needs_ to eat.. lots and NOW! I can't be wandering around shops and stuff looking for products that don't contain this or that..
I really should try that RegVeg around the corner..

dito both my mum and girlfriend know that I go from doing something really obseivly and intensivly then bang it's like a light switch goes on and I need food now and I go a little mental, I think my bold sugar crashes and I become a little irrational. Best just to stuff something in my mouth than argue!

You get FoodRage too? Cool, I'm not alone! Let's start a support group. Meet you at Krispy Kreme in 20min.. ;)

can't eating cake right now.