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Some stuff I from here and there.

Reading material:

Primary locks
Secondary locks

Get two D locks. Fuck how heavy they are, the weight is worth the cost of protecting your bike. To make you a bit scared, here: Stolen Bikes This happens daily. Prevention is better than regret.

Sick. How can anybody steal a bike locked with a Fahgettaboudit? I definitely should take a look to a decent u-lock.

A lot of London offices have underground car parks or back yards where you can chain a bike. Ask the question at your place and see.

Good to hear it. I´ll check it just the first day I get there.

Locks:

Gearing:
Lots here ride 65gi as it is stop start in central London with more lights and crossings per mile than you will have experienced ever before.

Locking at work:
If on street, find somewhere public with a secure solid structure to lock to. Avoid that quiet little alley where someone could work unhindered for the three or four minutes it will take them to defeat your locks.

Social:
Look at compass beers and come to say hi.

Temperature:
Central London stays warm with buildings and traffic kicking out heat pollution. Staying dry matters more so think about a good waterproof for winter.

Snow:
On the two days it snows, ride in on roads with 24 hour bus routes. You will then only have to deal with light slush. All of this will be on your way in to work as due to the above pollution the snow will have gone by the time you go home. The next day any moisture on the road will have reformed into Ice, take it easy and don't lean.

Nice explanation, particullarly the part related to snow. :)

65gi, seems too ¿soft? Anyway I reckon I´ll just get a 16t cog so I have 46x16 and 46x17. If I don´t feel comfortable with the first one I can go back to 46x17.

Thanks to all of you. If I have any other doubts I´ll be posting again in this thread.

Hey up. Riding round London is the best way to get about so deffo bring the bike. Locks well I'd recommend 2 different a krypotonite and a good chain/abus locked thru the frame and wheels and don't leave it tied up in the same place for more than a few hours as a rule. No ones going to nick your seat unless it's a Brooke's
Easy enough to change the back cog so get used to the roads 1st. Don't run lights and look over your shoulder and never undertake a lorry. Watch out for pedestrians as no one looks when they cross the road.
Snow is rare as the city is a few degrees warmer cos of the buildings .

Christ! So what do workers who stay for 8 hours in their workplace do with their bikes?

And what do you mean with "Don´t run lights"? Edit: understood. I think you were refering to bike lights.

I´ll take care with pedestrians though they are the same everywhere. Always crossing before looking.

Thank you very much!

Use a decent lock and that one , often it's about where you lock your bike , how you lock it and if there's half decent bike in the rack locked worse than yours they won't go for yours , ultimately if they want your bike and they have half a brain cell no lock will stop them though
I wouldn't bother about seatpost +saddle too much , brooks saddles get stolen more than any others by far

run 52x15 for max tarck bike coolness ;) but lots of people run 46x16 , outskirts of london have a few hills nothing major though , richmond park has a couple if that's your thing + box hill isn't too far

Snow isn't that common at all maybe a couple of times a year if your lucky , a decent softshell jacket makes it into my bag every day though since it rains on and off lots , it's rarely sub 5* though

Where you moving from ?

Thanks a lot. I´m almost decided to go on with a 46x16. And as both of you agree that there won´t be any problems I´ll leave it as it is.

Nice to hear that it´s not as cold as I was expecting. :)

I´m moving from Bilbao, Basque Country, northern Spain.

In a couple of months I´ll be moving to London to make an internship of six months and I was thinking on taking my bike with me to use it for my daily commutes to work and short rides on the weekends.

My main issue is about the bike getting stolen. Now I´m using an OnGuard Bulldog Mini u-lock + a cable, which is more than enough for where I live, but I think that in a big city like London it´s like using dental floss. Will it be enough with another good quality u-lock? (i.e. Kryptonite Evo Mini...)

I was also wondering if I´ll need any kind of extra security for the seat. I mean, I´m not using a Moots Ti seatpost and a SLR seat, just an ultra-worn out Concor and a cheapo Kalloy microadjustable seatpost, but I wouldn´t like to get it stolen.

I´m also concerned about the gear ratio. I´m running 46x17 cause here there are quite a lot of hills, but for a flat city like London I was thinking on something like 46x16 or even 46x15. Maybe this last one is too hard? Are there many windy days? What about the outskirts of London, will I have to face any steep hills if I gor for a ride?

And my last issue is related to the weather. Rain isn´t a problem, I´m used to it, but what about snow? I think there aren´t many snowy days there, but that´s more than here. And what about temperatures? I don´t usually face temperatures of less than 5 degrees, any recommendations of what to wear?

EDITED:
A couple of new doubts now that I have more information.

Ok, my work placemente is in Kingston Upon Thames (Zone 6) which I believe it´s absolutely far away from what it can be called London. I still don´t know whre I´ll be renting a room, but let´s say that somewhere in Zone 2 e.g. Queenstown Road (I haven't got the faintest idea of how is this area, just an example). According to Google Maps there are 10 miles (16km) from one place to the other and this is the route: http://goo.gl/maps/xJ6hl

Do you think it´s plausible to do it daily or should I get a transport card and fuck the bike? Any places, roads or areas to avoid? How many time will I need to cover the distance (10 miles)? I mean, on open road it shouldn´t take more than 40 minutes but I don´t know how is the traffic there.

Thank you in advance guys!

+1

Those Marinonis are absolutely sick.

Ever worked as a bike messenger in SF?

Obviously no. But if you´re saying it because of the hills in SF it would make more sense using a geared bike. Wouldn´t it?

It's just his crusing bike, he doesn't always want to be smashing it hell for leather around San Fran on one of his fixies!

It doesn´t look like a crusing bike. Front rack, totally trashed... I reckon it´s a work bike, but I don´t see the point of using that gear ratio.

never seen this one before...

Any reasons for that gear ratio?

Ultra tight..

Needs building, and the paint work a little tatty but another awesome CP

Lovely Otero Pentax. From the Seur team I guess.

It´s the Marino Lejarreta velodrome in Berriz, a tiny village near Bilbao (north of Spain).

http://maps.google.es/maps?saddr=Learreta-Markina+Kalea&hl=es&ll=43.173264,-2.57958&spn=0.001563,0.002411&sll=43.173207,-2.580078&sspn=0.012503,0.01929&geocode=FVfFkgIdkqHY_w&t=h&mra=ltm&z=19

are conversions allowed on velodromes?

Maybe not in all velodromes, but this one is fully open and without security guard or supervisor. You can even give a whirl with a BMX if you want (obviously if there´s nobody training or a race).

Wow, that Pinarello looks pretty painful to ride, but it´s so sweet.

That Rossin is rad, but why did you choose 36 holes rims/hubs?

Macario Tourmalet. I wish I had one.

LOL
and that fork question was also annoys me sometimes :|
the previous owner of the Raleigh said it was columbus track, but he's not mentioning the year & model...so let's say it's just an ordinary columbus track fork

Cool. It really gives an agressive look to the bike.

I´ve seen that Raleigh previously in Pedalroom. It´s (or was) just annoying, best conversion ever.

Edit: What fork was the one on the Raleigh?

Those aero forks look awesome although changing the Aksiums from black to silver isn´t my cup of tea.

P.S. The QR on the front wheel is in the wrong position.

Do really like the result. It looks son fun to ride.

T1 looks pretty functional

Agree.

Thanks! The mudguards are Acor QR. Bought them on Ebay a year ago and I haven´t seen them again anywhere, but they´re pretty similar to the SKS Raceblade´s.

The crankset on te "track" bike was also an Ebay bargain. They´re some cheapo Prowheel´s and I´m not sure about the model, but in both cranks is written the word Vive. I´ve searched for them and havent´n found anything. I reckon they are some kind of prototype or discard cause the seller had only two pairs for sale.

A fun one from work

What lights are those? I´ve seen them in many bikes and look really cool.

New one here. Those are my bikes:

The daily commuter and sometimes road bike:

With winter set up:

The road bike and sometimes commuter (now running with an alluminium Mavic Cosmic wheelset):

The oldshool BMX for short commuters and relaxed path rides:

A vintage foldable I restored for my girl:

And still have to take some pictures of the MTB.

Well, and this is me having some fun at the velodrome: