Team BKool CycleChat

[bobinski]

Andy, my eldest is in the same predicament. He works at London Bridge, lowish wage and he and friends who all live with parents in or around Brixton/Tulse Hill cannot afford to rent locally and are looking further out to Selhurst, south of Crystal Palace. North London will be more expensive still. I will ask him for advice tomorrow. He hopes to find somewhere where they can flat or house share at 800-1000 each pmth.

 

[CXRAndy]

Cheers Bob

 

[Whorty]

Andy, my eldest is in the same predicament. He works at London Bridge, lowish wage and he and friends who all live with parents in or around Brixton/Tulse Hill cannot afford to rent locally and are looking further out to Selhurst, south of Crystal Palace. North London will be more expensive still. I will ask him for advice tomorrow. He hopes to find somewhere where they can flat or house share at 800-1000 each pmth.

Crystal Palace is trendy. A good 50 mins cycle to work, maybe slightly longer on the way back as you have to climb up to the highest point in South London Forest Hill is another nice place that side of town ... but might be slightly more expensive than CP though.

 

[Whorty]

Is tonight ride in 3d as i only got a map

Saw you on the start line @rob01792 but not in the race itself .... did you do the ride or get kicked out?

I didn't have the legs to stay with @Jim Brown but at least I was only 1.5 mins behind rather than the normal 4 mins My watts/kg were 2.6 which is an improvement so even they I tailed off at the end I still had a good ride. Might try that one again sometime see if I can knock off a few more seconds.

 

[Breedon]

Andy, my eldest is in the same predicament. He works at London Bridge, lowish wage and he and friends who all live with parents in or around Brixton/Tulse Hill cannot afford to rent locally and are looking further out to Selhurst, south of Crystal Palace. North London will be more expensive still. I will ask him for advice tomorrow. He hopes to find somewhere where they can flat or house share at 800-1000 each pmth.

800-1000 EACH crazy London prices

 

[CXRAndy]

800-1000 EACH crazy London prices

Tell me about it, you can rent a detached 6 bed with spacious garden around by us for same price!

 

[<Tommy>]

I have a flat I let out in South London but I'm not really and expert on rent prices to be honest as they seem to go up by the month... I do know 1k probably lends itself better to sharing unless she wants to spend a long time commuting to and from work.
If I had one piece of advice it would probably be to try and avoid going through letting agents if at all possible. Flat / house shares are great but I'd be more inclined to try and share with like minded people, possibly replacing someone in a group rather than in a house where people are just there for economic reasons and more transient. Moving further out is generally cheaper but can also be more isolating.

 

[Randyberlin]

Saw you on the start line @rob01792 but not in the race itself .... did you do the ride or get kicked out?

I didn't have the legs to stay with @Jim Brown but at least I was only 1.5 mins behind rather than the normal 4 mins My watts/kg were 2.6 which is an improvement so even they I tailed off at the end I still had a good ride. Might try that one again sometime see if I can knock off a few more seconds.

That sounds like some serious pressure for the Saturday rerun. We were only a few minutes apart after 3 stages. Hoping to keep my 7th place.

 

[bobinski]

I have a flat I let out in South London but I'm not really and expert on rent prices to be honest as they seem to go up by the month... I do know 1k probably lends itself better to sharing unless she wants to spend a long time commuting to and from work.
If I had one piece of advice it would probably be to try and avoid going through letting agents if at all possible. Flat / house shares are great but I'd be more inclined to try and share with like minded people, possibly replacing someone in a group rather than in a house where people are just there for economic reasons and more transient. Moving further out is generally cheaper but can also be more isolating.

Great advice there TT.
Fwiw the rental market seems to have slowed down around here and houses, as opposed to flats, are taking longer to let and sometimes for less money than anticipated. That might be because houses are not selling so quickly and therefore are being added to the rental market.

 

[rob01792]

Saw you on the start line @rob01792 but not in the race itself .... did you do the ride or get kicked out?

I didn't have the legs to stay with @Jim Brown but at least I was only 1.5 mins behind rather than the normal 4 mins My watts/kg were 2.6 which is an improvement so even they I tailed off at the end I still had a good ride. Might try that one again sometime see if I can knock off a few more seconds.

started but about 20 second in my man stopped and everyone went past so I logged out but it took so long to log back in I gave up

 

[CXRAndy]

started but about 20 second in my man stopped and everyone went past so I logged out but it took so long to log back in I gave up

Now that is taking the biscuit, you have a person whom races for you

 

[Whorty]

31 miles in the real world today. A bit windy out there making the hills even tougher. Had a few 10%+ sections, plus a 21% bit (only a small bit though).

Had some nice verbal abuse off a BMW driver .... you know you're in the real world when a beemer driver screams at you He was one of those brave ones .... screamed through an open window but sped off when I offered to have a conversation with him out of his car

I still hate descending! Scares the bejeezus out of me going fast down hill with cars or vans up my jacksy

Tonight I did 31 miles and 1800ft pf climbing. For the DD I need to triple the distance and 5 times the climb. Flip, I'm not sure I'm ready

 

[AAAC 76C]

you know you're in the real world when a beemer driver screams at you He was one of those brave ones .... screamed through an open window but sped off when I offered to have a conversation with him out of his car

Was that the opposite of the skinny git in lycra with a head cam hurling abuse at the big geezer in big black saloon followed by that age old Kung Fu self defence trick i.e. screaming your on camera in a high pitched voice repeatedly.

Bit like my story of the American Marine, if you offend a 6 ft 6 brick wall expect to get hurt.

All I remember is thinking "I can fly!".

 

[BILL S]

Bit of advice from London dwellers. Eldest daughter got a job in Marylebone area. She has 6 weeks to find a place to reside, with easy commute routes cycling/ walking or tube to said destination.

What the range of prices for small flats or rooms to rent?

As someone who has blown an absolute fortune on London rent over the years I would mostly suggest that you be willing to hand out up to 1k/month + deposit. Try to find a decent area as the price difference between a decent and awful area isn't that much to make it worth slumming it. My preference was always to live in areas like Hammersmith, Barons Court, West Kensington, Chiswick, all of which are quite nice in my experience and easily commutable by tube or cycling to Central London. You have a choice between studio flats and house shares, many of which are around £700 to £1000/month. If you look on Rightmove you can see a big selection but I guess these are all through agents so could be more expensive than dealing direct. I always used to rent through an agent because it was easier as long as you have proof of enough income and a good credit score. Watch out for some of the studio flats which are cheap for a reason. Some are real dumps and tiny and some share bathrooms with other studio flats. Many also have heating and council tax included as these are not fully self contained.
Unfortunately you often have to look at many of these places before you find the right one.

On the plus side, I assume this will be for a fairly short time so probably one use up 5 or10 years of your bike budget. Just don't let her do what I did, which was to move to London for a short term job, expecting to be there for 1 year but to still be there 17 years later. Fortunately only 11 years of rent but I daren't put that in terms of bike budget years.

 

[JLaw]

31 miles in the real world today. A bit windy out there making the hills even tougher. Had a few 10%+ sections, plus a 21% bit (only a small bit though).

Had some nice verbal abuse off a BMW driver .... you know you're in the real world when a beemer driver screams at you He was one of those brave ones .... screamed through an open window but sped off when I offered to have a conversation with him out of his car

I still hate descending! Scares the bejeezus out of me going fast down hill with cars or vans up my jacksy

Tonight I did 31 miles and 1800ft pf climbing. For the DD I need to triple the distance and 5 times the climb. Flip, I'm not sure I'm ready

You just have to go faster on the downhill so that they never get that chance -- I was known to pass cars on descents when I was younger. That was before having a wife and munchkins...