If you are bringing a bike to any large town or city in the UK then bring good security with you. Even then, you still might get your bike stolen or torched. I'm a member of another, general purpose bike forum for the UK and 4 bikes were either stolen or vandalised this week alone :tears:
One was a new cbr600rr that was stolen from a secure car park at a college. The cameras weren't looking at the bike when it was lifted into a van and driven off (smells a bit like an inside job to me).
Other than that, winter has been sh*te and most of the roads have potholes that the councils take ages to "fix" and I use that term loosely, which also describes the way the tarmac is patched :indeed:
Here's a vid that will show you London traffic conditions. Hope you can filter :thumbup: One word of warning, the guy in the video is filtering through the zigzag lines leading up to pedestrian crossings. Thats illegal over here, you may get away with it more in the bigger cities, however the cops around my area really don't like it. The police offer a days training with them, mostly classroom but they do go out on the road for a couple of hours with you, its called bikesafe. I've been on one and the police in my area mentioned they will not tolerate filtering through the zigzags (0:53 and 1:18 are two examples in that video)
Buses are a PITA whereas everyone else is out to kill you, especially white van drivers and the worst of all, Taxi drivers. Taxi drivers are THE worst drivers on the british roads, especially the minicabs. Oh and treat pedestrians like Lemmings, they just like to walk out in front of you.
That's all the worst bits, if you read that and still want to bring the bike, you'll love it! :thumbup:
Out of the cities there are some great riding roads. The magazine "Bike" is doing a series on great roads, next issue highlights one going into/out of London if memory serves me right.