How far can you commute... realistically?

[itswoody]

Hello. I currently commute 50 miles round trip from St Albans to London 5 days a week, just wondering what commutes you lot do, any one in the hundreds?? Pondering a move west of London (Fleet / Basingstoke way) and wondering if it's actually realistic to commute that far daily.

Currently on a 125 but would plan to be on a big bike by the time we move

[BG5067]

I do around 30ish from Carshalton (SE London) to Brentford (W London)

from A - B it's not bad but it's just the traffic.


going through Morden, Wimbledon, Putney/Hoehampton, Barns, Hammersmith, Chiswick then to brentford so I always hit traffic somewhere.

Good thing I have me CBF and not a car lol
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Current. Kawasaki ZX9R.

Theory passed 17/01/2014. Mod 1 Passed 03/02/2014 (0 faults) Mod 2 10/02/2014 Passed (0 faults)

[goto10]

Depends what sort of traffic - I commute 40 miles to London from Essex - 3/4 of it is high speed, the other 1/4 is filtering and/or London traffic. This is about my limit for commuting with that mix - however I'd gladly travel 50 if it didn't involve going into London and was mainly fast roads.
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'12 NC700S & '12 CB600F Hornet [Stolen by some dickless twat] Suzuki GT500 shed

[hellkat]

Currently doing a paltry 11 miles in from City Airport, straight into Chelsea (and back again, so 22 miles in total daily) on the A13, Embankment, a nice easy ride, and am wondering about moving to deepest [inserts most unlikely and inappropriate SE countryside location], whether it would be viable, or whether I should just get a local job

*drums fingers patiently*
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[-Matt-]

I've done 3-4 day stints commuting on the bike [in summer] 120 miles round trip, i wouldn't want to do it regularly to be honest, it quickly loses its appeal after a while - and that was in good weather and with a fair few 'fun roads' on the route.

So on the motorway etc in winter in the pissing rain, i'd be wanting a local job i think

Maybe i'm just a pansy

[hellkat]

I'm thinking of just going part time ...
Or maybe offering to type their snotty letters digitally from home
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[-Matt-]

Hire a flock of carrier pidgeons for the letters

[Sparkss]

My commute is approx 120 seconds. I've had people tell me that the commute is too short for the bikes good.

Like I'm going to walk/cycle

[Shinigami]

i do 40 miles a day commute now i've moved to manchester, which is similar to the 40 miles commute I did in sunderland however now 95% of the commute is filtering down the M60
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[Teflon-Mike]

For a while I used to commute aprox 50 miles from Stafford to Coventry, across urban snarl of Brum, and back every day... on a 125. I was young, supple, and stooopid, and knew no batter; and besides, was only ever supposed to be 'temprary'.
Ten years later, when work gave me the choice of redundancy or the reverse commute from Nuneaton to Wolverhampton every day; I took the redundancy deal!

That 50ish miles of urban snarl, i a car was a two hour journey, almost irrespective of route, time if day I would have had to travel.
On a bike? Took about hour and a quarter to hour and a half.
Looking back though; to keep moving, you are filtering almost the whole while; its tiring riding, and you get accustomed to 'agressive' filtering, and its riding for a fall; it really is; you cant put yourself into so many hazardous situations so frequently, before the odds are going to catch up with you!

The odds are shortening, like gambling on a coin landing heads up 100 times in a row.... it's an accumulator, the odds multiplying at each successive gamble.... so, longer you dont have a bump... higher the liklihood you WILL if you carry on gambling.... but perversely, more you DONT have a bump.... less you believe it will happen! Ridden to work 100's of times never had an accident! Must be a good rider... 'Wont happen to me!" kind of logic! Which more perversely inclines you to be more blase and take more risks, further increasing odds against you!

However; hour and a half, two hours each way; three four hours A DAY... turning an 8 hour shift into an 11-12 hour shift?! HALF as much as your working day AT work, spent getting to work and back again?! Un-Paid?

Nope. Just don't make sense. Especially on 'Half Day Friday'! Spend as long or longer getting to and from work, as AT work!

And the costs? 500 miles a week? at 50 to the gallon. 10 gallons. Thats £60 just on petrol. Add maintenence on top of that?

40 hour working week. Tax man takes 25% of what you earn in PAYE and NI straight off the top. So Monday, and first couple of hours of Tuesday you are JUST working for the tax man!

Rest of Tuesday & Wednesday, you are probably starting to pay the mortgage or rent.

Thursday, 'The Bills'....

Friday? What you earn Friday, you MIGHT get to do something with!

But if you have to set most of that asside to pay your petrol to get to work next week, to earn the money for the tax man, and then the rant man, and then the bills?!?!?

Whats the bludy POINT! Why are you going to work!

Money and Time and work life balence.

Take your daily commute over an hour a day, each way, 1/4 of the working day; depends how much you earn; but; its costing big money and taking large chunk of time, you cant be spending elsewhere, on family freinds or other interests.

So? 1 Hour. Whatever distance you might cram into that journey time. That may be 30 miles of city snarl, or 50 miles of country by-passes, but that, pretty much is my guide to whats tolerable.

1 hour journey time.
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[c_dug]

I commuted 45 miles each way for 6 months over winter a couple of years back on a £300 bike in hand me down gear. Never ever again!
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[-Monty-]

for the past year I have been commuting roughly 15 miles each way, most of the time on a 125. This is about 80-90% on 50mph costal roads which, on a 125 pretty much equates to flat out about 20 miles a day.

50 miles a day, on a 125? Personally I wouldn't see a problem with that as long as your keeping it maintained etc. And if your going to be switching up to a bigger bike soon then all the better.
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Present: [Kawasaki ZX7r][Suzuki DRZ 400s]
Past: [Honda PCX 125] [Yamaha RXS 100] [Honda CB 500] [Triumph Speed Four] [Honda ST1100 Pan European - Po-Po Edition]

[sabian92]

35 miles a day on a 125 on mostly dual carriageways.

Not brilliant but beats getting the bus then having a half an hour walk at the end of it. Plus I look a bit of a cock carrying a jacket around uni all day and wearing boots but bollocks to it

[andyscooter]

3 miles each way

would use a pushbike but its up hill both ways
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gilera runner vxr200 (chavped)
if its spelt wrong its my fat fingers and daft auto correct on my tablet

[Maimboy]

70-odd miles a day, from Basingstoke to Guildford. If you're considering moving this way, a test run on a Monday morning may be a good idea. A 125 may actually suffice if you're going to be hitting rush hour in both directions.

[Maimboy]

70-odd miles a day, from Basingstoke to Guildford. If you're considering moving this way, a test run on a Monday morning may be a good idea. A 125 may actually suffice if you're going to be hitting rush hour in both directions.

[jchu1988]

80 miles per day, Manchester to Sheffield.
Have done since May last year, except when there was snow on the ground.
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SV650sk4

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[andyscooter]

no we live in a village you have to ride up hill out of it then down the other side

on way home up hill from work down to the village

realised just it read wrongly
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gilera runner vxr200 (chavped)
if its spelt wrong its my fat fingers and daft auto correct on my tablet

[barrkel]

The question you want to ask isn't how far, but how long and under what conditions.

30 minutes on quiet streets is no more or less stressful than 30 minutes on a freely moving motorway, but unless you're seriously breaking the law, the latter covers a good deal more distance.

My commute is 3.5 miles into central London, and takes ~15 minutes, most of it at traffic lights. I find getting past the traffic fun, it's the best part of my day. But I don't think I'd want to do more than 40 minutes of it each way, which would be necessary if I worked on the other side of the city than where I live.

But I could do 40 minutes of motorway no problem at all. I wouldn't be commuting by scooter then either though.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
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[The Shaggy D.A.]

[Vracktal]

33 miles each way for me. Nice easy blast down the A3 then a few miles of london city drudgery with police watching your every move.
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[Clanger]

I hate commuting. So I generally live closer to where I work, so I don't have to commute.

One of my ex's used to, and probably still does commute Basingstoke to Heathrow and back daily.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[kitty kat]

I used to commute from Blackpool to Altrincham, about 55 miles each way, leaving home at 4.30am to get to work. That was on a Fazer 600 and I did that at least 3 times a week. I then changed jobs and travelled 33 miles each way to get from Lancaster to Ambleside 5 days a week on a Deauville 650. Currently I travel a whole 3 miles each way on either the Deauville or on my new (to me) NC700X.

[Chuffin Nora]

Sorry, can't resist . . .

Teflon-Mike [would that I could get my head around the reply box doofers.]