Roundabouts

[Willd]

Don't ride too close to the edges, there's often areas cars miss where all the stones, bits of glass and other rubbish ends up. Not much fun on a bike.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Basically ride it as you would drive it. Control the lane, don’t try and sit on the edge of lanes. Drivers can wait or go into another lane if they can’t cope for a few seconds. It’s rare they will be able to go faster than you anyway.

Plus very clear telegraphed hand signals and visual checks when changing lanes for your exit.

 

[mjr]

Basically ride it as you would drive it. Control the lane, don’t try and sit on the edge of lanes. Drivers can wait or go into another lane if they can’t cope for a few seconds.

On bigger roundabouts, some drivers will honk. It's not that you did anything wrong: it's usually that they are a crap driver, just made a mistake and would like to blame you for it. On the plus side, if they honk at you, they've seen you!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

On bigger roundabouts, some drivers will honk. It's not that you did anything wrong: it's usually that they are a crap driver, just made a mistake and would like to blame you for it. On the plus side, if they honk at you, they've seen you!

Honk all they like. Just ignore their poor driving skills.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I find that on most normal roundabouts - i.e. not those big motorway type ones - a good bike moves at pretty much the same speed that a car should be moving at
I find that if I make an effort to get up to a decent speed quickly - and follow all the above advise about taking the lane, eye contact, assertive etc, - then cars normally behave
remember the alternative on a roundabout cannot include overtaking as that would put them in the wrong lane - assuming that you ride down the exact centre of the lane - exactly where the centre of the car would be if you were driving
and the morons who would try something too dangerous are worried that hitting you would scratch their car - so they WILL NOT do that

To make it clear that I an accelerating - I stand on the pedals even if I do not need to - of course being an ebike it tends to allow me to accelerate quite fast anyway but it help if they know you are speeding up
In general I grew up 100 yards (or less) from a big busy roundabout - so I learned early how to go round one - when I was a teenager and hence indestructible
Since then I have worked out how I managed to survive and applied it to proper cycling

 

[mjr]

I find that on most normal roundabouts - i.e. not those big motorway type ones - a good bike moves at pretty much the same speed that a car should be moving at

Cars should be doing 10-18mph?!?

 

[HLaB]

The biggest roundabout I went through today was this one. The overhead is a bit out of date, the brown fields to the south are now an industrial estate. The industrial estate is pretty quiet on a Saturday though and you can easily take the primary and follow the spiral markings as a driver would round.

 

[boydj]

The reality is, there is a variety of roundabouts out there and they all need a variety of approach. It's a bit simplistic to act like a car on some of these things as at certain times of the morning and especially in winter, I get the feeling that some car drivers would simply run over the top of you. Which is why on a very large traffic controlled roundabout like St James's Interchange on Glasgow's M8 is one I avoid at all costs, although I have seen a few brave souls tackle it during the lighter mornings and a few mental cases try it at night. There is a similar one at Linwood that isn't much better and it has got a facility to walk round if you hit it at peak times but I can just about manage it, probably because it's near a container base and you are sharing it with so many heavies, it can actually slow the general entrance and exit speed and makes it slightly safer for cyclists although it is still coming off a very fast dual carriageway with cars still goi g at motorway speeds. There is another at the bottom of the Hurlet (names are more for locals) which is still a dual carriageway but within a supposedly 40 mph zone but as nobody seems to stick to that I don't feel guilty about avoiding it by cycling 300 yards or so on the pavement (that will put the cat amongst the pigeons) and using the zebra crossing before rejoining the road where it's safer. All the rest I can think off I do like others have mentioned by acting like a car and taking the lane and be very clear about your intentions when moving over to exit. It does get easier with a bit of practice.

I've been doing all these roundabouts for many years and the key is to get into the correct lane for where you are going well before the roundabout and then hold that lane once you are on the roundabout. Big, clear signals are key to getting off again if you've had to use an inside lane. I'm not as big and ugly as some on here, but I do possess a fierce stare which can come in handy if drivers don't want to cooperate, but mostly what drivers want to know is where you are going so they know what they've got to do to avoid conflict.

 

[Slick]

I've been doing all these roundabouts for many years and the key is to get into the correct lane for where you are going well before the roundabout and then hold that lane once you are on the roundabout. Big, clear signals are key to getting off again if you've had to use an inside lane. I'm not as big and ugly as some on here, but I do possess a fierce stare which can come in handy if drivers don't want to cooperate, but mostly what drivers want to know is where you are going so they know what they've got to do to avoid conflict.

Fair play to you but coming out of Paisley heading for Erskine is not my idea of fun and best avoided at peak times although I have seen some tackle it. I go down Love Street and then round the airport and Paisley Moss to avoid it.

 

[lazybloke]

The thing that bothers me on roundabouts at night is that as you pass each entrance, your lights aren't very visible to cars trying to join.
Some lights are more visible form the side. reflectors on spokes are good too.

 

[Solocle]

The biggest roundabout I went through today was this one. The overhead is a bit out of date, the brown fields to the south are now an industrial estate. The industrial estate is pretty quiet on a Saturday though and you can easily take the primary and follow the spiral markings as a driver would round.
View attachment 559407

More motorway roundabouts.
But perhaps the most fun ones are where you want to turn right, and need to therefore get into the outside lane of a 70 mph dual carriageway.

That GPS trace actually shows up where I changed lane!

 

[cougie uk]

I'll try and avoid big roundabouts where possible. I'd definitely look to do this in the dark.

Lights front and back will help but drivers will be approaching from the side too.

Get some reflectors for the spokes or even better some lights for your valve caps. They show up really well and catch the eye.

If it's still too dodgy then yeah go as a pedestrian around it.

 

[raleighnut]

I'll try and avoid big roundabouts where possible. I'd definitely look to do this in the dark.

Lights front and back will help but drivers will be approaching from the side too.

Get some reflectors for the spokes or even better some lights for your valve caps. They show up really well and catch the eye.

If it's still too dodgy then yeah go as a pedestrian around it.

One job I worked at the guy said to me "why have you got a lamp on the seatpost that is obscured by the rack bag" I told him it had side facing LED's for that reason.

one of these,

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

Really? Curious! I'm OK that direction because not much comes out from the Mall at the same time and it's usually going pretty slowly. In the opposite direction, I've had a few near misses with idiots taking innovative and creative lines to turn down Whitehall!

Personal I guess. Once turned right if I'm waiting at the lights to go onto Northumberland Avenue I feel very exposed to traffic sweeping from right to left behind me to go up towards Charing Cross Road. You're right of course in the opposite direction you have Whitehall bound nutters, but it feels like I can wait for them just past the lights at the end of Northumberland Avenue before deciding whether to commit to the shorter jump towards Admiralty Arch. Neither is great, TBH.

 

[cougie uk]

One job I worked at the guy said to me "why have you got a lamp on the seatpost that is obscured by the rack bag" I told him it had side facing LED's for that reason.

one of these,

View attachment 559429

Do they still make that ? Was a good light but with a habit of leaping off if you'd not clicked it into place.

I've seen cyclists riding with a wicker basket blocking their front light and the tail of their coat coming down over the rear lamp. Presumably oblivious to the problem.