I had a light weight Dawes galaxy touring bike (more comfortable than road bikes) and tried cycling for about 2 years. Problem is I live in London where there are actually no pleasant cycling experiences to be had. I gave up after the third attempt by psychotic drivers to take my life and bits of what I can only describe as cycling routes worse than an outback road in Afghanistan. Oh and dog owners - the scum of the earth: either end up rolling through shit or having them out of control jumping at you.
Plus it was awful being sopping wet and covered in 'london shit' that you can't clean off without resorting to rubbing yourself with swarfega.
Horrible experience. Even a picadilly line tube train (known as the tandoor) is better in the middle of summer with sweltering 32oC and no air.
Respectfully, I have to disagree. I have plenty of great experiences cycling the city, and the quality of the "cycle routes" varies greatly across the boroughs. Yes, if you're out an about in south london, it's pretty clear that you're in "car is king" suburban planning, and the density of rail lines makes planning good routes difficult (as there are few ways to cross, everything is funnelled though a few major junctions). In spite of the blue paint, the A3 is NOT a cycle route, the most ironic thing being that most of it can be ridden on residential streets directly parallel for a much improved experience.
I ride 12 miles from dalston to gunnersbury most days, even though the overground goes direct (and the overground is infinitely more pleasant than the picadilly), because it's extremely pleasant. I don't take the obvious route, straight down through angel and bloomsbury, heading for bayswater and goldhawk road, that would just be silly. Instead I took a look at a map and plotted a slightly longer course through camden going north of regent's park (and also skipping to the north of shepherd's bush. And it's great, very little traffic, not even many buses.
tl;dr
You can't expect all roads in a big old city to be "pleasant" to cycle, hell, many of them are unpleasant in a car. But you have the freedom on a bike to plot massively more different routes to your destination, ugly roads are rarely unavoidable.
At least that's my experience in the north. I often feel a bit exposed cycling clapham / stockwell / brixton areas late at night, but that's because I haven't invested in the local knowledge...
My experience is quite contrary. I've lived (and actively cycled) in three cities: San Francisco, London and Helsinki and although London is absolutely the worst of these three to cycle from the safety perspective, I nevertheless learned to enjoy cycling in traffic. I've rarely been more alert and present in the moment as during my morning rides to work. It gave me quite an adrenaline rush and I felt great afterwards.
That rapidly changes the moment you get knocked off. Someone pulled out on me in Clapham and clipped my panniers and nearly knocked me off. Scared the shit out of me.
Humans are just sacks of jam in an accident. No thanks.
Plus it was awful being sopping wet and covered in 'london shit' that you can't clean off without resorting to rubbing yourself with swarfega.
Horrible experience. Even a picadilly line tube train (known as the tandoor) is better in the middle of summer with sweltering 32oC and no air.