I used to cycle around the Elephant when I was young and fearless and fairly stupid. I'm now older, more scared, and just as stupid, but not the change to those initial two parameters means I avoid big scary roundabouts (I wince every time I see a cyclist on our local three-lane affair).
There always was a bypass around the E&C roundabout even before they de-rounded it, but it involved a series of navigational Indiana Jones-style challenges. Much of London's cycling infrastructure still requires you to find it. If you were, in the day, as good at Tomb Raider as I was, then it's doable.
A lot of new stuff, while it's an improvement, suffers from over-complication. In the TfL mind space, they're still trying to make stuff for everyone – vehicles, cycles and pedestrians and the compromises often just make it a bit shit for all. All the best cycling and pedestrian infrastructure has one thing in common, but that upsets taxi drivers. Still, credit to TfL for doing something. People in London actually cycle.