Originally Posted by filtersweep
They are not great at all. In Amersterdam, cycling traffic is very slow. A commuter is usually a person wearing street clothes, riding an upright bike with no helmet, in a bike lane or on a bike path. Germany is very similar. Lanes are generally much narrower than in the US, and most European countries have taken steps to discourage "vehiclular cycling."
You and I have a different idea of what is great cycling.
1. I don't endorse undue restrictions on bicyclists' speed, but the only thing I saw slowing down any cyclist in Amsterdam (or Heidelberg where I worked) is one heck of a lot of traffic (motor, pedestrians and bikes). That and bicyclists commuting in a bicycling culture that does not worship looking and acting like they are in a dang race at all times with something to prove, no matter what the distance of the trip. Given the amount of traffic how would the speed boys recommend changing the environment in such a densely packed city, with so many bicyclists to make cycling "great?"
2. Your derisive comments about "wearing street clothes, riding an upright bike with no helmet" have nothing to do with facilities, great cycling conditions, or vehicular cycling, but rather indicates you are either North American and/or you have adapted its typical racer boy/club cyclist mindset about what constitutes
Real Cycling.