Northeast - good neighborhoods for bicycling in NYC?

I'm planning on moving to NYC, and am hoping to end up in an area that is relatively favorable for (road) bicycling. A safe neighborhood probably in either Queens or Brooklyn. I prefer having paved paths within a few miles, streets that aren't in terrible shape (I don't know how bad potholes and such are in NYC streets), and relatively light traffic. I know NYC streets are incredibly busy in many areas... I have some experience biking in urban areas... but Manhattan for instance seems a bit overwhelming for me. If I could, I'd prefer using side streets on routes instead of main avenues (but I have to experience locations first hand to know what is best, I know)

I'm strongly leaning towards Forest Hills in Queens, but I haven't even visited NYC yet, so what do I know!

Thanks a bunch

Try Inwood or Washington Heights in Manhattan. We have the Hudson River Greenway that will take you all the way to Battery Park and you can ride over the George Washington Bridge to Route 9 in New Jersey, where *all* the roadies train on weekends.

Are you a casual biker or more of a roadie? If casual, there are TONS of places to just cruise around. Check out http://www.nycbikemaps.com/ and read the articles on that site.

If a roadie, I recommend joining a club or if racing, join a team and the rest will take care of itself.

Not sure where you are coming from but traffic is not as bad as you might think a lot of the time. For example, if you train in Prospect Park in Brooklyn and go early on the weekends (before 7:00AM), there are hardly any people there and much better tarmac than in Central Park.

There are a lot of places to mountain bike if that's what you're into as well. A lot of people I know ride in Queens for mountain bikes.

Good Luck!

If you are looking for a place to live where you can get a before or after work ride in the area around Prospect Park is good. PP is a closed 3.75mi loop with a small hill that is a lot less crowded than Central Park, even on a busy day. In fact you almost never have to slow down if you don't want to no matter what time of day. Streets up to the park aren't too bad either. Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Prospect Heights, Lefferts Gardens/Flatbush, Ditmas Park, Kensington are all neighborhoods near the park, in various price ranges. Carroll Gardens isn't too far either, but Williamsburg and Brooklyn Heights are getting further afield. Midwood/Boro Park/Bensonhurst/Sheepshead Bay/Coney Island are further out the other way. It all depends on how much you can pay.

The down side to this is that you are further away from escaping the city altogether. As Urbanis says above Washington Hts and Inwood have the greenway and the bridge.

Brooklyn is the happening place for lots of other things too.

I'm a roadie, but somewhat casual. My "long" rides are 5-30 miles, and my typical pace is around 13-20mph. I have a medical condition (adds to fatigue), and I'm not fast enough to ride in a serious group or race. The idea of riding one of the parks during no-vehicle hours sounds really pleasant to me. I work from home, so my cycling is just for errands (buying groceries, stuff like that), for general transportation (coupled with public transit), and for fun/exercise (the 5-30mile rides).

I'm a roadie, but somewhat casual. My "long" rides are 5-30 miles, and my typical pace is around 13-20mph. I have a medical condition (adds to fatigue), and I'm not fast enough to ride in a serious group or race. The idea of riding one of the parks during no-vehicle hours sounds really pleasant to me. I work from home, so my cycling is just for errands (buying groceries, stuff like that), for general transportation (coupled with public transit), and for fun/exercise (the 5-30mile rides).

If you are riding less than 30 miles, I really recommend Prospect Park. It's MUCH, MUCH less crowded than Central Park because you have ZERO tourists, no horse carriages, bike carriages, etc. On the weekends in the spring and summer you can get a lot of kids and ******s riding the wrong way so that's why I recommended going early on weekends.

PP is mostly flat with pretty much 1 hill (not really a hill compared to coming out of Nyack onto 9w) that is not that big of a deal.

zacster pretty much summed up the areas you want to live in if you ride in PP.

I recently moved my family from Rego Park (next door to Forest Hills) to Washington Heights just so I'd have safer bike options for my kids.

Forest Park, in Forest Hills, is very pleasant to bicycle through, but not very long. I doubt there's even 5 miles of path in there, let alone 30. Flushing Meadows is another local park option, and has a lake, but isn't generally attractive.

I commuted into Manhattan when I lived there. If you wanted to get into Manhattan from Forest Hills on a bike, you'd have your choice of Queens Boulevard (which is not the safest route in the world--the locals call it the Boulevard of Death, and it's the only place I've ever been doored) or a bunch of little side streets that keep you a little safer but add a couple of miles to the trip. Once you cross the Queensboro Bridge, you'll be dumped out onto some of the less bike-favorable parts of Manhattan, especially in rush hour. The Williamsburg Bridge is a little better, but it all depends on your comfort level with big urban bike stuff.

Washington Heights/Inwood are much more favorable as you can take the greenway (no cars!) from North of the George Washington Bridge all the way down to Battery Park, so I second the suggestion that you check the area out. My commute from there to Wall Street is about the same distance as from Rego Park/Forest Hills, and much safer.

I no longer have current experience commuting in Brooklyn, but I understand from a friend who lives in Prospect Park that the area right near the bridge entrances is a madhouse for cyclists during rush hour.

I know this is more commute-oriented than you're looking for. Just offering my whole view. The greenway gets you to all the parks down the west side of the island, and most of it is right along the Hudson River, so that might be all the casual riding you need. (And in the spring, the cherry blossoms are gorgeous.)

1. get the free NYC bike map
2. There are paths that run in the Bronx from Pelham Parkway all the way to Orchard Beach. From Pelham Parkway, you can ride to E233rd st on paths. In Tuckahoe you can catch the Bx. River Trail to Valhalla. See the Westchester Couny bike site for maps

Great info here. Thanks everyone!

noteon, are the streets in/around Rego Park that bad? Queens Blvd looks bad, but there are so many residential streets, or are those unfavorable too? I was pondering combining riding on residential streets with using the parks/paths in Forest Hills, since the areas south of the LIRR tracks have very low population densities (by NYC standards). I figure all neighborhoods are going to involve some level of street riding, yet some neighborhoods have far more traffic than others (I'm guessing!).

All suggestions are valid, but a few thoughts.
I ride through Queens towards Jamaica where I work almost daily.
It's "okay" but you will NEVER hit 17 or more as a general rule for long. Yes I can hit 21-22 but for less than a quartar mile. However there are options in NY.
a) LIRR will allows bike on certain days and hours with a train pass. Train pass is $5.00 for lifetime.
Bike out towards LI and train back. STops in Jamaica, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens.
b) NYC subways allow bikes 24 hrs, no extra charge.
c) Kissena velodrome, boring yes. BUTTT if you ride track this is the place.
d) Central Park from Rego Park is 30 minutes by bike. Thats about 7 miles each way or so. EAch lap in Central Park is 6.1 Miles. Avoid SUNDAYS just because its crowded after 10am.

Good Luck have fun

noteon, are the streets in/around Rego Park that bad? Queens Blvd looks bad, but there are so many residential streets, or are those unfavorable too? I was pondering combining riding on residential streets with using the parks/paths in Forest Hills, since the areas south of the LIRR tracks have very low population densities (by NYC standards). I figure all neighborhoods are going to involve some level of street riding, yet some neighborhoods have far more traffic than others (I'm guessing!).

It's not awful; it's just not particularly bike-friendly, and Forest Park's bike path isn't very long. If towing children hadn't become a concern, I'd probably still be there. However, if I were looking for a neighborhood to move to in New York, and I knew I intended to do a good amount of riding, I'd look for a place with easy access to a greenway that went some of the places I wanted to go. That way, I'd have the choice of either the streets or a MUP, depending on my mood and destination.

Try Inwood or Washington Heights in Manhattan. We have the Hudson River Greenway that will take you all the way to Battery Park and you can ride over the George Washington Bridge to Route 9 in New Jersey, where *all* the roadies train on weekends.

+1

I was born and raised in Washington Heights and have always enjoyed having some form of greenway for riding, and now that so much of the path is complete it makes for a great traffic free ride. I used to like the commute to work from Inwood since I rode from the beginning of the greenway at Riverside/Dykeman to 54th with hardly having to deal with traffic. I can't complain about my current set up though which I like even more because I can get to 9W or the Alpine D'Huez without having to cross the bridge. Manhattan is nice for riding because of the greenway and Central Park (in the early morning hours during spring/summer), if you're in the mood to race messengers and traffic then there's always Midtown.

Brooklyn is lots of fun to ride through though most of it is through city streets until you get to Owl's Head Park which has a greenway that goes all along the Brooklyn shoreline to Coney Island and beyond. If you like flat terrain then Brooklyn is ideal.

Queens hasn't been much fun for me to ride in because of the bad road conditions in general; I thought the main thoroughfares would be easy to ride through (N.Boulevard, Queens Boulevard) but the cars speed a lot and it feels more like riding on a highway than a city street. I haven't ventured much in it because of my initial experiences.

The Bronx is hit or miss with the southern areas being bike unfriendly as they had poor road conditions though Grand Concourse wasn't bad at all and Southern Blvd wasn't a harsh ride either but definitely a day ride. The only areas I've ridden with any kind of frequency are in the western Bronx (Riverdale, Kingsbridge) and that was usually on my way up to Westchester.