Shiloh253

I'm asking because frankly, my town sucks for riding. There's a total of one bike lane in the entire area, and it doesn't go anywhere useful. The main drag that runs past any useful places (walmart, safeway, dollar store, etc) is also a main highway and therefore doesn't have a shoulder. I'm forced to ride on the sidewalk or take a much, much longer route to get there. Which, if I'm out for a casual ride isn't a problem, but if I'm in a rush it kinda screws me over.

So how would you rate where you live? 1 being absolutely horrible, 10 being "better on a bike than in a car". Mine's sitting somewhere around a 2 or 3.

RR3

I would say 10 except all the cyclists make it a 7 or an 8. Perfect quiet country lanes. Maybe a bit narrow but the only traffic is other cyclists like yesterday. I was riding down a grade and coming the overway was a pack of locusts riding 4 and 5 abreast taking the whole road. Then, they were making a right forcing me off the road literally. I understand their testosteronic quest for a position on to the new road that would have been a strong cross wind and the Posers would be gutter to gutter in an echelon. Forcing another rider off the road? I wish they would all just go back to the city and play criterium there instead of always riding 3 abreast illegally impeding traffic. The police are too friendly because they never ticket them.

wolfchild

It all depends on the location. Some parts of my suburbs are OK for cycling and others are not...People need to understand that cycling infrastructure such as bike lanes is not neccessarily what makes the city bike friendly or not....The road layout, the way streets connect with each other and driver behaviour is more important then bike lanes...Seperated bike lanes is only an indication that the roads are not bike friendly, if the roads and drivers were bike friendly then there would be no need for bike lanes...Distracted drivers and aggressive driving has become the greatest threat to cyclists and the white line painted on the roadway is not going to protect you from them. Riding a bike is always going to be risky in the world dominated by cars, you either take the risk or not.

steve0257

It depends who you ask. I've had some people tell me this is the worst town they've ever biked in, and other tell me the biking here is great.

Generally, it is not to bad. Except for one shopping area on the south end of town there is decent bike access to anyplace in town. There are a few stroads that aren't good for biking, but they all have good alternate routes.

SouthFLpix

It's not bike friendly at all. No protected bike lanes, and very few bike lanes period.

Papa Tom

>>>....People need to understand that cycling infrastructure such as bike lanes is not neccessarily what makes the city bike friendly or not....The road layout, the way streets connect with each other and driver behaviour is more important then bike lanes...<<<<<

Exactly. That said, here in my hamlet of Syosset (Long Island, NY), they've added some bike lanes, but hardly anyone but me uses them. For this reason, motorists barely notice them and constantly drive all over them. A town/city can only do so much to make the roads "bike-friendly." It's the people who need to really make this concept work.

bmthom.gis

Depends where I am going. I have no good way to go shopping where I live. All roads that lead that way I would rather not ride on except off of peak times. Going into the city and around the city is great. To be fair thougg, the roads around here aren't car friendly either

fietsbob

Major Cycle tourist's stop on west coast tours and the end of the Louis and Clark portion of the trans America routes

ACA race (self supported) across the country leaves Here in a week ..


and plenty of weekend Motorcylists ..



Commuting ? N/A, Its Not a Big City. you ride your bike when you are not at Sea catching Fish. I use it for shopping and getting home from Pub.

8 blocks..

jade408

Probably 6/7 but improving. My part of town is grid-like but there are some hills and some roads are designed with really wide lanes that encourage speeding. The city does a poor job of transitions in the bike lanes crossing busy streets.

We do not have protected infrastructure yet but it is coming soon in one area. We have buffered lanes, plain lanes and sparrows. A few multi use paths.

In my part of the city it is pretty easy to get anywhere via bike. But some commercial areas aren't too comfy. On the other hand lots of people ride. Not just racers and the numbers are increasing.

I keep seeing new bike corrals all over. The city makes it easy for s business to request more bike parking and even lose a curbside space. Many events have bike valet. The train stations have day use bike lockers for cheap. (15-25 cents per 5 hour block). Any new commercial development virtually requires bike parking. And the city is getting better at it for residential development.

I feel comfortable converting most errands to bike and I am not hard core by any means. I see more people like me every day.

And there are a million bike shops. My 2 mile radius has around 7 I can think of. I might be forgetting some. Up that to 3 miles and there are at least 5 more.

koolerb

I didn't realize my town was bike unfriendly until I talked with one of our local bike shop owners recently. I asked if I could put my bike on their rack for trips to the supermarket since there is no where to lock up the bike at the supermarket. He said sure but the town makes him drag it inside when they close. He said the town council is super strict about public bike racks because they don't want to encourage bike riding in the town. I need to get to a town meeting one of these days to see who in the heck these people are.

baron von trail 

SW Ohio here is a 10. Hundreds of miles of paved bike paths, going in all directions, makes it absolutely the best place to live for cyclists...well, except in Jan and February. Then it's like, "Man, I wished we lived in Florida."

gmm213

I'd give my town a 5. Main roads have bike lanes but they are pretty beat, main drag can be nice, there's street parking and if it's empty you can use that as a bike lane and it's smooth. No bike paths, and side streets are 50/50 on rideability. Most drivers are pretty good and move over though. Ferry ride to Norfolk and there's a nice bike path but it doesn't really go anywhere it's just for a ride and the walkers and joggers all have headphones and see oblivious to the bikers from what I've seen

nightvision

The League of American Bicyclist produces a bike-friendly ranking for all 50 states.

Gresp15C

I'd say Madison WI is pretty bike friendly. We have a network of designated bike routes and MUP's that seem to largely keep bikes off the main traffic arteries. Motorists, and the different "castes" of cyclists seem to get along pretty well. Of course there are complaints, including reckless cyclists in certain neighborhoods, and some of the country roads being clogged by peletons of roadies, but overall it's OK.

Of course the Governor and Legislature want to impose a tax on bikes.

Paramount1973 

I'd say it's 5-6 overall, and getting better, and 9 where I live. I have a bike path right around the corner that leads to a nearby shopping center. There is a bus stop nearby, all the buses have bike racks. My commute to work is enjoyable, the main challenge is that the area is rather hilly. Good cardio.

Lecrae

Ours around central illinois sucks. There may be one or two bike lanes, but other than that, the roads are too cracked/messed up to ride fast on, or there's no shoulder. It could be worse, but it's still not friendly at all.

Shiloh253

Same problem here. Even car drivers have been complaining to the city council for a long time about the road conditions, and they're worse on the shoulders. I used to run 26in x 1.95 tires with a kevlar liner, and I'd still get pinch flats just from running over so many cracks in the road. Not looking forward to trying that with a 700c.

Lecrae

I'd recommend getting a pair of Continental Gatorskins. I used to get a flat almost every 1-2 weeks, one week I literally got a flat after every ride. After changing to continental gatorskins, I've put on 600-700 miles and haven't had a flat since. They're very lightweight, have little tread (for speed), but are also super thick. They're the best tires I've ever bought. These are the ones I use: Amazon.com : Continental Gatorskin Tire700x32 Tire Black Steel : Bike Tires : Sports & Outdoors

UberGeek

Western NY is generally a 5/5. It's just as good by car as by bike. One locale in particular seems to have an outright enmity against cyclists, but overall, not bad.

While we're not top-rated for dedicated cycling infra, most drivers are cool with cyclists on the roads, and we do have some great cycle paths. And, Buffalo is installing 10 miles of cycling infra per year, and we've been on track for 3 years so far.

auldgeunquers

I think Sault Ste. Marie, ON, is pretty good - maybe an 8.

There is an ongong effort by the city to expand cycling infrastructure.

There is a hill running through the city but it is not too onerous.

I can get most places in the city within an hour. In winter. On studs.

I have a choice of routes most destinations too - so I can bypass the busier streets for little time penalty should I choose, and I usually do. My route to the city's largest shopping mall, and nearest Wally World is 90% MUP - on the waterfront yet!

Since we are only 75,000 people here, the MUP does not have the traffic issues some on this forum describe - but dogs and their owner do usually go to opposite sides of the trail, and yes, there is a leash law.

Most drivers are respectful of the cyclist's space on the road. I have friends who think otherwise, but I suspect they are riding in the gutter, which is just asking the cars to sqeeze by. I do take enough of the lane to control the lane, and I do make an effort not to be any more bother to the cars than I can help.

I think I will up that grade to an 8.5.

alan s 

11

Much better on a bike than in a car.

irwin7638

I think my town, Kalamazoo, MI., is very bike friendly. I have put together a ride I refer to as the "Metro Metric" which is a metric century comprised of more than 55 miles of dedicated bike infrastructure. The trails and bike lanes are much longer than that and are actually useful for commuting and utility use. The local authorities throughout the county have begun meeting on a regular basis to coordinate the development of more bike facilities as they resurface and service roads in the area. For a county of less than 1/2 million people it has become the easiest place to cycle that I have lived in during the past 40 years.

Marc

The Quiet One

The people here are good for the most part. The only time I had a problem (thrown bottle), the police were very helpful in catching and convicting the perp, although it was pretty easy for them. The bottle bounced off my helmet and landed on the parkway without breaking and his car had a vanity plate which was easy to remember. He was convicted and spent 15 days as a guest of the county. The infrastructure isn't so good. We only have a couple of marked bike lanes around the UWO campus and the roads are crumbled, but slowly getting better. The city has good plans for improvements and a very active cycling advisory board, but no money to follow through.

Saving Hawaii

I'd give mine an 8. This is a college town with about 80,000 people (a quarter of that is stereotypical college age). Mild weather and flat terrain means there's a lot of cyclists.

Our strongest point is driver behavior. Drivers here are typically extremely tolerant of cyclists. You can take the lane almost anywhere and ride in peace. I have never been honked at while taking the lane downtown and I do that e'ery day. Drivers here also tend to be laid back. It's pretty typical for the flow of traffic to be below the speed limit even if a road isn't congested. This also creates convenient opportunities for motorpacing. One really strong point in my mind is simple awareness. There's a badly designed Main Street near my house that forces cyclists to stop every block, run a stop sign every block, or very aggressively take a lane. Motorists get timed lights. 95% of cyclists choose option two. Drivers are acutely aware of this and are extremely adept at yielding to cyclists despite the fact that they have ROW. I wish the street would be redesigned but this is a working compromise.

Our worst point is also driver behavior. Cyclists get killed by drunk drivers here and that's a major problem. At the beginning and end of college season you also get a lot of new students and their out-of-town parents who are completely incompetent as regards coping with bicyclists. It's a good time to be on guard as a rider.

Our bike lanes mostly suck. Frequently in the door zone, often putting you in bad spots with turning traffic. But we don't have a ton of bike lanes. The city is more into bicycle boulevards and MUPs. These are great. The MUPs in particular are commuter oriented like nowhere else I've seen.

jimmie65

I live in Schertz, Texas. Bike friendliness 2. No off-road MUPs, no bike lanes, and drivers who don't care. Luckily, I only commute 2 miles through my subdivision to the interstate frontage road.
I work in New Braunfels. Bike friendliness 3. Drivers are a little friendlier to bikes and there are some marked bike lanes. But the city only pays lip service to bike safety, residents use the bike lanes for parking and trash cans, and any off-road MUPs in the planning stages are being sabotaged. There's also a red light intersecting a major road that is only on sensors set for cars - no timer, no ped-walk button I can hit - so that I have had to sit and wait 5 minutes or more for a car to pull up behind me.