honestly just come do it and see for yourself, I've seen so much info in this thread that contradicts things I've seen. First of all, if your above 96t street, the middle of the day is great, there isn'tmuch traffic. The neighborhoods in northern manhattan are WAY more interesting because they are still neighborhoods. The eastside bike path sucks, it's bumpy and not continuous. The west side path is great, nice and smooth however weekends it's a zoo below 96th street.

Try to do your riding middle of the week if you want to ride the greenways, there will be tourists but not so many residents. Weekends you will get both. If you want to ride through the city streets, do it on a sunday, far less traffic in the city.