I was in Montreal for the Labor day weekend.....and let me tell you, the part of town I was in (downtown) is very very cyclist friendly. Everyone seems to be riding and the drivers there seem to respect cyclists more (than NYC). There are bike racks EVERYWHERE! I actually have lots of pictures of bikes, I'll post up some of the bike racks that I came across. There aren't a lot of new bikes.....mostly 80s & early 90s. I did get to chat with a few roadies and they seem cool.
We decided to rent bikes to ride around town for a day.....it was so much damn fun (my friends haven't been on bikes since they were kids). We rode around the city, we rode on a University campus, we rode to the casino, and we rode out to two islands (outside Montreal) and got lost. Lots of fun......touring by bike is awesome.....we only had one minor mishap (major to them). My friend had a flat and NOBODY knew what to do.....luckily I asked for a patch kit, frame pump, extra tube & iron levers when we rented.....or else we would have be screwed. Of course they didn't know I had the tools. It was getting dark and we were miles away from the City. They started freaking out. I let them squarm a little before fixing the flat. All I know is that I had lots of free drinks and dances that night.
After our trip, my friends are *thinking* about buying bikes and riding for fun. Yeah!