I love biking through detroit. Can it be rough? Yeah. So much has improved in Detroit, there is so much to see, there are so many bikers and bike lanes, and the river front has gotten pretty nice (finally).

There are many bike routes on google maps to choose from. Detroit is not for the faint of heart. I stopped to fix something on my wife’s bike and a nice white lady that lived near by was concerned that t was dangerous to be there on a bike.
Generally what I do (and most locals venturing off the beaten path) is to do Detroit early in the mornings on Saturday or Sunday. The “zombies” are asleep or passed out. Most people I meet that time of day think bikes in the city are pretty cool and give the thumbs up. Most of the “scary” areas along a riverish route (south of downtown0 are abandoned industrial zones. North of Detroit downtown is pretty OK.

Send me a route and I can give suggestions in the 3 county area around Detroit.

For you specifically, I would take a ferry from Sandusky to pelee island to leamington, and approach Detroit from the Windsor side (sounds like you have a passport). That is some nice riding. Theoretically you can’t take a bike across the Detroit river, but people do it on the buses that go through the tunnel. A slightly shorter route would just skip Detroit and go from leamington up around the east side of lake St. Clair.

Strava heat maps are a good tool for something like this - although a lot of the popular routes are skewed to things the local bike clubs hit on their weekend or evening rides.