Thankfully Calgary is nothing like Houston (I've been there for work and urban anus is an understatement). Its got a long way to go before being considered bike-friendly, but when compared to Houston, it looks like freakin Amsterdam. Its better compared to Denver.

Rajman - The service wait boils down to the labour shortage problem and the fact that I think the city is ripe for another bike shop (since I moved here from the GTA 3 stores have closed down and zero new ones have opened). Give Campione a try on 11th ave, they're smaller and cater to the messenger crowd. The upside to the labour shortage problem is that Drive-Thru's are closing down!

Calgary also suffers from the need to look hardcore, which means most of the cyclists here rule out utilitarian cycling because they need 20 min just to get geared up.

If I had the choice (and the money), I'd definetly move to Vancouver, but my salary would be cut in half and in order to live anywhere near work, I'm looking at housing prices exceeding $800,000 ($400,000 in Calgary). In the meantime, I'm willing to become one of the only people here riding an xtracycle.