Do you ride in from Chittenango? I used to bike commute quite frequently in Syracuse when I lived there - I lived in Westvale (west of Tipp Hill) and I lived in downtown. In most of the city, it's great - especially downtown. Flat, lots of room, plenty of places to lock up, almost no crime. getting outside of downtown, particularly to the west or east, you run into some pretty decent hills. The winter is also a pain there for biking. I used to go as long as about Thanksgiving and then start back up again in April (if it wasn't snowing). With that said, there are almost no bike accommodations for bikes on the whole for the area. The only bike lanes I ever saw were up near SU on Comstock, and there was a Erie Canal trail in Dewitt and Camillus.

What I loved most about bike commuting there was riding the supposed 'hood' and people were nothing but friendly and would wave all the time. Go to the burbs on a bike and they were gunning for ya!