Toronto's always been good to me. Well, apart from the times it hasn't, but those are rare, and often my fault.

Even though it's hotter than hell in the summer, Chico, CA has some great bike paths and a ton of bicyclists + Sierra Nevada brewing is there. Bidwell park is beautiful and downtown has a good sampling of local businesses to support.

Friendly Vancouver Welcomes You.

(I got that off the sign out by the highway)

Thanks for the link to the Ohio Bike Federation. I agree with your point about the utility of bike facilities. I'm a member of the planning commission in my city and the rep from that body to the committee that is in charge of updating the regional bike plan. I've made many of the same arguments that the Ohio Bike Fed makes about teaching people to ride safely, educating drivers about the rights of bicyclists, and the possibility of spending a great deal of money on bicycle facilities that may make bicyclists no safer. But I haven't had the data to back up many of my arguments. The OBF material is great. Thanks again for posting the link.

In like fashion, John Allen offers this critique of the Bicycle Compatibility Index: http://www.bikexprt.com/research/bci/bcirvw.htm

sbhikes I spent a few days in Santa Barbara and I found it interesting, hospitable, and affordable.

First you have to realize, the north end of town is the rich folks, and south end is the folks who clean their houses etc. So, somewhere in that spectrum, you can find an affordable place.

Second, it seemed to drizzle a lot. And my transpo was a motorcycle, I was well on my way to perfecting "throttle steering" on those glazed tiles on the intersections, wet from the perpetual drizzle.

Third, that place is full of little gift shops, if you're "crafty" at all, and can make stuff that's not junque, instant way to make a living.

Fourth, the whole area is very walkable or bike-able. Santa Barbara is not that big a town.

Fifth, they fish for sea urchins in the bay. I include this in case anyone reading this is a sea urchin. You have been warned.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa is very nice, but I wish I would see other bikers more often. That said, the newest areas (especially the burbs) are of the cul-de-sac and major artery variety.

Minneapolis, MN was also a very nice area. There were tons of trails to ride, and cyclings was the best way to get around downtown.

Sounds miles ahead of living in Ft Wayne, Indiana.

I guess I am surprised no one included Minneapolis. It seems that a lot of the new road construction had considered bike paths and extra wide lanes and new bridges. People in NE MPLS are protesting cutting down old growth trees for a new path, but that's okay...I don't think many people come up here anyhow.

If only all the lanes could be expanded a couple more feet for when the snow gets pushed up to the curb- that would be nice. I think MPLS had the best looking bikers too. I went to Seattle in January and didn't see many out there- but if you are in Minneapolis in January, you will see at least 5 bikes on the road, if not more. I've seen 5 out during white out conditions in snowstorms and they move faster than cars. There is a dedicated bunch up here. Lucky for us when it gets below freezing, the streets are mostly clear and there is no frost or snow, just solid, dry pavement (and some sand) and everyone is out again, but you might not be able to see their faces... I love the winter ride.

I love that our downtown bike lanes are in the middle of the street. I love that Minneapolis shuts down a major street (Nicollet) during the weekends for all the recreational bikers and kinda lets it open for use during thee week. I love that we had the streets shut down for the Geat River Energy Bicycle Festival http://www.minnbikefestival.com/ and it rained that day and all the streets were packed for a couple hours to watch the racer speed by. What a look fest. Hot bikes hot bikers. Um, and I'm married. But he proposed to me when we were riding. That's a good for me!

Not sure what you meant by that comment. Is Santa Barbara better then Fort Wayne? Only if you want the ocean and timid climate. Is Fort Wayne better then Santa Barbara? Only if you want to own a large custom built home in a nice neighborhood for less then a cheap fixer upper in a bad neighborhood. I could go on and on about the pros and cons of both cities but what would be the point of that? Anywhere you live will have a pro and con. I lived in both cities and it sounds like you haven't lived in either, so don't make comments you have no clue about.

I've lived in Fort Wayne...what a horribly boring town.

Wow, they're still doing that? Cool. I visited Bogota in the mid 80's - left on a Sunday and that was going on then. I wasn't even into cycling back then, but was still impressed. Some of the roads they close off to vehicles are like pretty major freeways, as I recall. Can you imagine that happening in any US city?

Every Sunday, the city of Cambridge closes off a section of Memorial Drive for cycling and other non-motorized use. It's not exactly a freeway, but it's a pretty major arterial with a degree of controlled access. Of course if and how that increases transportational cycling is unexplored. But people seem to like it, so I suppose it's at least a nice recreational facility.

http://www.cambridgema.gov/traffic/M...sedSundays.cfm

-Trevor, who had a pleasant ride home yesterday along Storrow Drive which is a major expressway and off-limits to cyclists but seems quite nice on the weekends.

I live in Davis, CA, and I haven't seen a more cycling friendly town.

http://photos17.flickr.com/20158552_7871765256_b.jpg

And some more pics.

Oh good, someone brought up Boston/Cambridge.

I didn't have fantastic experiences biking in the city, when I lived there, but I can certainly vouch for the western suburbs. The towns around Boston tend to be quaint little New England town centers linked by a network of older two-lane state roads, many of which are just beautiful for biking. Car drivers tend to be polite and give you plenty of room; very few jackasses out there. I see group rides out on many weekday evenings and weekend mornings, and I hear about active road-racing and cyclocross groups, not to mention lots of charity rides (like the Pan-Mass Challenge).

There are several multi-use trails in the Boston area, although this seems common now in American cities. In Boston and Cambridge, the Charles River banks have trails on them. The Minuteman Trail, running from Cambridge to Bedford, is one of the most popular rail-trails in the country. The Nashua River Trail is nice too. And, of course, Memorial Drive is car-free on summer Sundays!

Motorists are considerate of cyclists in Montreal because bicycles are closely associated with the sporting culture of the city. When people are watching hockey, football or baseball on TV and they find their fridge is out of beer, they call the local store (depanneur), and a case is delivered immediately by bicycle. The bike has a big basket above a small front wheel.

Boring is what you make it. I find plenty to do around here, and in fact Fort Wayne offers more then some places I lived...but not as much as others. So really it's up to the individual not to make any place they live boring.

I would have to go with Palo Alto and Victoria BC (Canada) as my favourite bike towns, with Amsterdam rounding out the top three, although it's definitely not built for speed. It's also the only place where I've encountered bike congestion!!! (it seems pretty common in Asia). P A and Victoria have lovely weather pretty much year-round, whereas Amsterdam gets a little soggy though, and people will think you're uppity if you ride anything other than a big nasty black ss cruiser with a rack for the g/f.

As far as a cycling community, Boulder, Co period. I went to school there and still regret leaving that place. I could hit MUPS, Flats, Hills and everything in between withing 5 mins of leaving my apartment.. Bike lanes in most roads and even some state hwys...

Boston and Massachusetts kinda suck... I would be mildly scared to bike in the streets of Boston... Too many crazy drivers.. Sure they close memorial drive for 1 mile on sundays... What am I going to do with that... The country roads arent bad. drivers are mostly curteous but most of the roads have very small/ no discernable shoulders and are in various states of bad repair... Maybe its just me and I am spoiled.. :)..

Davis.

No question about it.

Elizabeth, New Jersey

Nah, just kidding!

Just to brag a little about Fort Collins again... In addition to bike-friendly roads and actually useful multi-use paths, there's also a city sponsored "bike to work program" which allows you to track your mileage in exchange for money useable in downtown locations and malls, a program that provides bicycles around town and at businesses for people to use, and a good bunch of bike shops and clubs. For a little example, at my work, we actually have so many bike commuters that we are running out of space to keep bikes (we are spoiled and have a storage unit that doubles as bike parking -- wouldn't want to expose our bikes to the elements and potential thieves!), and our delegation convinced the powers that be to let us get a shed specifically for parking our bikes. This is no fluke business either, there just seem to be a lot of commuters around here. We're also a college town (and campus has a pretty bad biking situation), so there's lots of bikers...and traffic seems, for the most part, to be pretty aware and considerate of cyclists!

Also, to top it off, we have a very disproportionate number of breweries here. Beer and bikes is very much a part of the culture around here. It really doesn't get any better.

What about Minneapolis? I know the winter sucks, but we have awesome bike paths everywhere and bike lanes all over. There are a lot of bikers and the people are pretty chill for the most part. Come on I work at a bike shop and we have 9 stores in the twin cities alone!! That's a biker friendly community.

Except for the college kids who always manage to drive the wrong way down the one way streets, Chico CA is a great bicycling town. Chico is home to Bidwell Park, the second largest city park in the country. Lower Bidwell Park provides miles and miles of paved pathway, and lots of single track along the creek for your mountain bike. Upper Bidwell Park has all levels of mountain biking trails, and you can jump off your bike when you get hot, and go for a swim in the various swimming holes of Chico Creek.

If you've got some balls and a tough lock, Brooklyn isnt so bad. But ive been to a few other near by places (Montreal, Boston) which I thought would be a lot better. (Altough the cold and snow in all three of these places is killer)