I don't have experience bike commuting in any other city, but Tucson is great. There are enough commuters for people to be used to seeing bikes and infrastructure so that I can get from any part of the city, and to and from the suburbs, to any other while on paved shoulders or separated multiple-use paths (I don't use these very often). The weather is excellent, but a bit warm in the afternoons for about 3 months of the year. One other drawback is that there isn't a strong centralized business district, but downtown has gone thru a revitization over the last few years and is starting to make a statement.

:lol:

It's a dry heat...;)

I think it's everybody's nightmare.

The biggest thing that Portland has going for it is strong cycling community. You mention the large numbers of cyclists in Seattle and Portland has that as a positive too, but that's not really what I mean. The cyclists here have a strong voice in the city, but beyond that there's just a really good network of support from bike shops to coffee shops to brew pubs that build a feeling of belonging for cyclists. I don't know how that compares with other cities, as I'm convinced that you really have to live in a place for a few years to get a true sense of this kind of thing, but I know in Portland it's great.

Aside from that, the infrastructure in Portland is decent and there are always people working to make it better. Downtown isn't especially good as a place to ride, but you can get around. There are a few really good streets to get you from place to place throughout the city. If you stray from the designated bike routes you might have trouble, but there are good bike routes to get you just about anywhere.

That said, I prefer my commute in the suburbs, going from Beaverton (just west of Portland) to Hillsboro (a little farther west), to anything in Portland proper. Suburbs sprawl and so it's a longer ride than most Portland commutes would be, but I have a nice wide bike lane for almost my entire 10 mile commute and not once does it pass a parked car. The suburbs (as everywhere) are a horrible maze of cul-de-sacs with only a few streets that continue uninterrupted for any distance, but exactly because of that maze of cul-de-sacs the road I use for most of my commute has very few intersections and mostly goes along fences that mark the edge of that maze. It's not scenic (though I can use a longer route and get that), but it is fast and safe.

Some other cities I've visited (in no particular order):

Seattle and San Francisco, mostly close in -- Both seem like great places to ride but the hills are brutal.

Santa Clara/San Jose -- Not necessarily great places to bike but absolute hell in a car. I can't imagine why anyone chooses to drive there. I like the San Tomas Aquino Creek trail a lot.

Cumberland, MD -- This is where I grew up and was the first place I biked to work. There's absolutely no bike infrastructure on the streets, but I used to live near the C&O canal and could take that almost all the way to where I worked. That was excellent.

Washington, D.C. -- Not for the feint of heart. I haven't tried biking in D.C., but some of the streets they mark as bike routes scare me even when I'm in a car.

Baltimore -- I don't know if I've ever seen anyone on a bike in Baltimore. I probably have, but I can't picture it.

Munich -- Bikes were everywhere, bicyclists not quite as much. I have a picture of literally piles of bikes at one of the train stations. The train system is excellent and I guess having a cheap bike to get there makes sense. Riding around the city was pretty comfortable too.

I'm glad I don't live in any "city" - Olympia, WA has great bike infrastructure. Easy to get around on MUP's and bike lanes. It's perfect... except for the rain.

Thanks for that Andy_K. You saved me the time of writing about Portland but the metro as a whole is ideal. Sense of community, bike friendly businesses, bike awareness, etc. At the end of the day, we can improve so much and I hope we strive to get Diamond level one day. There's a reason we're the only city above 500k to get Platinum status but that also hindered our progress. It's coming back slowly.

Seattle is great but bike parking is horrible. Chicago is the same as Seattle. No other cities to speak on. I did live in Las Vegas and LA but as a whole, drivers are not very friendly to you/me the cyclist.

I live on the west side of Houston. Even though my commute is a bit long at 20ish miles each way, it's not bad at all. In fact, I see more traffic in the suburb than in town. I get on the MUP in George Bush Park, then link to Terry Hershey Park, and I can get to my office in the energy corridor with almost zero traffic exposure. In the evenings, if traffic is starting to get a little crazy, I can hop on the sidewalks near home and just take it easy rolling back to the homestead.

I used to commute in New Orleans. My ride was only 5 miles, but it was pretty chaotic. Last time I was back home visiting, I saw that they've painted in a ton of bike lanes. I'm still not sure how safe that would make me feel. New Orleans isn't (or at least wasn't) very bike friendly. On the other hand, how many people can claim to bike-commute on Bourbon Street? :lol:

We have house guests staying here from Germany. They are world travelers and have been to many places, including NYC many times. One of them grew up here. They took a big bike tour of NYC on Saturday. They are impressed with how pleasant and gentle the city has become. I guess I don't notice it often because I'm here. It's nice to have an outsider's perspective.

I've commuted 1.5 miles in Pasadena (just northeast of Los Angeles) and now 8 miles in Seattle (Eastside). I also got to spend 2 weeks or so in Nijmegen, Netherlands commuting about 1.5 miles by bike as well as around the city.

Pasadena: mediocre infrastructure and horrible drivers (even in the area I was in near a school) but good weather and pretty flat

Seattle Eastside: Town where I live and most surrounding it have good infrastructure (bike lanes on almost all major roads, great MUPs, etc...) Could be better but pretty good. Drivers are great - it's pretty rare for me to have a problem here and rarely malicious on the drivers part. The hills and weather are annoying but just build character :)

Nijmegen: Absolutely amazing to commute in. The default mode of commuting there is bike, not car. Protected bike paths everywhere, dedicated bicycle crossing signals, and the cars yield to bikes all the time. In fact, I found it rather tough to drive around the weekend when I rented a car (primarily to go elsewhere). Decent bike parking everywhere (but perhaps people there are too complacent since apart from the O-lock on the rear wheel no one does much to secure their bike). Weather can be a bit lousy though, but almost no hills, which is wonderful.

One interesting thing I saw between the Netherlands and the US is that there people had barely any idea of the basics of bike maintenance. It was basically like people are with cars here. Since there's such good infrastructure, no one knew much at all and just when to the bike mechanic if there were any problems.

I have only really biked around various cities in Northern California, mostly Santa Cruz, San Francisco and various suburbs of San Francisco. Bend, Oregon seems like a nice bike city and I kind of wanted to move there when I visited.

San Francisco (& surrounding suburbs) have some cons that may not be obvious to people that don't live nearby...

Cons:

-recent proposed toll to walk & bike over GG bridge

-construction seems to be happening everywhere, all the time. Sometimes my commute feels like cyclocross.

-high winds & thick fog are worse than hills (in my opinion); high winds on GG bridge can be be scary to ride in...

-summer might be colder, foggier and windier than winter...

-tons of hipsters on fixies (in SF, not in the suburbs) riding around ignoring traffic signals (even if they weren't ignoring signals, they are unlikely to stop given the lack of brakes) -- this leads to negative sentiment toward cyclists

Over the last 20 years, I have perceived a significant increase in negativity toward cyclists. If you read anything bike-related in the online versions of local newspapers (e.g. SF Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, etc.), you will see some significant numbers of hateful, anti-bike comments. Some of the papers literally seem to have an anti-bike agenda when you read the editorials and news articles (Marin IJ especially).

hostility from MUP walkers/joggers toward cyclists and hostility from fire-road hikers/horseback riders toward mtb cyclists... I often feel safer on the road than on a MUP...

MTB riders not allowed on many trails. Most single-track trails completely off limits to cyclists.


Pros:

-Overall, the weather is pretty mild and it is rarely ever too hot or too cold to bike

-lots of bike shops and bike stuff for sale on craigslist

-bike coalitions in SF & other local counties doing great work

-usually easy to find local bike maps, bike routes, bike lanes

-most drivers are used to bikes on the road

My hometown, Novi Sad is perfect for bicycle commuting. Yes it could be better - pedestrians often walking bicycle paths, parked cars etc, but when you get more skilled, start using both road and cycle paths, with some fatter tyres, it is very nice. No traffic jams, not too much problems with rude drivers, so my rating would be 7 out of 10.

Cycled in Worms in Germany for a week - that city is perfect for cycling. I'd give it 8, or 9 out of 10.

I'll comment on the town's I've lived in.

West LA - not too horrible although infrastructure isn't great. Not too many bike lanes but streets are relatively wide, weather is great and I'd say drivers are relatively good to bikes
Seattle - Much better scenery than LA, weather worse, lots of bikes, crappy infrastructure, tight streets, ok drivers to bikes
Scottsdale - Pretty decent infrastructure, quite a few bike paths, good bike lanes, weather perfect, scenery ok, drivers to bikes quite poor, cars go way too fast
Spokane - Bad infrastructure, decent bike paths, hardly any bike lanes, decent weather, pretty good scenery, drivers to bikes ok
Whitefish, MT - great back roads, amazing scenery, nice drivers to bikes
Kapaa, HI - very similar to Whitefish

1 - Amsterdam. we stayed a week and cycled around with a friend who was an ex-pat at the time from SF (i'm from NYC). in any case. best motorist-cyclist-pedestrian infrastructure i've seen. people are kind of brusque like NYC no one is really 'nice' - people go about their way, dodge you, and that's that.

visiting but no bike time:
-Paris seems like a bike friendly place but we didn't cycle. lots of cars and pedestrians as well.
-Toronto - downtown also seems bike friendly but we didn't get to cycle. we saw some cyclists.
-Montreal - also seems bike friendly but we didn't get to cycle. we saw some cyclists.
-Vancouver - very bike friendly there are so many things to choose from, parks abound everywhere and there are mountains very close by, but again, we didn't get to cycle. lots of pedestrians. we got around by the sky train and walking.
-Dallas-Fort Worth (Irving and Coppell) - it's all cars. BUT there are cycling communities we see from time to time and they get to share the road. i don't know how they do it i would freak out if i was on a bike with so many cars whizzing by. but they ride in packs so it's a lot easier to spot them and drive around them i suppose? safety in numbers. there are parks and trails as well where i see many people cycle. Downtown Dallas, we would walk. i didn't really see any cyclists there.
-Denver - this city seems really bike friendly - we didn't get to cycle but our friends who live their year round commute to work by bike and cycle on weekends too.
-Long Island, NY - this has a growing cycling community. it's really awesome. there are cars like NYC that occasionally drive by them way too fast. but for the most part motorists go around. and long island can get gorgeous. scenic areas for cycling. one of these days I'm going to cycle here.
-Cologne, Germany - we did see cyclists and it seemed bike friendly. we walked and saw a few cyclists.
-Bruges, Belgium - it's more pedestrian friendly but there were areas good outside city center for bikes, just not really in city center.
-St. Remy, France - it seemed somewhat bike friendly but it's so crowded with cars. plus getting around the south of france outside of st. remy - it did feel like we had to drive everywhere. it would have been nice to take a day cycling as it's super scenic.
-Miami - some parts are bike friendly. mostly cars, walking, sand. maybe i would see cyclists on a boardwalk. it's been awhile so maybe it has changed.
-Boston - i didn't really notice if it was bike friendly, saw lots of pedestrians and cars. maybe a few bikes.
-upstate NY around New Paltz - bike friendly, many cycle on the small roads here. it can get super scenic. one of these days I'm going to cycle up here.

i would say NYC today is a lot better than 2011 when i first started commuting by bike. So many more people cycling - i would credit it to citibike and the tourists who come in spring/summer/fall and get around by bike. i'll try to add more cities as i think of them.

I agree with you on all counts. Don't have many issue's getting where I need to go. If it wasn't for the hills would be alot easier though! I sometimes dream of a flat commute!

based on personal experience, i would have to say that chicago is both the best and the worst city for bike commuting because it is the only city i have ever bike-commuted in.

i have ridden a bicycle as a tourist in many other cities, but that is not the same thing as being a daily bike commuter/transportation cyclist for nearly a decade in a city that i know like the back of my hand. two days of tooling around City X on a bikeshare bike does not really give one the necessary info to make a useful call on a topic like this.

also pertinent to this thread is the when. bicycle infrastructure and bicycle commuting have been EXPLODING in US cities from coast to coast over the past 10 years. if you last visited City X in 2007 and was unimpressed by its cycling culture, it might well be an entirely different story in 2015.

This is a excellent and critical point. Chicago, NYC, and WDC along with many other cities have seen dramatic changes in the past 4 or 5 years. I wouldn't have dared ride in NYC 5 years ago but have now taken to using Citibikes on some visits if I know that I have a good route. Sadly progress seems to have stalled recently?

Your note is the reason why it would benefit anyone who considers themselves a "transportation cyclist", which is using a bicycle to directly replace a car trip, to take a bicycle education course such as Cycling Savvy, which teaches you how to go ANYWHERE by bike, using existing roads and other infrastructure already in place. I haven't even had the chance to take their course yet, but their principles have helped me a ton in the past 2 years.

CyclingSavvy - A Program of the American Bicycling Education Association

[MENTION=397406]snow_echo_NY[/MENTION], we have a house near New Paltz, and I love riding around there. Yes, it certainly is scenic. It's also very hilly, and despite that, I've found some non-hilly routes for people who prefer them. I climbed the Mohonk Ridge last summer and had a blast.

Boston is a bike friendly city, as far as I'm concerned. Traffic is equally nasty to everyone there.

The first time I visited Paris, traffic scared me. It took me a few days to try cycling there. Then I did, and it was a blast.

Citibike (the NYC bike share program) has suffered from an unexpected level of success. They will be expanding, but it will take a frustrating amount of time. My wife recently tried it and liked it much more than I thought she would. She signed up immediately. She's so excited and is checking the mail every day for her new key.

Anyone here have experience cycling in Providence, RI?

I wouldn't exactly know how to rate it since it's the only city I've really commuted in, but I'd say it's decent. Really not much infrastructure to speak of, though that is beginning to change. Hilly, for a small city, so I get a workout every time I ride (both of the nearest grocery stores are at the bottom of two big hills). Traffic can be awfully snarled up around rush hour, but I've never had a hostile experience with a motorist or been involved in an accident. Also, it's a small city, so I can zip cross town in about half an hour on most days. I've found that going anywhere by bike in Providence is as fast or faster than driving a car.

that sounds perfect [MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION] ! i have to find a way to transport our bikes once the nice weather hits.

i think i may restart my citibike membership when they expand. it will cover where we live more thoroughly and i wouldn't have to think about my bike getting stolen - hah. but it won't be for awhile as you said. i think your wife will enjoy. a number of my coworkers have joined and love riding those blue bikes too :)

I'm building a fleet of "guest bikes" upstate, so come join us.

My wife rode Citibike yesterday and came home with the biggest smile I've seen her wear in a long time. It's getting pretty silly to see her get so much joy. She owns some pretty nice bikes, and it's as if she likes Citibike the best. Well, to each, her own!

Hey, do you ever use 1st or 2nd gear? My wife says she only uses 3rd. I like to start from a dead stop in 2nd so I can spin up fast. After just a few feet, I shift to 3rd.

I'm a start in second ride in third kind of guy. One time going up the Brooklyn bridge I had to stop for a gaggle of people in the bike lane and quickly switched to first to get going again. Amazingly steep that bridge.

BTW, we've been building up a collection of guest bikes for people that come down to visit us. We're within 2 or 3 miles, all nice segregated path, of a number of eateries and drinkeries so often ride to lunch or dinner. Got a few Workcycles when, RIP, Adeline Adeline went out of biz. I'm thinking about bringing some inexpensive or used bikes back from NL since shipping and customers duties are free (one per passenger).

All the East River bridges seem steep!

Why not put your location(s) in your profile? It's easy and fun.

I'm going to restrict myself to major cities.

1. Amsterdam
2. Copenhagen
3. Munich
4. Berlin
5. Tokyo

The best US city would probably be in the 40s or 50s.