the world is now open!
 

Yippee! The world is now open to me! At least that's what I'm telling myself. I have to move and would like to move to a place where when I say "fixie" I don't get a baggie of...something ;) But where? I looked up Boston on rent.net...insane compared to rent down here! Where's a place from the Atlantic as far west as San Antonio and anywhere north and south that's not necessarily bike friendly but has a large population of people who enjoy riding something other than the newest piece of over priced equipment on the market?

Austin TX

wait... correct me if im wrong.. but last i checked the world extends past texas...if it did id suggest portland

The world does, yes, however my wallet doesn't...

Out of the bigger cities Chicago is the cheapest for cost of living.

I was gonna say chicago.

Well, fixed isn't really big here in Colorado but we have great places to ride. Hills may be a problem for some but if your up for it after training for a while everything else will seam really easy.

move to philadelphia.

you can get like a 4 bedroom house in south philly for like a grand a month.

Yeah but it's Philly.

Did you look in the suburbs of Boston? Boston itself is only about 1/10th of the Boston metro area, and Boston itself is fscking nuts.

Providence is also nice, if you like New Englandy stuff.

And if you really don't mind the chilly winters, Minneapolis/St. Paul is pretty cool too.

i hear Madison, Wisconsin has lots of bikes...

Cheap rent is to be found in Boston, if you know where to look. For example, I live right in Davis Square, a pretty vibrant neighborhood just north of Harvard, and I only pay $400. There are five of us in the house, but it's the whole house and the rent includes (I shizznit you not) a cleaning lady that comes twice a month. I definitely got lucky, but I saw several places in the same price range. Just use Craigslist and set the upper limit for rent to be $400 and you'll definitely find a couple places. And by "places," I do not mean crapholes. Actual decent apartments.

Baltimore. I have a 1000 square ft apt. for $650/month which includes utilities in Charles Village.

Believe if or not, Richmond VA has a thriving fixie culture (i.e. I see 'em all over), and cost of living is cool. Hell, Gwar is from Richmond. How can you say no?

Although I don't live there anymore...Pittsburgh has one of the best urban accessibility (culture, music, food, bikes) to cost of living ratios. If you pay more than $300/month (assuming roommates) you'll be living in a sweet pad. The hills might make riding fixed a little more difficult than some other cities mentioned, but plenty of people do it. Check out the Bloomfield and Polish Hill areas, South Side if you don't mind the weekend drunks.

How about somewhere in the Netherlands? :rolleyes:

Minneapolis.

the center of the universe.

Ummmm....Milwaukee is cool too.

Plus, Richmond has Des Ark.


Gainesville's tiny but hella hella cheap and a pretty good bike scene. And hella flat, and we have a 16+ mile bike path with about six or seven breaks in the whole thing. There's a couple great bike shops for the non-flashy (one's run by a framebuilder) and even a couple of the flashy ones are pretty reasonable for what they are.


Prov, RI is good, too. And they got the Bolt.

Pittsburgh is nice and cheap. I bought my house last year for a cool $50k... Bloomfield, three stories, 1200sq feet, wooded back yard. Mortgage is less than $500 per month, and I've got a rent paying housemate. I know people who live in my neighborhood who pay less than $150/month rent and live in decent, fairly large apartments.

Plenty of us ride fixed on the hills around here. There's a race on October 29th if you'd like to give town a proper trial run.

-brad

chicago chicago chicago

I was gonna say Richmond too but since I also road race and know there is a big road race culture down there with expensive bikes I guess that is out for you even though they really are a bunch of good guys and girls.

You might like Ashville NC because it's full of hipsters(am I aloud to say that word anymore) Ok I mean it's full of H-people who frown on carbon fiber. But you will most certainly have to deal with hills, big ones.

Otherwise I vote For Providence.

Thanks! I appreciate the info, though being from San Antonio I'm curious about Austin ;)

I'd go with philly but think that Baltimore is a real close second... if you goto chicago, you're stuck in the midwest

Providence is a pretty good option, actually. There's lots of schools so cute girls abound. There are definitely fixed gear riders, and it's a snap to come up to Boston or go down to NYC.

Would that be a snappy bike ride?

I visted Savannah once, and purchased a vial of crack as a souvenir. I also saw a car break-in stoped via the owner stabbing the offender!. That is a crazy place. Run like hell

Well, it's only about 60 miles or so to Providence from Boston so it's within riding distance if you want to get technical. But rithem from this forum lives in PVD and he's always driving up here for rides and bringing other Providence kids with him. So it's really easy to get up here. Also, during the week, there's a commuter rail from Providence that you can ride for, like, $10. New York is farther away, but there are loads of trains and busses. Also, flights are generally cheaper out of Providence. Sometimes when I fly back to Seattle (my other hometown), I fly from Providence to save money. Providence is the bomb.

after riding this thread, i might throw up comparing rent prices when i move back to the bay area. but then again it is san francisco and that's what you have to expect.