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[BLOODED_hands]

Minneapolis ranked 6? Eh, I'll take it.

 

[Phobophile]

7. Austin, TX

Not bad!

Seems like biking would be tough in snowy areas like Chicago and Minny. Even biking in TX is pretty shitty in the winter.

Midwestern cities tend to know how to handle snow well. In Chicago, arterial streets are cleared rather quickly but side/residential streets may take an extra day or two.

 

[sir_kevith]

Austin is way too high on that list. I wouldn't call it bike friendly. Yeah a lot of people rides bike but you really have to be committed to riding a bike in Austin.

I think that's the same for every city on this list. I bike every day in Portland and I wouldn't even describe it as friendly at all. Bike lanes appear and disappear at random and we have almost no protected bike lanes downtown. Maybe some city officials think it is but I've even been on bike boulevards and had people try to run me off the road. One lady ran a stop sign and almost hit me, then followed me for a couple blocks after I yelled "STOP!", then she rolled down her window and said "I shoulda hit you fa**ot!" and sped off.

One guy cut me off on the same street and kept brake checking me and saying "how does it feel to have to slow down all the time!?" I told him to get off the road with all the bikes painted on it and take another street. He told me to get a car and sped off and I kept catching up to him at stop signs it was awkward as fuck.

I usually have 2-3 bad encounters with drivers and other bikers every week.

 

[Dusk Soldier]

pretty surprising to see NYC up that high. where are you supposed to ride? there's a million cars on the road and a million people on the sidewalk

The cars aren't going anywhere. Just drive around them.

 

[teruterubozu]

That is an issue of bad winter maintenance, not weather.

?
MN is great for winter maintenance. I don't care how good the city is, a blizzard is crippling in any situation and not conducive for biking.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

this list is lying

Every Florida one is suspect as all hell..can't argue much with D.C.

 

[Phobophile]

?
MN is great for winter maintenance. I don't care how good the city is, a blizzard is crippling in any situation and not conducive for biking.

In those conditions you're likely not going to be driving, either.

 

[teruterubozu]

In those conditions you're likely not going to be driving, either.

You don't know cold weather. People do drive in crazy conditions, unfortunately.

 

[Phobophile]

You don't know cold weather. People do drive in crazy conditions, unfortunately.

I grew up in Chicagoland and lived there for the first 30 years of my life.

 

[teruterubozu]

I grew up in Chicagoland and lived there for the first 30 years of my life.

Well a blizzard surely doesn't stop people here in New England, that's for sure.

 

[GamerJM]

Surprised Santa Barbara isn't here. Don't live there but I have a few cousins who do and they say everyone bikes.

 

[ZOONAMI]

In those conditions you're likely not going to be driving, either.

You don't know cold weather. People do drive in crazy conditions, unfortunately.

I drive and bike in the snow all the time in Minneapolis. I won't bike in a straight up blizzard but no problem driving in one.

People outside of the north straight up do not know how to drive in any kind of weather.

 

[Phobophile]

Well a blizzard surely doesn't stop people here in New England, that's for sure.

I've done it, too, but after parking my car after the first 10" I'm not driving again unless it's an emergency.

 

[Silkworm]

If you step off campus this immediately stops being the case. Yeah people are generally pretty civil driving and there's not too much traffic, but there really aren't dedicated bike lanes or paths anywhere.

Well, on campus was definitely better (especially since public traffic wasn't allowed on campus at certain hours of the day) but I found some nice routes to the mall and elsewhere that had bike lanes on them. I went all the way to another town one time and that route had a bike lane all the way IIRC. I was much more into biking then.

 

[Jasup]

?
MN is great for winter maintenance. I don't care how good the city is, a blizzard is crippling in any situation and not conducive for biking.

Blizzard is a special occasion and not a daily occurence. I was thinking of a normal winter day with snow on the ground - if you can't ride a bike, it's usually a maintenance issue.

 

[MSScaeva]

You never been to a good bike city unless you've been to Amsterdam

Ehh, Amsterdam (especially the city center) isn't actually that great compared to the rest of the Netherlands. Way too busy and cramped. Smaller cities tend to be better. I've heard Groningen is really good, though I've never cycled there myself.