Best Biking Cities

Boulder CO?????

Boulder is a top place, for sure. Just biked there in March. But we wanted to look at only larger cities for this story. Boulder was on our initial list, but then we decided it was too small population-wise to be a fit with Paris and the like.

I was pulling for Boulder as well, but I’m glad to see Minneapolis, Portland and Seattle on there.

As soon as I read the title I knew Portland would be on the list. Right now its prefect weather to ride your bike.

Perth!? I’m surprised any Australian cities are on there really but I would have thought Melbourne would have trumped it…

Props to Mpls. Funny, cause I was in Boulder yesterday and thought “man, would have to ditch my fixie if I moved here”

You might not believe this, but Anchorage has an incredible bike path system. There are paved trails through green belts with bridges or tunnels across roads and along the coast, all linking to dirt trails through various large city parks. Hundreds of miles of trails in town, and the paved ones are even lit and groomed in the winter for xc skiing!

I’ve biked in Boulder, CO and find it amazing. Every city should be set up the same way and make a point of enabling bikers to get around safely.

They must have gone to Minneapolis, Minn. in the summer, the other 9 months would have resulted in a different opinion. Do they have a 18.5 mile lakefront path like Chicago?

Gale — We bike year ‘round in Mpls.! See here: http://gearjunkie.com/winter-bike-commuting-10-tips-to-ride-safe

Maybe Boulder can qual as the best small city – they even plow the bike trails BEFORE the streets after a snowstorm!

Paris? I love the bike rental system, but not sure how comfortable I’d feel tooling around in the traffic there!

The bike system set up in Paris is incredible. The kiosks are everywhere around town and cost 1 Euro for 30 minutes which is still cheaper than the metro (1.40 Euro) and usually faster. There are bike lanes all around the city. I was impressed when I visited in April.

Mike, while Anchorage does have a brilliant recreational bike trail system, the utility rider is much less served. Drivers are outright hostile, and the city bikeways are not maintained well. The system is fine in Anchorage unless you actually want to get anywhere.