America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities - Link to Article

[MitchJi]

Hi,

If you go to the site the same map is clickable for more info about each point.

America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities

http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/home.html

There are many important things a city can do to gain our consideration for this list: segregated bike lanes, municipal bike racks and bike boulevards, to name a few. If you have those things in your town, cyclists probably have the ear of the local government—another key factor. To make our Top 50, a city must also support a vibrant and diverse bike culture, and it must have smart, savvy bike shops. If your town isn’t named below, use this as an opportunity to do something about it. Already on the list? Go out and enjoy a ride. (Note: We considered only cities with populations of 100,000 or more, and we strove for geographical diversity to avoid having a list dominated by California’s many bike-oriented cities.)

To read about each of the 50 cities, click on the pinpoints on the map, or just click the arrows to browse through the list.

On the bicycling.com site the following are also links:

MORE

• # 5 foreign bike-friendly cities
  # 5 American bike-friendly cities (under 100,000 population)
  # 8 ideas to push for in your town
  # The Full List

 

[Little-Acorn]

we strove for geographical diversity to avoid having a list dominated by California’s many bike-oriented cities

This sounds like they are saying, they found lots of bike-friendly cities in California, but didn't like how lopsided that made the map look. So they took some cities in other states that weren't so bike-friendly, and called them "friendly" anyway, and put them on the map. And they took some bike-friendly cities in California and called them "less than friendly", dropping them from the map. Now the map looks prettier, mostly because the data has been faked.

Say it ain't so...!!

 

[morph999]

Except for the Monon Trail, Indianapolis is a pretty ruthless place to ride your bike. Almost no bike lanes in the entire city. And until about a year ago, there were no bike lanes in the city at all. Now they've put one on Michigan street I believe.

 

[MitchJi]

Hi,

45th place:
http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/slide47.html

45. Indianapolis, IN

A 60-mile greenway system has received national design and landscaping awards.

The city coordinates with health, transportation and other organizations to improve cycling facilities.

 

[amberwolf]

I think I might agree with Little-Acorn about the data problem.

Also, they list Scottsdale, AZ as bike-friendly, but I would disagree with that. Compared to there, Glendale is much friendlier, in my personal experience.