Living car-free in Mpls: Which neighborhood offers best options for cyclists/transit users?

[rzzz]

I live in the suburbs and cycle a lot, and would not recommend the burbs for car-free life, or as a single person. It's not so bad where I live if I just want to ride my bike for exercise, but it would be extremely isolating and impractical to not have a car. It would be quite a headache to buy groceries. If I wanted to take the bus into downtown Minneapolis it would take 1.5 - 2 hours each way and the buses run on a very limited schedule.

Cycling in Minneapolis is a lot like cycling in Chicago, with the addition of a great paved trail network. Golf Gal does have a good point. Minneapolis is not very dense. The densest part (downtown) is less dense than Evanston. After this past winter, I would wonder why someone who works at home and wants to use bicycle as a primary mode of transport would choose to live here, even with the bike trail network. I work at home and am strongly considering moving somewhere with either better weather, or more to do... or both.

[AmoreLeo]

I'm lived a lot of places, and I actually think the "less dense than Chicago but still city-like" feel of Mpls is right up my alley. I am from there, but I just have not lived there in 20 years. I also plan to split time between Mpls and somewhere else in the winter. Mpls has a lot of things that a lot of other U.S. cities don't offer, and those are the things drawing me back. I might spend the summer there and end up hating it, but if I am in a neighborhood that meets the requirements I listed at the top of this thread, then at least I will have given it a fair shake.

[codydog2]

If you will be here May 11th Surly is doing a cyclofemme ride. I would guess the attendees would be more bike as a mode of transportation skewed. It would be a good chance to talk to some real people, in person, about experiences biking in the city, check out a few of the local bike shops and get an idea for where other people who are using bikes as transportation live.

CycloFemme Ride Details - May 11th | Blog | Surly Bikes

[Minntoaz]

North loop/warehouse district or uptown.

Downtown doesn't have co-ops so that'd be out. It's catered more to business professional.

[rzzz]

Downtown is bike-able to Seward co-op though, which is the biggest one in the cities.

Although I guess how convenient that is depends on which part of downtown you're in.

It's a similar situation in Uptown, if you're living over by Lake Calhoun, The Wedge is 2 miles away.