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I'm specifically NOT talking about hipsters. I pointed out in my OP that I see everyone on bikes, with the exception of ghetto/hood women and, as someone else pointed out, Hasidics
I think the difference is the hipsters. Pull them out of the equation and I don't see Brooklyn having any massive increase in bikers vs. elsewhere. IMO Ridgewood QUEENS has more bikers than Bed Stuy BROOKLYN. And we don't even have citibike or bike lanes.
brooklyn has the best places to ride a bike. We have Prospect Park, and the Shore Rd Promenade, plus all the neighborhoods in between.
Some neighborhods are better than others.
I like Red Hook the best, hardly any car traffic, Carroll Gardens, Bath Beach, Gravesend, Gowanus Homecrest....Greenpoint, (another goodie). Also along Kent Ave in Williamsburg, the list is endless.
Park Slope is too busy, to much traffic and strollers, I don't like riding those streets though...just the park
Brooklyn is a lot easier to ride a bike in than anywhere else in the city.
Even before hipster-bike-lane-gentrification there are just a lot of side streets and such that aren't so busy. Kids can play in them and ride a bike around without getting killed. It's also completely flat. Bronx is hilly, Queens seems to have a lot more busy surface traffic, Manhattan is Manhattan.
To say Brooklyn is completely flat hasn't spent much time in Bay Ridge or Sunset Park or Cypress Hills. All the boroughs have their hilly parts and their flat expanses.
To say Brooklyn is completely flat hasn't spent much time in Bay Ridge or Sunset Park or Cypress Hills. All the boroughs have their hilly parts and their flat expanses.
From Bay Ridge to Forest Hills...all on the same ridge. Park Slope, Ridgewood, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Dyker Heights, Sunset Heights, Cypress Hills, Richmond Hill, Ocean Hill...terrain wise you are correct, Brooklyn faces the same vertical biking challenges as Queens. Real cyclists actually prefer the hilly terrain though.
From Bay Ridge to Forest Hills...all on the same ridge. Park Slope, Ridgewood, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Dyker Heights, Sunset Heights, Cypress Hills, Richmond Hill, Ocean Hill...terrain wise you are correct, Brooklyn faces the same vertical biking challenges as Queens. Real cyclists actually prefer the hilly terrain though.
Those names don't mean much.
Park Slope's "elevation" is like 40 feet. The toughest incline to cycle up in Brooklyn is the ramp up the Williamsburg Bridge.
Those names don't mean much.
Park Slope's "elevation" is like 40 feet. The toughest incline to cycle up in Brooklyn is the ramp up the Williamsburg Bridge.
Take a ride from Flatbush to Bushwick. Whole thing is uphill. Guess why they didn't develop housing in Prospect Park and Greenwood cemetery, too hilly.
From Bay Ridge to Forest Hills...all on the same ridge. Park Slope, Ridgewood, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Dyker Heights, Sunset Heights, Cypress Hills, Richmond Hill, Ocean Hill...terrain wise you are correct, Brooklyn faces the same vertical biking challenges as Queens. Real cyclists actually prefer the hilly terrain though.
I've been looking for a legible topography map of NYC but haven't come up with one yet (or at least one that I can easily read and interpret).
I'm not sure what you mean when you say "real cyclist" but I'm talking of using bikes as a means of short distance commuting. So in that case, level ground and road infrastructure are important for wider adoption. If Queens and BK are similar in topography, how do they compare in road layout? Someone mentioned on this thread that the layout of the roads in BK is just more bike friendly.
I always see a lot of people riding bikes by me in Queens all the time, but then again, I do live directly across the street from Forest Park. I think bike riding in general is becoming much more popular these days.
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