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Old 06-18-2012, 02:40 PM
 
395 posts, read 647,464 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoomBoxing View Post
I don't think much has changed since 2009 for better or for worse. I would say the city of St. Louis is fairly bike friendly. When you compare it to bike-mecca Portland though, it comes up way short. If moving to a place that is extremely bike friendly is the most important thing, then Portland is a better choice.

But St. Louis holds its own in a lot of other ways. You will be able to afford a nicer place, the city has a nice gritty urban feel that most places lack. The economy is better. Crime is a concern but you will not have to carry a glock. There have been a few high profile incidents targeting random people in the last year, but it is not a common thing...most violent crime is not random and concentrated in a part of the city you probably won't be spending much time in.

Any reason that these are the two cities you have narrowed down to move to? They are quite different...
Since 2009- the bike commuter center opened downtown, bike rack bill passed, S Grand streetscape making biking easier was completed, trails and lanes expanded.

STL is not the most bike friendly place, but it is not bad either, I would expect it to improve.
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Old 06-18-2012, 03:17 PM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
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Although my husband has a passion for cars, he's recently started riding his bicycle to work (we live about 5 miles from the Marine Corps Base) to save on gas money (and be healthier). He's buying me a Bicycle for my birthday next month for basic errands. When we move back to St. Louis this year it would be awesome to be able to continue to Bicycle (at least in the warmer months) rather than be so reliant on our cars... although we'll never get rid of our vehicles- in St. Louis that would be ludicrous (and would send my husband crazy not having any engines to rebuild or anything to tinker with).

I'm glad to hear that St. Louis is becoming at least somewhat bicycle friendly
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Old 06-18-2012, 05:56 PM
 
Location: St. Louis
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Makes sense. I bike to and from SLU every day and I always see about 4-5 other cyclists along the way. There is room for improvement though. I wish they'd extend the bike lanes on Olive all the way down Lindell instead of stopping at Grand.
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Old 06-19-2012, 08:50 AM
 
Location: 32°19'03.7"N 106°43'55.9"W
9,333 posts, read 20,677,770 times
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The top 10 per walkscore.com, using GIS mapping methodologies:

Most Bikeable Cities
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Old 06-19-2012, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Tower Grove East, St. Louis, MO
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^I'll tell ya what, I'd rather bike in flat-as-a-pancake Chicago anyday over San Francisco. I don't have that kind of stamina
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Old 06-19-2012, 09:19 AM
 
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No doubt some small improvements have been made. I think biking is getting better in STL, but it's a slow crawl up while other cities are rapidly improving their bike infrastructure. That is where my frustration comes from. I really felt like St. Louis was poised to be one of the biking capitals of the midwest just a few years ago and it's disappointing that it hasn't materialized that way. Bike St. Louis was huge but I was hoping it would keep going (no big changes since Phase 2 in 2008). The Tour of Missouri was quickly becoming the USA's #2 cycling event but then that got canned (thanks Jay Nixon). There's the Handlebar (awesome) and Bike Commuter station but we need more bike lanes, a cycletrack or two, more sharrows, and maybe even a pilot bike sharing system.

I mean STL did not even crack the Top 50 bike friendly cities in Bicycling magazine last month though it got an honorable mention. Cities like Louisville, Chattanooga, Kansas City and even Columbia, MO did. Hopefully this will be a gamechanger if it gets implemented as proposed.
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Old 06-19-2012, 09:52 AM
 
Location: 32°19'03.7"N 106°43'55.9"W
9,333 posts, read 20,677,770 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aragx6 View Post
^I'll tell ya what, I'd rather bike in flat-as-a-pancake Chicago anyday over San Francisco. I don't have that kind of stamina
Forward to the :57 mark:

Filbert Street San Francisco - YouTube

I've driven on Filbert, and thought my car would flip backwards. Can't imagine riding a bicycle up this hill, even one with 21 gears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Cbc5iG3M1q0
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Old 06-19-2012, 11:04 PM
 
15,546 posts, read 11,922,275 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aragx6 View Post
^I'll tell ya what, I'd rather bike in flat-as-a-pancake Chicago anyday over San Francisco. I don't have that kind of stamina
When I lived in San Francisco, we walked pretty much everywhere. You quickly learn the best routes to take to avoid the insanely steep hills. SF isn't all hills, there actually is a lot of flat areas.
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Old 06-20-2012, 02:50 PM
 
263 posts, read 527,949 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aragx6 View Post
^I'll tell ya what, I'd rather bike in flat-as-a-pancake Chicago anyday over San Francisco. I don't have that kind of stamina
It's surprisingly not too bad. There are a lot of flat-lands and a bike route called "the wiggle" that allows one to avoid the majority of the hills in the city.

I've lived in 2 of the cities in that top 10 list posted - St. Louis is soooo far behind them in terms of being bike-friendly. Hopefully the city keeps improving the infrastructure and more and more folks start riding!
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Old 06-20-2012, 03:26 PM
 
395 posts, read 647,464 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoomBoxing View Post
No doubt some small improvements have been made. I think biking is getting better in STL, but it's a slow crawl up while other cities are rapidly improving their bike infrastructure. That is where my frustration comes from. I really felt like St. Louis was poised to be one of the biking capitals of the midwest just a few years ago and it's disappointing that it hasn't materialized that way. Bike St. Louis was huge but I was hoping it would keep going (no big changes since Phase 2 in 2008). The Tour of Missouri was quickly becoming the USA's #2 cycling event but then that got canned (thanks Jay Nixon). There's the Handlebar (awesome) and Bike Commuter station but we need more bike lanes, a cycletrack or two, more sharrows, and maybe even a pilot bike sharing system.

I mean STL did not even crack the Top 50 bike friendly cities in Bicycling magazine last month though it got an honorable mention. Cities like Louisville, Chattanooga, Kansas City and even Columbia, MO did. Hopefully this will be a gamechanger if it gets implemented as proposed.
That list was based not on metros, but city propers, same reason we do not make the "most walkable cities" list, even though we have a better walk score than most of the cities on that list.

St. louis ranks 52 in city size, we will not make any of the top 50 lists, borders hurt us again.
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