It is a bit of a surprise that Amsterdam is the only Dutch city on the list - or was there a minimal population size criterium of some sort? If not, there are quite a few cities in NL that should have scored higher than Amsterdam.

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Chains to the right!

I know Vicenza is close to Ferrara, that's why I mentioned it. Verona is beautiful, but not for cyclists.

As a country, NL is definitely the best by far of the countries I have visited when it comes to cyclists. Besides the cities, there are lots of cycle lanes even on country roads. I used to cycle a lot when I was working near Rotterdam and enjoyed Brielle and the meer and around Rockanje and Oostvorne.

How about UK ones?

Im supposed next year to go at least once to meet one my friend in Scotland for some cycling (and/or racing).

Compared to Holland, the UK is poor for cycling cities. Once you get out of the cities it can be OK. If you're going to Scotland the riding should be good. Scenery is great and there are large tracts of land with few people. Downside can be the weather!!!

I think London is good for cycling and is doing a lot to promote it. There are more and more parking spots for bikes... I reckon that list is a bit outdated. Sure, London isn't great for cycling enthusiast but it caters to the 'everyday' cyclists quite well.

My traveling experiences teach me the bicycle-friendly-equation.
The most bicycle-friendly places = places where many people use bicycles OR places with almost no traffic.

I am sure there are some in every country, pretty much.

Ha ha. Nice comment from Pez. I recall a poll run by Bicycling Magazine in the States years ago - the editor sent out a questionnaire to many cities asking why they should be considered a good cycling town. New York City responded with a comment to the effect of "Perhaps you should forward this to Portland, OR."

Hey, at least they were honest...

In the US my rating system would be based entirely on kg of weed smoked per capita vs gallons of alcohol. High weed + low booze = good place to ride. Low weed + high booze = death on wheels and high volume of objects thrown at you.

not glasgow:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/gla ... 095134.stm

Yep... only Dutch cities I've been to outside Amsterdam are Rotterdam & Maastricht... but both seemed pretty good.

Seattle seemed not bad, by US standards...

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Graham

Wait a minute. That's not a case of whether it's a bicycle-friendly city, that's a case of a guy being too friendly with a bicycle.

So: Boulder, CO would rank first, far and away.

But what about Madison, WI? Quite the paradox, that one. College town full of drunks AND potheads, yet by all accounts a great place to ride. My experiences there have been great as well.

I was just in Washington DC and was surprised with how many people are on bikes. Buses and bikers share a lane. Too many stop lights for my liking, but that's city riding I guess.

Seems like Copenhagen wins:

http://copenhagengirlsonbikes.blogspot.com/

I think that list is complete bull:

It does not consider accidents and death rate cyclist suffer.

That's 70% of the rating the way I see it, regardless of city planning to accommodate cyclist or PR marketing campaign, road safety comes first .

It's the motorist's attitude and behavior toward cyclist that make cycling safe and enjoyable, not stupid bike paths .

Bike path are just there to give an illusion that you are safe while riding, they do give some safety, but they also make motorist disregard bike on the open road because they feel it's not their obligation to share the road and we should be relegated to paths only.



I name Ottawa as best cycling city in North America. And so do a lot of people on the blog that article links to. I'm sure ther are lots of European cities that are much better but noting comparatively on this side of the pond.



In Ottawa the motorist go out of their way to accommodate cyclist.

The few times I have been riding there simply blew me away;
At intersections on a red light motorist will stop on their green light to let the cyclist to through the red light.
Every time I go there I'm baffled at each intersection on a red light when ALL the cars on the opposite green light stop and wave me through...

I have never seen such a cycling friendly town. Feels like your a human being while on a bike there, you can feel the respect people give you.

It's a sharp contrast to Montreal's crazy drivers who don't care if they run people over (cyclist and pedestrian) because of the stupid no-fault road insurance here.

Who the hell cares if there's loads of bike paths here, the riding is not safe outside of them !