Obeast

It is so flat here and there are hot girls everywhere on bicycles.

DanBraden

Is it as flat as they say? I kinda' like terrain. Bombing down a hill is quite fun!

Lazyass

I wouldn't say flat ground is a cycling paradise. Toughen up a little bit.

blakcloud

I have been to Copenhagen twice and it is certainly a cycling paradise but not for the reasons you stated. Two things stand out for me, the infrastructure and the culture around cycling.

DanBraden

"Obeast" and "LazyAss" start duking it out.

Obeast is lady bait, and LazyAss likes hills!

Dis Gun Be Gud!

Stadjer

I guess with a 'cycling culture' like that you get two different groups: People who ride a bike and sport cyclists. The sport cyclists can use the infrastructure but it's not build for them, they can't use as they please and it's not their paradise.

Obeast

they have two way bike paths even for the roundabout and every tiny little street has these cement ramps so you can ride on pavement to get to where you need to be since there are also separate sidewalk for pedestrians and runners. I don´t think any US city is going to be this cycling friendly for years to come. Another thing I admire is the amount of near crap quality bikes being put to work by college students to senior citizens.

gregf83 

avole

Denmark also happens to be probably the most civilised country on the planet, and Copenhagen a wonderful place to visit, with or without bicycle.

Lemonbike

fietsbob

But I found along with any bike culture comes bike theft..

I stopped someone trying to strip my bike I had locked up to use a public toilet*. to go pee..

span of 5 ~ 10 minutes..

*across the street from the Tivoli Park in Copenhagen https://www.tivoli.dk/en/

avole

See what I mean, fietsbob? In the Netherlands your bike wouldn't have been there after 30 seconds, whereas the Danish thieves are endearingly amateur.

REDMASTA

Yes Denmark for the most part is really flat. It can get windy at times but usually not that bad. I currently live in a hilly area and while conquering climbs is a great challenge I don't mind flat ground riding one bit. The high average speed and ease of commuting more than makes up for it.

There are lot of bike lanes in Copenhagen and traffic rules strongly favor cyclists and pedestrians. Bikes are everywhere, it's wild to see how many bikes are locked up near train stations and city squares. Most of the bikes don't look to be of much value and several are locked up with very little security. I've known of people who take bikes that weren't properly locked up, use them to ride around on and then just dump them. I didn't see anyone sawing away at locks to steal bikes but I'm sure it happens.

Stadjer

If they had won the world cup and there were a half a million Danes getting Drunk on central square two female police officers would be enough to keep the order. Danes leave their babies in strollers outside stores and cafes, unattended.The surprising thing is that there's any bike theft at all.

Doug64

I believe that there are about 45,000 bike thefts a year in Copenhagen. Do a search to check that number.

Copenhagen is a nice place to ride, but IMO there are no big cities that are a "cycling paradise". However, the rest of Denmark is pretty darn nice.

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jfoobar

I'll be there in a week. I'll let you know. Alas, I will not have my bike.

Stadjer

I believe you, it's just a lot for such a low crime country. That's a thing with bikes, quite a few people consider at least the old ones excepted from ownership, like it's no real theft.

That's personal, I like city cyling much more than all that boring nature. Never cycled in Copenhagen but I like Amsterdam the most, not because it is cycling heaven, it isn't, but because it's cycling purgatory.

pandes

It looks like another city should follow the example of copenhagen

fietsbob

but you realize why Vestas Denmark has a large industry in wind powered generator manufacturing

https://www.vestas.com/#!

fietsbob

It's going to be Hot inland, its then the onshore breeze thru the river valley gets strong..

Witterings

Whilst we have some lovely places in the country to cycle so many places are better equipped for cycling in city's than the UK it seems ... have done Amsterdam and Copenhagen and was in Spain this week and they're have many more dedicated cycling lanes ... Spain actually was one of the best.

Cycling in Amsterdam is great but the rules of the road really aren't clear ..... my daughter following me on a green for cyclist crossing light nearly got seriously taken out by a moped at speed coming down the cycle / moped lane on the road we were crossing ... it's actually quite confusing until you realise how it really works and easy to think you have complete right of way when you only have partial right of way.

carlos danger

I'd say amsterdam is the paradise. you can also buy and smoke weed there legally, and that makes it about 100x better than copenhagen imo.
also berlin is a good place to ride bikes imo. when walking around/riding in amsterdam you have to assume everyone is stoned. because everyone is stoned. and most people are tourists.

Rollfast

The bike ride across the oceans is a buzzkill.

carlos danger

they have medicine for that when you arrive though.

Rollfast

I can't drink.