I can’t believe we were out of town for this! Looking forward to doing it next year.

I was there at the Tour de Nuit. It's really amazing to see how many bikes you can fit on a 3 lane roads vs how many cars. It really shows how space efficient and fun bikes are.

Culture isn't just the things we enthusiastically participate in. It ambiently exists in our day to day without us thinking about it. So yes, Copenhagen has bike culture. Yes, the soccer mom driving her depreciating Hyundai Elantra to work is participating in car culture (though not enthusiastically). Infrastructure greatly affects our culture!

I was also there. Sorry I didn’t get to meet you. The city recently activated a phone number to call when a véhicule is blocking a bike lane. They send an agent and ticket the driver. The fine is now up to $275 in certain parts of the city.

It's nice to see all the children taking part in the event.

In Portland the police arrested people at critical mass anytime someone "ran" a stop sign or red light and ultimately it got shut down because people didn't want to be arrested. Pedalpalooza and some other events have taken its place. For a lot of people a bike is like a pair of shoes and instead of having passion for it they'd just like to get it done safely and easily. It feels like infrastructure needs to be good enough that people with zero passion for cycling think it's safe and working well. Only then can a broader culture of people living in a place and spending time on bikes emerge naturally.

I never biked much when I lived in a smaller city in Ontario but after moving to Montreal last year I bike so much because the city makes it so easy to do so. Tour de L'Ile kicked my ass though

Culture follows form. Build for bikes and you will get a bike culture.

Hello, thanks for coming to Montreal. The word culture is used quite a bit in French but the culture of biking is really promoted by the city. Montrealers do like to get out and like to party. All the best

I ride my bike everyday in Montréal and I love it! ❤

3:10 This (cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam don't have a bike culture because people are simply choosing the most efficient way of getting from A to B) is key. It shows why good infrastructure is so important. Build it and they will come.

On your question at 5:40, I think my city (Cambridge, UK) is a perfect example. There's hardly any dedicated infrastructure, but there isn't really a need for it because cyclists overwhelmingly dominate the roads. I would say I prefer cycling there to cities with much better infrastructure like London. When I'm on the roads I feel safe and important as a cyclist because I'm cycling with dozens of others. When I lock my bike up in the street I dont have to worry about it because there are hundreds of other bikes around etc. It's also notable that nobody bats an eye at cycling to get to work or go to shops, whereas in other "better" cities people will still assume you cycle for health/money reasons. I think thats a pretty good indicator of the cultural attitude of a city towards cyclists

Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles. Safe protected bike lanes and trails are needed so adults and children can ride safely. Speak up for bicycles in your community. Bicycles make life and cities better. Ask your local transportation planner and elected officials to support more protected bike lanes and trails. Children should be riding a bicycle to school and not be driven in a minivan.

It takes a long time for a city to become a biking friendly one, if it is not already one. In Montreal, I'd say it took 10 years since the launch of Bixi. Part of the reason is that people have to change their habits, while infrastructure has to be built. The REV (separated urban bike lane) was the most recent bike lane that greatly facilitates North-South travel. Now, new residents who move in along this bikeway will second guess the idea of buying a car, and are more likely to try bike commuting. Now, with a warmer and shorter winter, Bixi will be offered for the first time all year round.

Love this video and actually regarding "pedestrian culture" I've heard a few times about Italy and Spain having walking culture. The whole evening walks people there take all the time and its literally because its the most meaninful way to get around and their cities are built for that mode to flourish. Great video highlighting how infrastracture is the main cause driving "culture"

I would consider myself a bike commuter since I've been commuting most of my life by bike. I don't think I'm part of real bike culture. I just ride for myself

Welcome to Montréal Tom, glad you enjoy it.

I I started campaigning for cycling in Montreal at the end of the 70s. There were very few of us at the time, a few dozen at best. We were, and are, convinced and we have had very good results. There's still much to do.

I live in Long Beach, CA and several times a year they close off sections of different neighborhoods to cars for Beach Streets where residents can ride their bikes freely and there is plenty of entertainment at each hub. Though you may not see as many people out riding bikes on a daily basis, you'll see thousands of all ages and levels come out for these events. The bike infrastructure is getting better in Long Beach but it can still be improved. The better lanes and paths are certainly widely used by many cyclists but imagine if they integrated it better throughout the city, I think more people would use it on a daily basis. As of now there are still too many areas where you need to share busy roads with cars. But I feel If you build it, they will come.

Funny quote I read in the book Copenhagenize by Mikael Colville-Anderson: “We all have a Vacuum and have learned how to use it. We don’t have a stable of Vacuums that we keep polished and oiled. We don’t dress up in vacuuming clothes or wave at other avid ‘vacuumists’ on the street. The vacuum cleaner is just an effective tool that makes our daily lives easier. Just like the bicycle.”

Vancouver had a "Bike The Night" event prior to 2020, that closed streets for a loop around False Creek and over Burrard Bridge (and was preceded by a small festival in the afternoon). It was great to see all manner of bikes and ages of cyclists out for a ride, lighting their bikes up and having a moving party, but the Montreal event looks substantially bigger. There are also some smaller bike raves, where someone has a sound system on a bike trailer or cargo bike, and usually does a cruise around the seawall, stopping for a bit at a few places along the way. I think a more important part of bike culture though is the things like visiting Kits Beach or Second Beach pools and seeing the bike racks packed, or the bike valet at events and popular destinations (like Granville Island) because there is demand for it and support from the city.

Bike culture IMO is when communities respect bike riding as a form of transportation ideally to the same extent as cars, public transportation and walking. For example, NYC has moderate and improving bike culture but the surrounding suburbs have almost none.

I'm thankful for people like you creating awareness and education. Please keep up the good work.

Imagine a country where such events are so normal, they happen every day, all day... That's bike culture!

I am a closet cyclist. You give me the courage to come out...Thanks!

Bike Culture to me is Myself alone at 2am in the industrial sector of Toronto curb hopping with snoop dogg in my headphones :D It's magical, no one around, curbs and manual pads for days!

Having moved to Montreal from Calgary, I barely cycle anymore cause transit here is so good. In Calgary I biked because it was an easy way to get around.

I think that when thinking about a "bike culture" in a city, the "quality" (rather than just quantity) is meaningful. In London (UK) there often used to be a bike-commuting culture which involved lots of lycra, high-vis and safety gear and took commuting as a kind of "road warrior" pursuit. And there were lots of cyclists jumping lights, and cycling inconsiderately/aggressively, with speed a goal. This culture (which I think has improved a lot) was/is not a positive thing, reinforcing ideas that cycling is a dangerous, high buy-in pursuit. It also meant that the identity that might come with using a bike to get from A to B was not an attractive one for many. Of course, there were material reasons in the city's infrastructure that contributed to the formation of that culture, and the improvement of that infrastructure (as well as the popularity of bike rentals) seems to have been a contributing factor in changing it for the better. But I can also see that great events like the one you visited in Montreal are probably also important in establishing a relaxed, inclusive culture of cycling, and changing what the act of travelling by bike means for many people in a city.

We have an Agri-Culture in the Netherlands when farmers gather on the Malieveld in The Hague. But usually we are just normal people who use a John Deer car on the fields, a bicycle to get around and the train for larger distance. There was a micro-mobility gathering recently in Amsterdam-Noord with a 'Funny Parade' but that was strictly limited to a short route, we can't have 'Happy, Happy, Happy' during rush hour in the center with all the people getting home after work on their bicycles.

Bienvenue à Montréal ! Tour de l'Ile isn't about infrastructure, it is about political will by a mayor. Streets need closed, police and others needs to be staffed for event etc. There are detours for the bus network due to street closures. It's now such a tradition that it would be hard for any mayor to block it. What it does is get people to ride their bikes for a far longer distance thant they thought they could do and realize going to local shops is very very easy, no brainer on a bike. But for actual infrastructure, a lot of it is the culture of the mayor. Montréal's current mayor Valérie Plante is very progressive. When you consider Toronto where some mayors (amd candidates for upcoming election) think bike lanes worsen traffic and bike lanes shoudl not exist on roads with shops (when statistics show cyclists more likely to stop to shop than someone on theri DodgeRAM going to their suburban home). Similarly, the current mayor of Paris (the France one, not the Ontario one) Anne Hidalgo has instilled a biking culture not in the popiulation but in city planners and Paris has made huge advances to maek itself cyclable. If you build it, they will come.

There is no "bike culture" around commuters in Copenhagen the same way there is no "car culture" around commuters in Houston, these are both "commuting culture". These are both cases where people are just choosing the easiest way to get around and don't really care about the method.

I was in Montreal just the other day! our hotel was off of the pedestrianized part of Saint-Dennis. It was amazing...

The only pushback I would give is that not all bike culture is "sporty" - at least not in the training/racing sense. Wheelie culture is a pretty huge thing down here in Houston (by no means a great city for bike infrastructure), but so is just general punk-rock-ish party riding. But I think it's worth observing that I - somebody whose bike is his primary mode of transport (I don't have a car) AND who quite enjoys recreational riding - don't feel like I am a part of any of the bike cultures here. To me, that has less to do with infrastructure and more to do with the fact that 99.9% of the time, I am riding alone. Culture and community are not the same thing, but I don't think you can have the former without the latter.

There is another comment explaining it pretty well allready. I also think that "culture" mostly is a word to describe far broader, far deeper engrained aspects, not of a person but of society. So a person does hobby work on is car for a few years before finding a new hobby is not car culture. But a person who is confused when you say you don't own a car is an indicator for car culture.

Pedestrian culture sounds pretty great

Oh nice, I was at Tour La Nuit this year too! I was there with a cohort that had biked from Boston to Montréal over 5 days as a fundraiser for the Boston Cyclists Union, which is an organization that does a lot of political advocacy to build better bike infrastructure in the greater Boston area. In my opinion, Boston has an energized and thriving bike culture, even though compared to Montréal, their bike infrastructure is terrible. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation -- is there bike culture in Boston because of the infrastructure improvements Boston has made in the last decade, or vice versa? I think it's impossible know, but I'm grateful that it's trending in the right direction. Vote in your local elections people, it makes a huge difference!

I've lived in several, quite different, cities in North America (San Diego, Anchorage, Toronto, and now Calgary). One thing they've all had in common: when thinking about a person on a bicycle, the vast majority of people think either "man in lycra going too fast, blocking car traffic, and blowing stop signs", "hipsters on their way to their bike polo game", or more recently "uber eats delivery person riding on the sidewalk"; and for good reason! Most of the time people in cars only see those types of people on bikes (or notice them anyway). These are the people who make "bike" a part of their personality a lot of times as well. The average person who uses a bicycle for transportation generally doesn't make it their personality. Might not even talk about it to friends a family. I feel like Mr. Rheault was spot on, and there needs to be a multi-pronged, "onmi-channel" approach to building a culture of using non-car forms of transportation, not just bikes (unintentional). In Calgary, I feel like a lot of the conversation takes place online, and the "bike culture" people are spread out and tribalized.

Tom - I think you've got this wrong. First you've got to clarify why you even mean by CULTURE. Certainly we don't use the word the same way when we say "American culture" as when we say "car culture." But as for your comment at 5:25 -- I ABSOLUTELY consider the "soccer mom" driving her kids all over town to be a participant in car culture. Whether she's enthusiastic about it or whether her participation is voluntary is another question. "Car culture" often refers to the expectation that we'll use a car to get anywhere, but more broadly it's the set of rules that comes with driving. It's knowing what a drive-through is or how many cup holders your minivan has. It's the feeling of not having that thing in your trunk because you've swapped cars with your spouse that day. It's the expectation that the built environment will reflect car use. "Bike culture" is the set of ideas that surround cycling. Can I get there from here? How can I do it safely? Where do I lock my bike? How do people treat me on the road and how do I react? What do I do when I pass another cyclist with a flat tire? And by the way, you don't have to consider yourself a cyclist to be one any more than a motorist would cease to be one simply based on whether s/he views her/himself as one. Of course a better cycling environment would encourage more people to bike. What we call this phenomenon is secondary.

Aling withthe perception of risk, is the perception of you need to be fit or you need an electric bike. Most of the people I know who cycle have an electric bike. After discovering your channel I decided to buy a used pedal powered bike. I'm 50+ and it's my first bime in 30 years. I just rode it across town and back on orotected back lanes and back street connectors withbike crossings at all the intersections. It was 😊. Bike culture is being part of a community and it's snowballing. Thank you for making it seem accessible.

5:41 I think Tokyo comes the closest to such a city, in that they don't have much dedicated bike infrastructure but lots and lots of people bike there (more so than Portland, which has more dedicated bike infrastructure and is more of a self-conscious bike city) because it's very dense and also inconvenient for cars because of lack of space. Residential streets are technically open to cars but they are discouraged by the narrowness of the streets from going too fast. There are also lots of train stations so people bike to the station and hop on the train. Basically, with Tokyo being convenient for transit and inconvenient for driving as well as being dense, bikes sort of accidentally fill the gap that isn't satisfied by walking or transit. Almost no one wears helmets there and on major roads with sidewalks, they ride on the sidewalk.

There are pockets of bike culture in Canada but it's terrible over here in the Maritimes . Halifax only has a couple of kilometers of bike lanes . Charlotte Town and Moncton Newbrunswick only have one bike lane and St Johns Newfoundland doesn't have any .A city counselor here in Halifax said anyone over fifty should not even be riding a bicycle. We have a long long way to go to be a bicycle - friendly over in this neck of the woods .

There were many poignant parallels presented here; thanks Tom. I happen to live in Canada's cycling mecca - Victoria. I would be thrilled to participate in such a meaningful community building event. I'm thinking the torch should be passed to MTL.

my city has literally no bike infrastructure at all but the local shop does group rides and overnighters which are a ton of fun and bring a lot of energy to our local scene

Great video Tom. It's made me think about organising an event in my small town here in the UK.

Great video, Tom. It's an interesting point. Generally when we talk about "bike culture" it's a positive thing - enthusiasts, or just the fact that people are happy to get around by bike and those that don't get around by bike don't think too negatively about those that do. Car culture on the other hand is generally framed as a negative thing, because it's focussing on the negative effects of car dominated cities. Like you say, it's not that people within that car dominated, "car culture" city love cars (though yes, some do, and my city just had its Motor Fest car show on the weekend...not my bag), it's just endemic that almost everybody drives almost all of the time. And the impacts aren't just that people feel they have to drive from A to B, but it's also how they vote, what they demand of their city officials (eg, "we don't need no bike lanes, bus lanes, light rail, heavy rail, we need MOAR ROADS"), but it's also down to little things that people do without even thinking. Like parking on footpaths (sidewalks), in bike lanes, or even just putting their bins out on the sidewalk instead of on the road. They don't want to "block traffic", but blocking their neighbour in a wheelchair from using the sidewalk, that's fine... it's death by a thousand cuts and makes pushing to prioritise investment in alternatives over car-centric approaches really difficult. But people don't think of themselves as part of car culture - it's like the Sixth Sense and dead people... just like people in Copenhagen don't think of themselves as part of bike culture. And similarly people don't think of their car use as a bad thing. It's just a thing everybody does. How can it be bad? And if you tell people that driving cars is bad and you should feel bad, they're not exactly going to thank you for "shaming" them. It's a lot like climate change and how ineffective it is to shame individuals for their actions when the problem is actually systemic. In Brisbane, which is like most Australian cities - big, sprawling, car centric, and with sporadic bike infrastructure that's mostly concentrated in the inner city or nice meandering recreational trails through parks and alongside creeks - there are the "sporty" bike cultures you talk about, road riding, mountain biking etc. Our Lord Mayor proudly declares his city administration is spending more on active transport this year than any council before - $300 million - which sounds really impressive until you consider it's mostly just one large inner city bridge across the river, and beyond that there's about 2 shared paths being constructed in the suburbs of a city of 2 million people. There's also a niche enthusiasm for urban cycling, e-bikes, cargo bikes. I'm part of a group that sort of encourages that called Space4Cycling Brisbane. Part of our culture is our annual event the Brisbane Bike Film Festival. This year we're hosting the Australian Premiere of the documentary "The Engine Inside". We're opening the event with a "Style over Speed" ride from the city centre to the theatre - about a 5km ride where people come dressed up for the glamour of the destination. But beyond that, what I see riding my bike places is a lot of other people who ride their bikes places. Lots of individuals. They happily go about their business from A to B, make do with whatever sporadic infrastructure is there, don't complain much, and ride alone or just with their families. To them they probably don't see it as a culture, it's just them, they're an individual. They disappear in the morass of car traffic and political rhetoric about "busting congestion". But they exist. If only they could speak up and be counted. Then maybe we might start eroding car culture.

So cool! You came to my city for Tour de L’île!

Where i live there´s a group that organizes musicaliced rides at night. They use recycled old tricycles and cargo bikes with huge speakers and djs that change every night. It's like an event and protest at the same time, and even gets the aproval of drivers, wich sometimes evean try tu follow with their horns (bit funny in a satirical way). Btw, Im from Montevideo, Uruguay. Here there are a few, spaced out, cycle ways; and they mostly serve as a weekend activity.

Walking, running, bicycles, escooters, green open spaces, electric buses and trams are all parts of a good transportation system

Daang, In philly the last time I saw something like this with so many bike riders was a memorial ride after like 3 people got run over by cars and died all within a week.

Hey I was there as well! It’s such a nice event, I look forward to it every year.

Another great video, Tom. Whether a culture forms/exists is (probably?) determined mainly by whether biking -- planning, doing, shopping, and sharing -- leads to other things. Do people meet up because of bikes? Do they talk about things that they wouldn't otherwise because of bicycles (e.g., do they talk about the things you talk about on this channel?) and do they organize and share parts of their life because there are others around that are interested in and want to share and organize aspects of their lives that are tied to bicycle use? These are the questions that frame what I sense as a bicycle culture. It's probably like that old saying about pornography: you know it when you see it :)

You can’t have ‘bike culture’ without giving people the infrastructure to be able to participate in ‘bike culture’.

I was there with my kids! I live two streets from that spot in the intro! Hope you enjoyed our city!

It is a cocky thing to say that "we in Copenhagen do not have a cycling culture" as if we do not even think about it and just enjoy life while you all suffer in this culture war between cars and bikes. But technically Copenhagen does have a cycling culture just like Americans have car culture. You can make it hot war or cold war but these are cultures. What Copenhagen does not have is a cycling movement which would actively promote cycling and without which councils would barely move a finger because most politicians feel the need to drive in a caste system of car culture. People can enjoy life and choose any transport mode they like because Copenhagen takes into account every transport mode.

This was a fascinating Video and delightful to watch!

Also the closest thing I ever experienced to a bike party type event was in Chico, CA in the 1980s. We had a college club and we'd get together on a Saturday and ride around to afternoon kegger parties. No hassles from the cops and good vibes. Looking back, that was one of the coolest events we ever did up there for socializing and recreation. Nothing remotely like that since then, I'm sad to have to say. Makes me miss being young too.

I was there. Great event! Saw two hard crashes tho, so yeah be careful when riding in groups haha

Awesome Video!!!! That argument is absolutely amazing.

Despite how somewhat car-centric South Florida (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro) there is a fairly large bike culture. You expect to see marathons, protests, guides; books, and people commuting on bikes to buy groceries or to work. But there isn't a lot of two-way pavement made for bicyclists although there are multiuse trails. I think boulevards should have protective bike lanes rather than leaving them with no protection. Also, Urban and Hybrids should get the credit they deserve.

That looked like a lot of fun.....keep on cycling, good luck from Amsterdam.....!!

Heya Tom. Super video and thought provoking content again! INFRASTRUCTURE, INFRASTRUCTURE, INFRASTRUCTURE!!! Build SAFE infrastructure and people will use it because it is the most safe and convenient/fun way to get around. Case in point: Toronto's Bloor Street. After 40 years, they finally put in separated bike lanes and voila people are USING THEM, for transportation and shopping. That section of Toronto now has a 'bike culture '! Great points about 'pedestrian culture '! New York 'suddenly developed 'pedestrian culture ' when Jeanette Sadik-Kahn instituted pedestrian only/ car free zones. It all boils down to "what kind of a city do we want to live/work/play in. Thanks for this!

The infrastructure helps build the culture which helps the infrastructure which helps the culture which helps the infrastructure which helps the culture, and so on 😊

I love riding my bike to work but here in Nigeria bike culture is very bad. People believe it's for poor people and like driving cars. Well for me cycling is the best. I love it.

Let's remember that bike or cycling culture dates back to the 19th century and it gave lower income people freedom and the chance to travel much further. Best bit, there were no cars!

The bay area has shifted from hostile "critical mass" to inclusive "bike party", but even here, motorists will deliberately endanger and antagonize cyclists in these kind of events. SF needs a bike party on the scale of the SF marathon.

Bike lanes in many cities and towns in Northern Colorado are dangerous afterthoughts, but most of these towns and cities have decent volumes of ordinary people using bicycles to go places. There is a decent amount of demand, but for accessibility and natural density (versus car suburb type density issues, which are not natural), automobiles are the only thing flexible and weathersafe enough to be reliable transport for at least a few months out of the year. The denser cities could definitely stand to improve on this, though.

There's no car culture in the middle of the Amazon. There's no ice hockey culture in Australia, because there's little to no ice. Of course there isn't if there isn't any infrastructure!!!!! It's so silly when people say, there's no one riding bikes so we don't need bike lanes. Most places they're put, people end up cycling. You would never say that about a park. Oh there's no need for a park because no one is currently using the road to play with their kids.

Portland, Oregon is exactly this. Great bike culture, but severely lacking infrastructure based on its reputation

Bienvenue à Montréal mon cher!

Love the video!!

I think the real test is when a bicycle path exists long enough that it undergoes 3 or more repayments and undergoes improvements. It is all about access. Putting lanes on downtown streets is not the best solution and in Montreal's case often competes with public transit.

We could do worse than to adopt MTB culture. It's pretty chill, open, and accepting. On another note, Montreal is pretty good for bikes but not mountain bikes. They have the opportunity to have some good MTB spots but are strangely resistant. If you're a mountain biker you're stuck driving for an hour to get to trails or riding illegal trails.

Great enthusiasm!

I immediately recognized that this is Montreal from your thumbnail! Hope you enjoyed it :D

You should come for the ADFC Sternfahrt in Berlin. The last one was 3 weeks ago, but next year ther is another one. There are nearly 50000 participants and a part of the toure go over a highway.

The term "culture" gets tossed around very lazily because people don't know any better way to describe tendencies, trends, and preferences about a particular set of related activities. I have organized a July 4th bike parade in my 100-house suburban neighborhood in the US. I'm expecting 30 or so riders. Not much, but it's a start.

We have to build the future we want to see, be the change you want to see in the world ❤

As an ex-Montrealer, I miss the Tour-de l'ile each year. Must get back in 2024

It seems to me that a culture has to appear and grow some before any local/national authorities take notice and provide ‘infrastructure’. I think ‘Skateboarding’ is a good example… a decidedly niche activity that grew into a strongly identifiable culture before towns found themselves having to build & maintain skateparks etc…

Imagine if all those people in the last shot were attending a pickup and SUV party instead!

If you build it they will come is incredibly apt for *GOOD* cycling infrastructure.

would have been soooo interesting to hear responses from attendees at the event in MTL whether "this is bike culture" or "this is just part of how i live (ie is this just culture)"? Or maybe, do you cycle for anything other than exercise? And how frequently? And perhaps answers leaning to latter of first question would suggest people, on average, WANT to cycle for something other than exercise. This may not be your type of video but I think it would be super enlightening for me, for lots of other viewers, and for policy makers....part of the spark to build more infra & get more people riding because they can see so many other "cyclists" are just like them.

I live in Albania. This small country located in North of Greece and East of Italy, was once ruled by a dictatorship regime. there were very very VERY few cars, state owned, and bikes were a luxury. When the regime fell in 1991, people still used bikes because there was widespread poverty. During the years 2000-2020, because of poor road infrastructure and problems with law and order, car ownership soared beyond logic where almost every family would at some point own a car, if not two (used ones). So, the bike culture up to year 2015 almost disappeared. However, after the introduction of bike lanes recently (we only have 52 km of bike lanes in a very large city) you can definitely tell with a naked eye that the bike culture is BACK. The torch bearers are the older generation of men( my father, 63, is an avid biker) but you can see that younger generations are embracing the trend (mainly for leisure time cycling). The city center has some very decently wide bike lanes and there is actually one (almost) uninterrupted lane (separated from the street), going from the city center to the very remote neighborhood, some 25 minutes away from it. I think it's all about awareness. iF the city is relatively small, there is no reason why one should not opt for a bike (seasonally at least) to ride around town (or walk) for minor distances. Yet, i think that finances and budget are a real factor that may boost bike culture. Cities where there is only one commercial and administrative center (like Tirana) are perfect for cycling. I think that one very efficiently own a car to drive only in long distances and during bad weather, while using the bike for the shorter distances. I also believe that cycling should be taught in elementary schools but this is only a personal opinion. I congratulate you on your channel and your endeavor, which is very helpful, reasonable and positive minded.

is wanting to get from point A to point B faster without the frustration of being stuck in traffic and saving a boatload of money from buying and maintaining cars a culture?

well said!!!

Thanks!

Is there any budget friendly single speed bikes you would recommend that is not a fixed gear? It’s hard to find one cuz most single speed bikes I find are fixed gears

To address one of the questions you ask, I think that "bike culture" can seemingly drag along, then expand in increments from small improvements with the layouts. The new bike shop owner seems to think that there's great bike culture here in Prescott Valley, AZ, while for myself, I have a lesser impression after living here for ten years. The intersections for what's considered the two bike paths or mult-use paths all have no right of ways for the bikes, even with blind spots, which is insane, yet, we have some new blacktop now in places and new sections have been built in the last few years. There is utilitarian and workout/sport biking here, yet due to the dangers on the main roads north and south, road biking is practically non-existent; Too dangerous with the car speeds and traffic. As for me, I cross between some nearby dirt trail riding, utilitarian riding for shopping with a backpack, and workout rides, all without a helmet, but with a cap for the sun. It's what there is here that's reasonably safe, so that's what I do.

Love the point of how just because many people drive to get around in NA doesnt mean that theyre involved in car culture. Build infrastructure and the bikes will show out.

Thanks for that piece: it's great!

Bike culture in indonesia is cycling over the weekend only. Every sunday we have this one kind of event named car free day.

I have no problem with reducing parking and making bike lanes but I hated the « tour la nuit » never again driving that particular day, going back from work on Saturday afternoon. I couldn’t go from north to south except for taking highway. I just parked my car and walked home. Anyways, I live in downtown Montreal, take my car if it’s convenient, faster, if there is a parking space where I want to go. Sometimes I miscalculate it but usually I never get stuck. If the street parking become more and more strict, I will have to reconsider keeping a car. in Montreal, on weekend and rush hours, it’s usually faster by metro within Montreal anyways.

I'd say bike culture is a bottoms up approach and bike infrastructure is a top down approach. Los Angeles could become the Amsterdam of the US if they had the infrastructure with its weather, mostly flat, etc., but people always talk about our car culture and all that. I don't think there's an easy way to go about improving biking without a top down approach of infrastructure. Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, on the other hand definitely has a bike culture (along with most beach cities around here like Santa Monica). It's infrastructure is a bit better but not much than LA, but being by the beach it's common for people to have beach cruises and take relaxing rides down the beach or at the park, and that's bled into it being more common to bike for more day to day purposes as well. Long Beach has definitely been improving their bike infrastructure because of the bottom up approach: it being by the beach makes it a way more pedestrian friendly area that encourages things besides car regardless of the infrastructure.

Lincoln, NE has pretty terrible bike infrastructure but routinely places in the top place or top 3-5 of national distance rankings of city cycling competition. There a couple nice trails but they've only recently built out wide sidewalks (directly next to 45 mph roads...yuck) to call MUPs and have next to no bike lanes (brand new, just a handful in the exterior portions of downtown. I rode my bike a lot as a teen there to my babysitting job, to drivers ed, etc. But I'd basically never see anyone else on a bike. I was back recently and I did see some cyclists out on those 45 mph-adjacent MUPs and there are a few groups starting up bike packing trips, but its definitely an uphill climb compared to Seattle, where there are a still a handful of places that don't have linked bike lanes due to tricky geography and businesses fighting street parking losses, but they're at least in the works. But you can mostly get any where by bike lane or MUP for >90% of the trip. (And painted bike lanes and thankfully quickly being replaced with separated even if it's slow to get permanent instead of tubular.

I hope that whole world will have strong bike culture

I'd say just swing a leg over a bicycle and start pushing on the pedals and create your own bike culture! I will do most everything on my bicycle, BICYCLES! My friends went to the Beach at Santa Cruz I looked at the Santa Cruz mountains and said I'll meet you guys there, they drove and I rode my bicycle round over the Santa Cruz Mountains, of course they thought I was nuts. Riding a bicycle is a nice way to clear my mind, it's just me, myself and my bicycle, as some one has told me, you don't have to feed it, just oil the chain, fill up the tires and go! You don't have to fight with it, of course you'll have a good fight with it when trying to pedal over some mountains and you don't have to entertain it, it'll be entertaining you. The bike parties in San Jose will be happening once a month and they will always end up as night rides and there will be food trucks in tow, so when I guess the lead groups decides to pull over to take a break in a large parking that's when everybody else will stop as well the food trucks will open shop, other vendors will open up as well selling bicycle related stuff, the boom boxes will break out with cyclist parting all over the place, then we'll pack up like a bunch of Nomads only to hit the pavement once again. BTW these rides are not sanctioned by the city of San Jose, if anyone decides to go to SJ to join the ride just make sure that you have lights wear a pot and for sure you'll be needing your bicycle as well. Ride on!

Belgian here. Yes. Yes it totally can. An entire country can for that matter.

Omg! So many people biking at the same time in North America?!

there is a perception of risk, and it can be risky, so Authorities need we work on reducing the risks as contact with a vehicle is unfortunately very one sided.

Wow, even bike events can get loud, not rowdy, but loud.