Help me compare the bike culture of cities all over the world

This channel is about to hit 100,000 subscribers (hopefully 🎉), and to mark the occasion, I thought it would be fun to do something I've been thinking about for a long time: Explore the culture of cycling in different cities. To do that, I need your help. And there are prizes!
Here's how you can participate.
Go to a public location in your city that is busy with bikes. Record a video for about 20 minutes capturing cyclists passing by. Go through the video and tally up what you see. Then, fill out the form below and submit it. I'll crunch the numbers and share them back with you in a future video.
Here's the submission form: forms.gle/XxRcC4McuKBMkjKV6
If you want it, here's a simple tally sheet to help you collect the data (you'll have to download your own version). If you're really fast with your tallies, you may be able to just observe and tally on the street, but I couldn't do it without the video. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Shout-out to Road.cc for inspiring this idea. They did something similar in London a few months ago and it's a great idea: road.cc/content/feature/londo...
Prizes! Everybody who submits is eligible for a draw for $1,000 worth of bike bags and panniers from our amazing sponsor Two Wheel Gear.
This is not scientific, but it might give us an interesting snapshot highlighting the similarities and differences in the bike culture of our cities.
For privacy reasons, I will share with the audience only aggregated data.
Thanks everyone for participating!
0:00 Introduction and explanation
2:02 Prizes
#cycling #bike #commuting
Big thanks to Two Wheel Gear for being Shifter’s bag and pannier sponsor. Not only are their products great, but they are also amazing people who care deeply about urban cycling. They support me, so please support them: www.twowheelgear.com/
Buy my book Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling: rmbooks.com/book/frostbike/
I don’t really do proper product reviews, but here are some products that I’ve tried on this channel that I like. (Of course you don’t need anything fancy to ride a bike, other than a bike, but these are Amazon affiliate links, and I get paid a small commission if you buy them 😉)
• Here's the winter bike I'm riding these days: bit.ly/2PhqUqF
• Cliq Smart Bike Light (nice rear brake light): amzn.to/39lfqwo
• RedShift Acrlight Smart LED Pedals (clever lights for your pedals): amzn.to/3NL1Npg
• Aftershokz Titanium bone-conducting headphones (if you want to listen while you ride): amzn.to/3e9Tofa
• JBL CLip 4 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker (for your party-pace group rides): amzn.to/3pcMLPm
• Crane Bicycle Bell (the ding is sublime): amzn.to/3OwfZCu
• Ibex Merino Wool clothing (good for summer and winter): bit.ly/3xXkbEd
• Bicycle Cargo Net (why did it take so long for me to buy one of these?): amzn.to/31s1Ovu
• Vaude Cover II Rain Poncho (for higher-end, try Cleverhood or People’s Poncho): amzn.to/3jLkift
• Kryptonite U-Lock (your bike is going to get stolen eventually, sigh, but at least make it hard): amzn.to/3tPWcGi
• Peak Design phone case (the one I use, paired with the Peak Design phone mount): amzn.to/3HGM0FU
Follow me!
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Threads: www.threads.net/@tombabin (@[e-mail])
TikTok: / tom_babin

[@Shifter_Cycling]

If you're looking for the form and hate to read descriptions, it's here: forms.gle/XxRcC4McuKBMkjKV6

[@danill4381]

I got flipped off by 3 different motorists while riding my bike home from school today.

[@tconnolly9820]

Is there a minimum size for a "city"? For example, is a 30,000 population town too small? Which would be my nearest larger town.

[@esgee3829]

timeframe by which you want responses in the form?

[@thierrytorres4842]

If you could give us a deadline that would be great.

[@AssBlasster]

@@thierrytorres4842He said three weeks somewhere below, so maybe only a few days left

[@michaelre7556]

Can't wait for you to hit 100,000 subs. You deserve it.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you! It truly does boggle my mind a bit.

[@georgekarnezis4311]

I genuinely have no clue where the most popular cycle route in my city is.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Any spot will do.

[@Murillos1]

About time to go outside and find out😏...

[@drill_fiend1097]

You might want to check the heatmaps from strava.

[@LucidFL]

I genuinely have no clue if a cycle route exists in my county

[@donntrotter]

Hard same. Bike culture in Dallas is hot garbage for some reason.

[@Deckzwabber]

I just rode through one of my city's busiest crossings at 4:30 pm on a lovely 22⁰C day. Yes: there were Dutch bikes, cargo bikes, mountain bikes, road bikes. People with panniers, with baskets and people with backpacks. One or two wheeled suitcases dragged along too. There were people in lycra, people in jeans, people in shorts and flip-flops, women in dresses, men in business suits. There were children and elderly, even a few brave exchange students. But this wasn't half an hour, this was about a minute of 4-way-green cycling madness. But bragging aside. This is a great initiative and I hope I can make a contribution to it. Quite probably it will help me adjust my perception to actual reality.

[@Chrisz0rrr0]

Herebrug/Stationsweg? 😊

[@L30n4rdo6]

I live in Bogota, Colombia where there are more than 600k of segregated bike lanes or "ciclorutas" as we called them. The vast majority of bike commuters ride MTBs and there is a trend of fixed gear commuters. I personally ride a 26" MTB fully equiped for urban cycling (fenders, lock chains, lights and so on).

[@thelegend2776]

I bike commute in Buenos Aires, and I'm totally gonna do this! This idea is great

[@illiniEE]

Great timing, I look at all the bikes going by while I have my morning coffee just south of Place Saint Georges on Rue Notre Dame de Lorette in the 9th in Paris. It is an interesting mix of city/private rentals, lots of eBikes, Bromptons, etc. Now I will have an excuse to do a real count.

[@beardannyboy]

The culture of my city is car culture. Period. I'll see hundreds of cars over the course of my typical journey, and less than 10 bikes.

[@Josukegaming]

This is a wonderful idea! Love these kinds of collaborative videos, cant wait to submit my part

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you!

[@CloverMind]

I'd love to participate in this! This will help me to learn more accurately about where my city stands in terms of having a bike culture (honestly I'm not exactly about this, I'm about health culture, people walking/biking/running whatever gets us going that's not about sitting in traffic occupying 1 out of a 5 seater vehicle burning fuel). But I recognize that biking is a fun activity and is a big part of a health culture.

[@LunarArsonist]

I live in a "bro you're actually risking your life to bike here?" city

[@vasheed]

In Pittsburgh I usually either see ebikes or regular beater bikes that no one would bother stealing. You will see quite a few bikes downtown. In the surrounding outer Pittsburgh area I don't see that many people riding bikes. It's hilly with little bike infrastructure. I ride around in that area on my cargo ebike with a trailer. Once in a while I see someone else on an ebike and also a regular bike being pushed uphill. I never found regular bikes very practical around my area for that reason.

[@statelyelms]

Ooh, can't wait for this! I think I know just the place too.. there's a pretty steep intersection off of the pedestrian bridge that connects the bridge (a converted rail bridge), our south riverfront trail and the trail that heads to the universities' campus/southeastern third of town. It's pretty darned busy. Just gotta think of the best angle.. that area has a lot of really nice views. There's a riverfront park and art museum down the road on the right, a beautiful legislature and gothic revival church on the left, the good ol rail-converted-pedestrian bridge, the river.. the angle will definitely be the hardest part. Just have to wait until this hurricane comes through, of course. It's been too wet for enjoyable biking lately.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Please survive the hurricane and then, if everything is safe, do this. Thank you!

[@PeanutBuddha]

I just moved from Eugene OR to Madison WI. I would have loved to do this in both cities in different seasons Eugene is MTB's galore and Madison is full of roadies

[@statelyelms]

Quick question Shifter, what is the deadline for entering? My city has been going through a real wet spell so there are fewer bikers lately (and we're about to have Lee here too) so I'd like to wait for it to get nicer out, so it's more representative of our city.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I'll probably collect entries for about three weeks.

[@statelyelms]

​@@Shifter_Cyclingperfect. Thank you!

[@statelyelms]

Recording now and hoping I don't look super weird.. but if anyone asks, I've got a cool reason. Also hoping the 5pm timing I got will give me some good commuter numbers. Fredericton represent!

[@kellinbonilla3507]

Really cool idea!! And congrats on the upcoming milestone!! I just subscribed a few months ago, found you through watching NotJustBikes and love your content. I have question for you, if you have a minute..... I live in Bellingham WA USA, just south of the Canadian border on the coast. Our bicycle culture here is a weird one, to be honest. We have okay commuting infrastructure for an American city of this size (could be WAYYYY better) but we have a massive mountain biking community. I have mixed feelings about this because so many of the "mountain biking bros" have massive rigs (hyped up trucks, sprinter vans, etc) that they drive their bikes up to the mountain on. But plus side is that it does bring a more bike-conscious attitude to town. Hearing a convo about biking at your local is actually pretty normal! Question: when you say busiest bike place, do you mean for commuting? Recreation? Mix of the two? Thanks for all your work on this channel! It really has gotten me engaged and interested in starting those hard infrastructure questions with people in my community.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Your city doesn't sound all that much different than mine! I'm thinking more about urban cycling, so my mind was on commuting and transportation, but if the culture of your city is more recreational, let's capture that too. These are the nuances I'd like to explore. Thank you!

[@disklamer]

Nice idea, here we go for a medium sized city close to Amsterdam and not very different bike-culture wise. Handily I live on the second busiest intersection, with really mostly locals coming through. -100% of people on bicycles are of all ages between 3 and 80 give or take -Most are Dutch bikes. A decent percentage have advanced features like electric motors, hub gears, disc brakes etc. Then there are citybikes trackingbikes mountainbikes racingbikes tourbikes trackbikes fixies speedbikes custom bikes transport bikes cargobikes trikes escooters fatbikes ratbikes recycled bikes and stepscooters, but no sane person rides a BMX. -Nobody wears special clothing. Some kids wear helmets. The people in spandex, clipshoes and helmets are outside the city going really fast on country roads. You can see people in shorts and flipflops, or in a jellaba, in worker clothes or in a suit, but most of us all wear whatever we feel like anyway, which is usually casual. -Nobody goes very fast, or very far, but we make many short trips, or an itinerary around town, often no more than 5 km in all. Our cities are compact. -There are a lot of delivery bikes of every shape and size, bringing food, packages etc., they can be regular, ebikes, cargobikes and big powered boxstyle transporters. -There is an accident, near-miss, wipeout or crash at least every other day. In ten years I have seen hundreds of those. Only rarely was an ambulance needed, only once a person needed to be taken to the hospital, very very few of the injuries were ever permanent, if so they were likely small (not like losing a leg) -To my knowledge (and that of any neighbours) there has never been a fatal incident. -Many motorscooters also pass by, with twice the number of accidents and minor injuries. -We ride a bikes from an early age, you learn to stay upright, balance, avoid problems, recover, anticipate, control the bike or ditch it when you have to. The average skill level of everybody is quite high, -People use bikes for literally everything, commuting, going to school, shopping, chores, moving stuff around, just cruising, visiting places. -There are many separate bike lanes, painted bike lanes, slow roads, and the entire inner city is essentially bike friendly. There is always a possibility to get to your destination by bike, like parallel bridges where there is a highway. There are bike garages here and there, bike racks on many locations. -Cycling infrastructure is generally integrate din all public infrastructure, example a bridge is built with cyclepaths laid out already, Not always perfect but hey. -Foreigners struggle, no matter how much experience they have. The traffic can be chaotic, but everybody does watch out for pedestrians and cyclists. The penalties for hitting someone are meaningful and nobody wants any of that, even aside form the moral aspect. We all ride bikes, so that could be you, your mom, your neighbour...

[@wnv-RawRow]

Here in Los Angeles our LA river has miles of bike lanes. Some protected habitats has nearby bike lanes. Even a dedicated bike lane from North Hollywood to Burbank city. It's working on including more bike lanes. We LA critical mass. Cyclavia which closes our streets completely from cars to enjoy different parts of our beautiful City. Not to mention smaller bike rides like trash panda cycling bringing ghost bike awareness and nightowls etc. I love it here in Los Angeles.

[@erikolsen6269]

i live in Oslo, an contrary to what some youtubers claim, its a get-run.over-by.lorry-city(or truck or bus:)) barely any isolated paths, you ride right alongside the traffic on the not major roads

[@amandajane8227]

I live in suburban melbourne, aus. It is only a recreational cyclist city in the suburbs. The bike paths are safe and enjoyable to use but they don't link safely with town centres or shopping centres. To get from the paths to the places you might want to go to safely you need to ride on the footpath. Luckily in my area it is legal to ride on the footpath but not in all areas. I am not sure where I would go to record cyclists, maybe sit in the park nearest the town centre and record.

[@austin.....]

I'm not really interested in prizes or competing or anything like that, but I do hope you get to check out Fort Collins, Colorado some day. They do the Tour de Fat there and have a massive bike culture. You wont catch me driving and filming there though. Just have to take my word for it.

[@MancAlB]

This is a great idea and greetings from sunny Manchester, England! The biking community here is really a tale of two cities, in the city centre and around the university in particular the bike infrastructure is great, including floating bus stops and separated bike lanes, even extending out west and east to the twin football clubs of Manchester United and to Manchester City. However stray from these routes and onto the less trodded roads it’s basically mad max, with basic bike lanes even disappearing.

[@user-fz6ff3ud5o]

I live, in Chelmsford, essex, England. I have a hybrid bike which I intend to use for commuting, it is a normal hybrid bike with gears and stuff but I dont regurarly commute, as I dont need to, I usually go around town for exercise and mainly to clear my head. But in our town/city there are barely any bike lanes on the main roads and there are cycle/walk routes that dont touch the main road and are like small winding shortcuts to main areas in the town, like the town centre, shopping centres, gyms etc. The bike lanes are very overgrown with nature, even though it is very popular and LOTS of people commute through there. it is very thin and sometime I have a little fear of my bike falling of the little ledge on the side of the path. This route is effecient but not well taken care of. So all I can say is that bikes are considred in the town but not an active thing. I hope this is useful for your comparisions, please reach out to me if you need more information I am happy to help and love your channel, congrats on almost reaching 100,000 subscribers.

[@mikhaildavidenko3841]

Nice Bike!

[@bprith]

On the contrary! Thanks to you for building up this community. I'll try to do as you suggest. Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Please do Buenos Aires. It would be amazing to include it!

[@bbernie]

Just submitted a form for my city, Bogotá. Very excited to see the results of other cities in the coming weeks. Cheers!

[@dagitab6867]

this is a very beautiful initiative! there's no other way to study bike culture other than through ethnographical approaches! I hope to contribute my city's data before the deadline closes haha!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you!

[@NYCCEJ]

What a wonderful project proposal, yes I will participate. You have such a great channel and certainly will reach 100k.

[@rogerhart612]

I love your channel. Informative and entertaining at the same time. Congratulations and keep it coming.

[@dhanyrafael]

I already did this in the past: Bucharest, Romania has the following stats from my 13 years of riding in this capital city: -90% are men wearing casual clothes, the few ones with lycra have road bikes and ride outside the capital city -70% use cheap mountain bikes from Decathlon and China, the rest use foldable bikes, city bikes, very few use some fixies and fat / sand bikes (e-bikes are starting to appear) -only a few kilometers of bike lanes, only one separated by concrete, so we share the roads with dangerous cars -no respect for us, cyclists, as we are considered parasites using but not paying for infrastructure like drivers do through taxes -city hall doesn't care about cycling, it builds more and more roads for cars and more lanes (Bucharest is top 10 in traffic jams globally, after Mexico City, Jakarta, Mumbai, etc) Conclusion: Romania sucks in pretty much everything, not only cycling. :)) Romania is a banana country. :)) But GOD sent me here in this hell, what can I do?! I wanted to be born in Denmark, Holland and other cycling friendly countries.

[@PhoenixHen]

exactly!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

This is what I'm looking for. But on the form😉 forms.gle/XxRcC4McuKBMkjKV6

[@manu.yt25]

Cool, just did it for Arad by the way, will be cool to have some Romanian data. Not everything is lost tho even if things are not moving currently, at one point western Europe was also very car addicted and nothing was done to push for more bike use and now just look how Paris has transformed and many cities seems to go toward a similar path. But yeah Romania doesn't have to look so far for inspiration, Hungary (which I biked a lot being very close to it) is a loooot more bike friendly then Romania already and they build a lot of bike infrastructure, not everything is good for sure but they have a better political willingness to change things than in Romania. But yeah do the exercice like Shifter told, it's actually interesting, by checking a 20 minute video I saw way more things than I what I usually see myself riding on those bike paths.

[@kovacsgyorgy5043]

I am legally obligated to say that the situation in Cluj is much better than in Bucharest when it comes to cycling :P

[@manu.yt25]

@@kovacsgyorgy5043 mehhhh been biking in Cluj and yeah it's a bit better but not by much, when you bike in Budapest, Wien or even in Germany it's like a whole other world... I found Cluj to really not put a lot of efforts on the bike infrastructure, even Arad isn't that bad. For example mixing bikes and busses on high traffic avenues is really an awful idea.

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Congrats on the looming 100,000! Happy to be part of them. Your channel inspired mine alongside NJB and Altis's! I'll tally the busiest intersection in Paris (and France I suppose) Rivoli/Sebastopol!

[@user-nh8dx9tx8l]

I'm really enjoying this as a fun project. Got a recording as I'm sitting here tallying everyone up. A few outlying categories that would be good to iron out if you ever decide to do this again: tandem bikes, and children in bike trailers. For tandems, I considered each rider separately and on their own bike, and based the bike category on how curly their handlebars are. When it comes to kids in trailers, I considered a kid a rider (instead of cargo), but left the bike category empty

[@lynnmissen7371]

I have really enjoyed your channel as you are kind and questioning and curious not to critical and rah rah so well done i live in a country town in Australia so can’t help with the city thing but our community has always had a cycling culture as we have a velodrome we used to. Have a cycling carnival but that has fallen away but the club is strong and they road race a lot around the area. The other biking culture that we have is e-bikes as we have a amazing rail trail that is maybe over 100ks might be shorter so we have alot of people riding the trail all the time good luck and well done

[@cumpootuhruser9355]

I've noticed my city has multiple separate bike cultures that exist in parallel. You can see different bike cultures depending on where you are relative to Central, the city's main stroad; and how much income your neighborhood has. The lower-income neighborhoods around Central seem to have lots of BMX bikes and whatever the rider could find for cheap (often pulled out of the trash). The neighborhoods around the university have a lot more commuter-style setups, often department store bikes. The co-op I work at gets a lot of these bikes because the people who ride them usually can't afford to pay for parts and maintenance. I've also noticed these people are far more likely to ride on the sidewalk... Probably because they haven't had access to education around cycling in traffic; and probably it has something to do with health insurance, too. People in this city seem to prefer mountain bikes even for riding on the road. Probably a symptom of our crumbling infrastructure and our sidewalks that feel somewhere between a BMX park and an MTB trail. A lot of people insist on suspension even for riding styles that don't need it. Once you get to the sharrows and painted bike gutters you start seeing more bikes that look like they're actually worth something... Refer to my previous comment regarding cycling in traffic and health insurance. The bike lanes are where you'll find most of the people who've invested in their bike; such as adding panniers, framebags, and the like. At least that's my experience. I will say, I think it'd be hard to convey this into a Google Form. I wonder if other cities have a similarly nuanced bike culture that many people simply don't notice. Edit: I discussed this with a friend and we've actually come up with at least 5 categories of cyclists in my city: commuter (Central), commuter (College), Sport Rodie (Northerner), Recreational Trail Rider (Bosque), and Drive to Mountains MTB. I personally think there's a 6th category, though we disagree on whether it deserves to be a separate category.

[@maggiewaddoups]

I will be participating by tallying this Friday (Sep 22) at 4pm. I also have sent your video to some of the bike/walk city advocacy groups in my region and reposted on FB and LI. I hope we get some interesting results!

[@pbilk]

I wish I saw this when it came out. It's colder here now so I the numbers may be less compared to last week.

[@wsams]

Here in PDX we have it all, but depending on where I film I get different vibes. If I do this can I submit from multiple neighborhoods? Also, different times of day have different needs. For example if you film me at 7AM I'm decked out ebiking to work, but on the weekends cruising Dutch style. Love the idea.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Yes, totally! The more measurements for a city the more accurate it will be

[@steemlenn8797]

My little town in Germany has almost no bike riders. One it's the size, second it's (for historic preservation reasons) cobblestones everywhere. The only people on bikes are children and old mostly men hauling groceries from the side with the shops to the side without them (along the only bike bath we have, where the train once ran).

[@ShortVersion1]

Actually very surprised how many weren't wearing helmets. Also, I rode in on an Ecargo but didn't record that, and also if I'd had a 360 cam, probably would've seen 30% more bikes, including at least 1 recumbent. I set up right next to a bike "counting" sign by the bike-lane, it was already over 450 when I showed up at 4pm. We have an extensive trail network here, which I almost always use. I was under the impression I'd see way more Cyclists in lycra, over 50, and wearing full gear. Apparently that's not the case next to the CSU trial gardens and art center. In our neighborhood, there are WAY more Ebikes, Ecargo, and bizzaro bikes (at least two that you ride standing up like an elliptical LOL) maybe it's the wealthy white retiree demo. My biggest takeaway was how diverse the bike scenes are in town, since I didn't record what I was expecting at all.

[@saranbhatia8809]

Great initiative great information!!

[@Livewellwendy]

Love this idea!

[@Drzhounder]

The challenge here for me is first, choosing 1 location. Then the issue is me getting out for 30 minutes! I will give it a shot this weekend though.

[@Natoflyboy]

Thanks!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you for the support. It means a lot!

[@___r_casey___]

Great idea!

[@timapelov]

@Shifter_Cycling Tom, this is a very cool initiative that unites the whole world! Therefore, I hope you will definitely show all the cities from which information came to you on the global map! Also, I hope you don't cut out information about SOME countries. We love bicycles here too! I have already made observations myself in two cities and am telling friends in other countries about your idea.

[@EriebyCycle]

Cool idea. Good on ya!

[@BalaenicepsRex3]

I'm excited to share more about Mexico City. Congrats, Shifter! ❤

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Yes! I'd love to have Mexico City!

[@wodediannao4577]

What's the bike scene like there? I don't remember seeing many cyclists when I visited.

[@BalaenicepsRex3]

@@wodediannao4577 Historically, it hasn't been particularly great, but it's slowly gaining momentum. Every Sunday, the Reforma Avenue (where the famous Angel of Independence stands) is closed to cars and only bikes can ride through from 8 am until 2 pm. There are plenty of bike rental services, even completely for free. It's really nice!

[@KellyS_77]

Here's hoping that most of the submissions you get are in landscape mode instead of portrait. :D I'll see what I can do to represent the city I'm living in now. I think it'll be interesting.

[@Ethan_PT7]

So funny timing, I am volunteering for my city's annual bike count. I might not be getting data from the busiest cycling area in the city, but I'll be getting some data nonetheless. I will be sure to share it and try and get some video as well.

[@TheRaven-gf2lb]

Oh I'd love to help but my city(Bogotá, Colombia) is very insecure and I don't think standing with a camera in the street 30 minutes is a good idea, I don't want to be st4bbed. From memory I'd say the most common bikes are "commuter bikes" the same style as shown on the form. We do have a bike-share system but only in the "nice" side of town. There are cargo bikes but not like the ones shown on the form, I'd call them vintage cargo bikes and they are used by small business not by people for carrying stuff. Most people wear casual/office clothes, half of the people wear helmets. All types of people ride bikes, ages from 12 to 70, the same amount of men and women. The vast majority carry their bag on their body or don't carry anything. The city is painting more bike lanes and biking is a good option to commute since our transportation system sucks(we have articulated buses instead of a metro for a 12 million people city), cars are really expensive and parking lots too (we don't park cars outside, they'd be stolen), motorbikes were a good option but now they are expensive too, taxis usually don't want to go where you want to go so it's a bad service and ubers or its alternatives are sometimes a good option but it's expensive. We have major insecurity problems and bikes are cheap and easily replaceable, the buses are always crowded and it's common to hear that there are massive thefts on them, it's common for mirrors and wheels to be stolen from cars and also motorcycles. So in conclusion, bicycles are the most convenient way to get around this city. Positive points: cheap and replaceable, avoid being surrounded by so many people on the bus (especially if you are a woman), avoid spending so much on taxis or Uber, you don't spend on gasoline. Negative points: it rains a lot, you can still be robbed, no one respects anyone on the roads.

[@thatguythatdoesstuff5899]

This is interesting, I would like to video the main street in my town and show just how much better it is for locals to ride a bicycle instead of a car because of the heavy traffic we get daily. One of the things that puts a smile on my face is blowing past cars stuck in traffic. No joke, I can often get from one end of town to the other significantly faster on my bicycle than in a car, and I don't ride fast.

[@oldbrokenhands]

Dallas, pure carpocalypse baby.

[@lisabrown8772]

It was interesting being in Whistler the last year Ironman Canada happened there. We brought our road bikes (well, my partner had his tri bike) and we stuck out like sore thumbs. People commuted on downhill mountain bikes, even on paved paths in town and along the highway.

[@drill_fiend1097]

Most people in my city have old rim brake road bikes. But I still like my front suspension hybrid as it can carry more cargo and can blow through stepped, shoddy road patchwork in the streets, and go through gravel during very long travel.

[@codytappen]

I’ll capture a morning commute in Kyoto. Here’s hoping for the bags :)

[@lilrocky2640]

Eugene Oregon is a great cycling city. We have many bike trails around the city so I don’t have to ride in car traffic too often. Things could be better but it is by far the best cycling city I’ve been to and there is a great cycling culture here of people who would rather commute on bike than car. This is partly due to people caring about the environment and not wanting to contribute to climate change.

[@RobertTurk]

I'll give it a shot. But, sometimes I can go months without seeing another cyclist in my city. Even in the summer.

[@uchidaoginome]

Obviously all cities' roads could use a lot of improvement when it comes to being designed to control traffic flow and speeds but I think the unseen factors of what make a driver pull a baseball bat from underneath the passenger seat, get out of his car and and threaten another driver for simply not maneuvering the way the first guy would prefer, all have to do with the heavy costs and civil burden. Drivers have to take care of these big, two, three and four ton hunks of metal! I used to be one of them, I know! I once sat in traffic on some portion of the Brooklyn Queen's expressway as an elevated trains came barreling up onto the tracks beside us and the idea that I was paying car insurance and maintenance fees but still wasn't moving me made me extraordinarily angry! I began to feel like... Like I "deserved" to be able to move because I was paying more money to get home than everybody on that train. But, wait, I grew up on buses, trains, and bikes and didn't even have a driver's license until i was about 28 and that was only when I got a job that required me to drive! How soon we forget, when we think we deserve something. People who drive exclusively, and this doesn't make them bad people, have forgotten what life is like for the people outside that big metal box. I shouldn't have to play Frogger with poorly-timed Walk/Don't Walk signals or feel under threat by drivers who purposely don't slow down when I'm on my commuter bike or veer too close to my handlebars when I'm on my road bike. I'm don't want to slow down the entire lane so I'll stay on the side in the way that safe is for me. But you got to share the road and dive differently and give me some space even when the traffic isn't bad. No matter how high your car payments or insurance are.

[@grahambonner508]

As i live in a small market town with low numbers I'd probably have to travel along all (there's not many) the cycle paths to aquire enough data to have any meaning.

[@moodycxnt]

I've been watching for about a year and love this channel's research approach. I've been looking to get an ebike but am so scared at the prospect of it being stolen or sun damaged etc. I came across electric conversions which look pretty interesting but I'm not sure how reliable they are and what is and isn't marketing. I'd love to see a video that goes in-depth into these, whether they're worth it etc.

[@shirzadabbaszade2525]

I am from Tehran, Iran and we have some brife conversations while premiering a few of your videos. as u may remmember the "bike culture" here in tehran(as a 10 milion people city) is virtually none existance but I tend to highlight the potentials that exists. your channle and also "not just bikes" are huge inspirations but I do not know how to start. I have zero experience in video making and city designing

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I had no experience when I started either. I just wanted to document my bike experiences, and I picked up some basic video editing skills from KZbin. If there's any way to include Tehran in this project, that would be amazing. Maybe this is a way to start documenting your own experiences?

[@gildisc9759]

I'm taking Manhattan, New York. Sounds like an awesome idea! As a bicyclist in New York for all my life, I can already say the biking culture has "shifted" (see what I did there 😏) from mostly road and commuter bikes to mostly ebikes and even escooters. More on this when I submit my results!

[@frankfurter7260]

I can save you the time and effort. The most common bike rider in Manhattan will be an illegal immigrant most of who ride substantially the same junky death trap Chinese made e-bike (decent chance it’s been stolen) with a non-UL certified battery and a very loud electric horn and electrical tape covering various areas of the bike. Periodically one will burst into flames distorting in the non e-bike riding public mind the safety of e- bikes. The bike will have been made or modified to exceed the bike speed limit and it will require no peddling for the motor to kick in using a throttle and for all intents be a very crappy moped type vehicle more than a bike. The “culture” will be to routinely “ride” through red lights, often in the wrong direction on bike paths as well as on sidewalks and generally with complete disregard for all traffic regulations none of which are enforced. And very frequently be driven with no bike light on at night.

[@gildisc9759]

@@frankfurter7260 i gotta say... you're 100% correct.. all you said does indeed take place and is true, but for God's sake man I'm trying to be positive about the New York City biking culture 🤣🤣

[@frankfurter7260]

The positive is ever since the Bloomberg administration the city has been building bike infrastructure and despite all the crazy biking shite that goes on including the deadly truck “I didn’t see them” making a turn across a bike lane periodically killing someone I feel safer riding in the city then in the suburbs with at best bike lanes painted on a small area of road with cars blasting right by me.

[@frankfurter7260]

PS, a video of either the 2nd Ave bike lane or 6th Ave bike lane would be hysterical for people to see what goes on. And a count of how many mopeds (illegally) riding in the bike lanes verse bikes would be interesting too.

[@gildisc9759]

@@frankfurter7260 i already did one of 8th Ave the area between 34th and 42nd.. there were very few non ebikes.. and yes a few crazy gas fueled vespas/mopeds.. in other words, it's exactly what I thought it would be. I know people like to promote ebiking, but only if it comes to replace gas powered vehicles. In New York they do not. They replace traditional pedal bicycles which actually increases the city's carbon footprint. Something to think about. But yes the bike culture in New York city is nuts and 6th Ave and 2nd Ave are main arteries too but I just live on the west side so 8th was closer..

[@deonbenjamin5650]

I think Jakarta is a folding bike city. People rarely use bikes for commuter. They usually use it for recreational purposes or sport.

[@benparnas7512]

I can try to contribute! what is the rough timeframe you'd like to collect over? if I can do this next month, is it still useful?

[@recumbrider643]

Great idea but I live in the best example of an anti bike city with 300k people where no one seems to commutes by bike except me. I change routes frequently and I might see one or two other bike commuters per week. I can sit at any given intersection for hours and will not see another bike. We don’t have bike lanes either and bike racks are nowhere to be found either. We have bike routes where cars and cyclists share the lane but people are scared to use them because many drivers believe that bikes are supposed to use the sidewalks. People here will put their bike in or on a car and take it to a park with trails. But they will not ride to the park. Yes I can take a video but the chances are slim you will see someone commuting by bike.

[@chrisconnors7418]

I hope you get a form from Madrid. The river area is phenomenal for cycling. Main roads are death wishes though despite them having cycling lanes painted on the road, often the second lane over with the first lane being for buses and cabs (which will cut across bike lanes to get the curbs, and regular drivers will swerve into the bike lane to go around a slower vehicle). I’ll fill one out for my small Canadian town

[@drill_fiend1097]

South Korea is exactly like that, except there isn't even a painted bicycle lane although there's a law that says bikes should stay in 1/3 right side of the rightmost car lane (I doubt this is even tested in the knowledge test). The bike path along Han river is chill but it is purely for recreational. Fortunately I am not living there right now.

[@elinoirsmythe224]

this sounds like fun! I'll try and get some data from Aberdeen, Scotland.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you!

[@Nonkel_Jef]

Oh man, I live in a small city, but during rush hour the bike commuters take up the entire main street in a huge wave of bicycles. I don’t think I can record more than 5 minutes if I want to keep it practical to count them all.

[@elainajourney]

I’m not sure which area is the busiest but I have some ideas. I’m excited to collect this data

[@julhizantwo2277]

Unfortunately i live in rural areas very far from cities (hope that always the case coz i hate traffic) but so far i see some dutch bike with backrack loading between grass for animal feed, trash collector, and their belonging. Other also kid with their BMX or MTB which is very much all the kiddo want. Mine recently bought folding bike, reason it easy and not huge like all bike i said before

[@kueller917]

Oh interesting. I live not far from a few heavy bike intersection that's also not downtown (which has many videos) so I could get an interesting sample. Also there's some 2-floor fast food places so I could get video without worrying about having my phone taken. I think I'll go Saturday.

[@SpySappingMyKeyboard]

Hey, any timeframe on when you want this info by?

[@mlzovozlm]

This is interesting, i'd love to see some actual data on my city myself. Over here i'd say the culture is dominantly scooter. Which is kind of interesting, because it waters downward and the cyclists/bike users also reap some of the benefits. E.g: most sizable stores, shops, buildings have at least 1 security personnel to look after the vehicles, hand out parking tickets and whatnot - whether they've dedicated parking lot/basement or the vehicles are parked on the sidewalks. As a result, the bikes also get to be looked after instead of being randomly locked in the middle of nowhere waiting to be stolen (scooters & bikes do still get stolen but i think it'd be so much worse if you've to leave them unattended)

[@RZaichkowski]

Don't really do much video, but can vouch for Toronto having a vibrant cycling culture. Still see some roadies out, but commuter cycling and cargo bike usage has spiked considerably here over the past few years thanks in part to the expanding infrastructure and bike share network. Some groups such as Toronto Cruisers and Neon Riders have weekly party rides with cool lighting and sometimes costumes, while the ManDem Cycling Club has done a good job boosting the diversity of riders through their rides. Finally, there are a lot of food couriers out there.

[@user-iw4jl6bc8h]

Montreal has been on the Copenhagen index since 2006 , In 2023, Montreal rank 4 th in the world for biking infrastructure with more than 900 km of bike lanes . Toronto has a USA car culture ,no bike culture . Soon Toronto will include Ottawa in its GTA.. No cities in North america except Toornto include cities as far as 130 km away with nothing in commun except a high way ...not a bike lane .

[@mklinger23]

Philadelphia - many people ride an "urban" bike or a commuter/relaxed bike. There is also a large amount of people that just ride what they afford. Mainly kids bikes or cheap walmart bikes.

[@leathemthej2721]

Great study design.

[@leathemthej2721]

You will need a good data analysis. Looking forward to your findings

[@leathemthej2721]

Do you want the rough data numbers or do you want it pre analyzed on #/hr? Similar to per unit effort for fisheries research?

[@uaexemarat]

We only have one bike lane. It is protected and separated from the road. BUT. It goes along a highway for 30km of pure desert in a straight line. There is absolutely nothing to stop at.

[@paultibbets4707]

You should definitely check out Boise Idaho and ada county as a whole they are doing great work to create a bike friendly network

[@plamenveselinov6023]

so from Leipzig, Germany, we tick all the details :) man, women, children, ebikes, cargo bikes, gravel, holland, tri-bikes, uni cicles you name it. it is a flat city with goog bike lanes and huge parks. Population ca. 600000

[@Immudzen]

Hmm my understanding is recording like this would be illegal in Germany but I am not completely sure. I don't think I have ever seen someone wearing sports clothing to ride a bike here though and helmets are extremely rare. Mostly people seem to have dutch style bikes, commuter bikers, or cargo bikes. I don't think I have ever seen a road bike here.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Don’t do anything illegal! Just bring a notepad and do it that way if you’re not comfortable recording video.

[@tonywalters7298]

Dayton, Ohio would be a recreational trail city

[@lightdark00]

In my city, or in the other suburbs around, I have no idea where the non-meetup cyclers go as there's no cycling lanes. There is trails and parks, but no one with panniers or even a backpack like they are actually getting something done. Hope someone does the main city south of me.

[@sammymarrco47]

Would a video from suburban USA where there might only be 5 cyclists in the 20-30 mins be worth it for you ?

[@nevakos24]

I think Penticton BC is pretty bike friendly!

[@ecopennylife]

Great idea, do you want a weekend day or weekday? Weekday would have less recreation 😊

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I want a mix! I think it would be interesting to see the differences.

[@Livewellwendy]

when is the deadline for submission?

[@theepimountainbiker6551]

I'll try, but given Sudbury Ontario is pretty car based I'll pick a bike lane I see lots of bikes on BUT also lots of cars either parked in the bike lane or straight driving through and include that in the totals. I guarantee there will be much more cars in the bike lane than bikes sadly.

[@jeffbrownstain]

This sounds like a lotta work for no benefit so to save you the fact that nobody is going to do this shit I'll just drop my anecdote for you; Our city infra sucks, we have few if any bike paths, more people walk or drive than bike, and there are signs everywhere saying we aren't allowed to bike on sidewalks, which everyone ignores. Most of the people on bikes here are broke and the number is slowly rising as our infra fails to keep up.

[@hungryguitarist]

My town would be a heavily tattooed meth-head riding against traffic on a road with absolutely no shoulder on a questionably-sourced, pink beach cruiser. Then a man on a mountain bike, wearing every piece of hi-vis clothing he could find, riding with traffic, praying today won’t be the day. Then, if I time it just right, a man training vigorously on a recumbent trike up and down a side road, avoiding all traffic, followed by an entourage of concerned friends on road and hybrid bikes with aggressively flashing lights to avoid getting hit by automobile-based meth-heads.

[@lakrids-pibe]

Vibe check

[@skaap2008]

Would love to, but unfortunately sitting with a camera or phone for that long will be too dangerous in my city, will make me too much of a target

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Maybe you can just do it with a notepad and not a camera?

[@jezzarisky]

Where do we count scooters/skateboards/or electric variants of them? Especially with electric scooters I find fall under the same umbrella of personal transport as a bicycle given their speed and range for things like commuting.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I debated including non-bike micro-mobility, but I left it off because things were getting complicated. Let's see how this goes and maybe we include them in the future.

[@eman6254]

Sounds interesting. I might submit, but I'm not sure how I should record child seats if I do? They are fairly popular in my area.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

There's a section to add the number of children you see. That's probably the best place. If I do this again, I may have to include a section for child seats.

[@naceron449]

Hi, when is the cutoff date for submission?

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Early October.

[@rachael11]

I already know there's a lot of road and MTN bikes ... just depends what location i pick.

[@Littleweenaman]

I actively try and ride a mtb to incentivize every person to get out there and bike because most people accept mtb as commuters

[@drill_fiend1097]

MTBs and Gravel Bikes are versatile.

[@andrewkeller1117]

Hello Tom, are you still accepting submissions? I will probably try to do this this coming monday. Also, do you strictly want observations from the exact city your viewers live in? Reason I ask is because a neighboring city has much better biking infrastructure and biking culture compared to my own so im inclined to record there.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Yes, I’ll keep it open another week. Any city is great!

[@Robert-uy1gd]

At 1.23 there's a green square on the road with arrows: what's that?

[@rachael11]

Actually, I'm going on vacation this weekend. Does it have to be MY town?

[@16randomcharacters]

I don't know if there is one culture in a city. Just here in NYC, there are large communities of couriers, delivery people, commuters, and every flavor of entertainment and exercise cyclist. Are you looking at like 5th and 42nd on a Tuesday afternoon, or Prospect Park on a sunny Saturday?

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Ideally, we’ll get multiple entries from the same city and it will give us a more rounded viewpoint

[@frankfurter7260]

How about the bikers that ride the outer loop in Central Park like they’re in the Tour de France. 🙄