This is a bad statement. California isn't even bike friendly. The Netherlands or Denmark, or hell, Germany are all VASTLY more bike friendly than California.

Not to mention those places tend to be much flatter. In the west Bay Area you have to ride next to 101 unless you don’t mind hills.

Most of the heavily populated places in the bay area are fairly flat, so that's not really a problem. Plus, with ebikes these days, hills just aren't the barrier they used to be.

The problem is mostly just infrastructure. Almost no California cities have more than a piddling amount of safe transportation biking support.

These days have little to do with historically. The bay is hemmed in by hills and water. LA is similarly hemmed in, creating a nice bowl that traps pollution. Seattle and Portland are both hilly, you are not at a flat grade. Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen are all flat in contrast.

Cities with lots of hills in Europe don’t have as many bikers or biking infrastructure. Eg Lausanne unless you want to go for a jaunt by the lake. Cannes was the similar during a short visit I made 20 years ago. Hilly south Europe (Athens, Rome) doesn’t seem to like bikes very much either.

Good thing we’re talking about ebikes with great torque that make short work of hills, right? LA is ten times less smoggy than when I was a kid, thanks to cleaner cars and no electric vehicles.

Should be "also electric vehicles."

I lived in the Yukon, Canada for 4 years, and rode my bike 365 days a year.

Yes, even in -40 and beyond temperatures I rode. In fact, Whitehorse has the highest rate of bike ridership in Canada!

Wow that's pretty amazing. I'm a Californian in Boston and I managed to ride when it was about 0F out and I thought that was a bit much. How do you dress for such a venture? I find that either I'm freezing cold when starting off until I get warm through exertion, or I'm comfortable starting off and am sweltering by the time I get where I'm going.

It's a tricky balance, and usually you want to start a bit cold, knowing you'll get warm "Be bold, start cold" - but of course you have to watch out for frostbite.

My commute to work was only ~15mins on the bike, and for the first half I was a bit cold, and then the second half I was unzipping my jacket and would even stand outside the office with no jacket of toque or gloves for 3-5 minutes in -40 temps to cool off. The steam coming off me was always fun :)

With a longer ride (my landlord rode 40 mins each way) you stop after about 20 minutes and change layers - usually go for windproof with minimal insulation to prevent overheating/sweating.

i find that my hands, toes and ears seem to be weak points. i might have to find some earmuffs that work with a helmet for next winter.

side note: i snooped your profile a bit and i'm intrigued by the path you've chosen. i am moving in a similar direction, and no doubt could benefit from referencing your experience...

I used to wear a pear of very thin merino wool gloves and then a MASSIVE pair of very well insulated mitts. After leaving the house I had to take off my mitts to unlock my bike, and I knew it was cold (past -35 or so) when I couldn't feel my fingers after 20 seconds of no mitts.

On my feet I wore thick wool socks, and very well insulated winter boots. They were always hot, even just standing still past -40

For my face I had a toque under my helmet and a big thick merino wool neck warmer that I would pull up until it was right under my eyes - so it covered my ears entirely.

Half way to work I would pull down the neck warmer, unzip my big jacket, etc. in an attempt to not sweat too much.

.. haha, yeah, my path has been a different one, and I'm a thousand times happier than when I sat at a desk. I'm TheRoadChoseMe around the web, and my email is dan @ that .com if you want to get in touch!

I think you are being a bit overly negative but you do have a point. Where I live (northern Europe) I could never get by with any kind of "open" vehicle (i need a roof and heating) and snow tyres.

You can get snow tyres fitted on a bicycle (I had some as a youth) but bicycles are still quite horrible in the winter.

I remember biking home from school during the winter when it was snowing heavily. The sidewalks were completely snowed in with heavy snow so the bike just really went where it wanted to go and very slowly. I eventually decided to move over to the road but I was soon tailgated by a bus. Since the bus was honking at me, I had to pull over to the next bus stop to get him out of my ass. I think it was about at that moment that I decided to ditch winter biking once I could own a car.

Modern snow tires like Schwalbe's Ice Spiker Pro are a far cry from what existed in the olden days. Nowadays it's mainly a matter of having the quads (or electric motor) to drive them. Even with kids in the bicycle trailer, biking as primary transport is straight-forward on 95% of the days in winter.

Cars are pretty horrible in heavy snow too. The solution we have for cars is clearing the roads. This can be done for bike paths too.

I bike through winter in Canada. I take the bus for a day or two after a blizzard, but after that the salt is down and it's fine if you bundle up. Heavy gloves, a balaclava, and splash-pants make all the difference.

I've found similar. Clearing all paths is not always a priority. In the winter it is was necessary for me to find alternate routes for my bicycle commute.

Single lane roads with no shoulder can be very dangerous in the winter. Fortunately where I am in Canada, there's adequate space for cars to pass on the roads I take.

> bicycles are still quite horrible in the winter. I find the opposite. The activity itself is fine, but the winter is quite horrible on bicycles. Salt and slush can really make a mess of the mechanisms.

Fat tire bikes work great in the snow.

What kind of nonsense is this. I and many others commonly ride and commute by bicycle in the winter up here in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis is the most bike-friendly city I’ve lived in. Even in the winter the city maintains its bike routes; it’s safer than most of the SF Bay Area.

I’ve bicycled as my main mode of transportation for thirty years, all year round, in Stockholm and in Umeå. They sell excellent studded tires for bicycles.

I’m not saying it’s possible for everyone. I would probably not do it if my commute was longer than 20 km one way. But many more people can define do it for the benefit of their health and the environment.

Seriously? You know the Netherlands and Denmark are both in northern Europe, right?

Hell, Oulu has high biking rates and is one of the northernmost cities on the planet.

and many places in Europe, Asia, ...

Do what? Use a bicycle for tasks many use a car for? If my guess is correct, I have to ask why you think California is unique in that respect given the absolutely huge set of data to the contrary? I mean, you have heard of the Netherlands, right?

Of course, if my guess is wrong, ignore me. And be more clear next time. :-)

Literally every other person responding figured out that they were talking about weather, so I don’t think they had issues with clarity.