those are bonkers and yet, when there is no bike lane, it's usually even worse

I’m not convinced it’s worse - I often bike on the road with a cycle lane next to me.

Bins, rubbish, man holes, street signs, uneven surfaces etc etc ruin bike lanes.

In large parts of the US, suburban distances and very bad biking weather make e-bikes cover relatively few use cases: When a shopping trip is a 15 minute car drive, and a typical commute to work is 40 minutes, the e-bike doesn't win at all. Perfect lanes don't cut bad distances, 100F summers or -10F winters. And often yes, what we see in US bike infrastructure is unsafe, leading to basically no cyclist using it.

Bikes are great when your development pattern is Netherlands-like: Not dense enough for serious public transport to the home, or to do everything on foot, yet not so light that many trips go past 10 miles. I bet there's a few large metro areas that could support this, but in a lot of the country, it's not about unsafe lanes.

I think there is more here than meets the eye.

The modern suburban arterial often has light cycles measured in a few minutes, which adds up if you're hitting a bunch of them.

Dedicated bike infrastructure, even at high volumes, does not require coming to a full stop, so while the top speed might be lower, the average is more competitive than it appears. And grade separating a bike lane is a lot easier than a whole suburban road.

Weather is not a major factor in ridership given good infrastructure.

On what planet? Finns ride bikes in very cold weather, but what do you do about New Orleans, where it's 75 F at 4 AM with 100% humidity? You absolutely need showers at work for anyone who is going to bike in because they will be covered in sweat.

A lot more people in this world live in the tropics than the frigid north.

Frigid north? What are you implying?

It’s cold close to the poles, right? Been that way every time I’ve gotten near.

Maybe it would not be that cold, if

If what?