Also traffic and/or bike friendliness or having actual bike lanes and roads wide enough - on avg, our roads here are only about 14ft wide and no bike lanes and lots of people who think nothing of passing with 18".
When I finished college, I stayed to do work study and got a job in downtown Miami, commute was about 5 miles one way, but man was it sketchy with all those multi lane roads and cars that weren't oh so accommodating, this was in late 80s. Worst I got was seeing the underside of a Datsun 240Z on a wet day when some tool decided they weren't waiting for the traffic and pulled hard right to go to the H'way right in front of me, hit the brakes so hard and with all the oil the bike just started to slide, tried to steer around the car in front, but went down, thankfully I wore jeans to work and they saved my legs from serious road rash - Taught me to always ride defensively.
Jan. 8, 2025, 3:32 a.m. - Lynx .
Also traffic and/or bike friendliness or having actual bike lanes and roads wide enough - on avg, our roads here are only about 14ft wide and no bike lanes and lots of people who think nothing of passing with 18". When I finished college, I stayed to do work study and got a job in downtown Miami, commute was about 5 miles one way, but man was it sketchy with all those multi lane roads and cars that weren't oh so accommodating, this was in late 80s. Worst I got was seeing the underside of a Datsun 240Z on a wet day when some tool decided they weren't waiting for the traffic and pulled hard right to go to the H'way right in front of me, hit the brakes so hard and with all the oil the bike just started to slide, tried to steer around the car in front, but went down, thankfully I wore jeans to work and they saved my legs from serious road rash - Taught me to always ride defensively.