Bicycle Austin forum

claireer

Member

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 2

Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

I'm getting ready to move to Austin in the fall to begin graduate school at UT. I've been living and biking around DC the past couple years and I hear Austin is pretty bike friendly as well. I wanted to see what advice people have for parts of town to live in that are bikeable to the northeastern part of UT's campus.

Thanks! Any suggestions would be welcome.

seth

Member

From: Austin, TX (Hyde Park)

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 53

Website

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

You have lots of options. Coming from DC, you'll find cheaper rents in Austin, so you could probably afford a rental in Hyde Park, or just east of I35 off Manor or 38th. Things aren't as dense in Austin as in DC, but it's a lot more safe.

I lived in DC during the mid-nineties before I moved to Austin. I think you'll find the change refreshing.

Seth

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

From UT, anywhere within 3-4 miles to the North or East is good.  Once you go West or South you've got hills to deal with, and not as many choices for bike routes.

RonB

Member

Registered: 2008-05-28

Posts: 20

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

As a former resident of 78704, that area and South Congress are not too bad if you know the back ways to get to some of the safer major arteries.

m1ek

Member

Registered: 2008-06-02

Posts: 153

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

Claire, you're going to want to look at areas farther north and east of UT - while south Austin is nice, you'll be dealing with a lot of hills (compared to the parts of DC I'm familiar with). I'd say even look at North Loop - still flat enough to make the commute easy, but also may be cheaper than Hyde Park / North University (the latter being where I live).

Kelly Oden

Member

Registered: 2008-06-06

Posts: 3

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

anywhere inside the square....south of 183, west of 35, east of mopac, north of ben white.  That makes it easy.  Outside of this box and things could become an adventure.

tomwald

Moderator

From: 78722

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 290

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

anywhere inside the square....south of 183, west of 35, east of mopac, north of ben white.  That makes it easy.  Outside of this box and things could become an adventure.

Certainly East Austin is mostly easy to bike in.  Much of it is some of the best biking for transportation in Austin.
I would extend the eastern boundary: instead of "west of 35", change that to west of 183.

claireer

Member

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 2

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice! I'm coming to Austin next week to check out neighborhoods and I'll definitely be checking out the areas y'all have suggested! :)

tomwald

Moderator

From: 78722

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 290

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

In regard to the last post, by AssistedBikes:
It's currently not legal in Texas to "hop up on a sidewalk" using a bicycle with a "2-cycle gas bicycle engine kit".
Electric bicycles are perhaps a different matter.

McChris

Member

From: Blackland

Registered: 2008-10-31

Posts: 36

Website

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

Is there a spam equivalent of reading the riot act? I'm reading the spam act, by extension. I've been checking in on this forum on a near-daily basis since its inception, and I've never seen a user respond to this many threads at once. It's pretty clear is not just an overly enthusiastic new user, but only posting here to sell bicycle engines.

JW

Member

Registered: 2008-10-07

Posts: 15

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

I guess what Mr. Assisted Bike is saying is, if you want to live in the suburbs and ride a gasoline powered half-assed motorcycle, you might want to try somewhere on out Burnet near 183 and Spicewood Springs road, or something.  But if you want to ride a BICYCLE (look it up, Mr. A.B.) on a daily basis, the previous posters are on target.
    Now, if you want to ride in a Chevy Suburban every day, try Pflugerville. But you didn't ask about that, did you?

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 631

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

No, what Mr. Assisted Bike is saying is that `motorized bikes are great, I ride one, check my website, all my fiends love mine so much I had to go into business selling them, come see my website at another address here! '

Oh, and Mr AssistedBikes, I'm pretty sure the speed limit on Anderson is higher than 35 mph, which would mean that your `motor assisted scooter' would be illegal to ride there.  (Though to respond to tomwald, it looks like they are probably legal on most sidewalks, just like a bicycle.  They're just not legal on roads with a speed limit over 35 mph, unlike a bicycle.)

tomwald

Moderator

From: 78722

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 290

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

To the question of where motor-assisted bicycles can drive legally:

Please refer to this post, which is a proper topic:
http://bicycleaustin.info/forum/viewtopic.php?id=185

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly

FYI, I just banned AssistedBikes from the forum for repeated blatant advertising, useless spam posts, and complaints from other members.  When his first advertising post raised eyebrows I defined an advertising policy saying, " I'll allow an initial post to introduce a product or business.  After that, there had better be something really new and compelling before posting again."

But then he comes back and makes a a reply to just about every thread he could find and put two links to his website in the same post.  I agree, enough is enough, this forum is not an advertising venue.

I'll also look for and delete any of his posts that don't add value and which aren't commented on later.