Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hi all- so where is the the best place for a cyclist in OZ? For me it couldn't be a big city- too much traffic. Not too hilly, quiet streets and off street tracks. Choice of places around the area to ride too and hopefully get a coffee! A cycling culture in the area would be nice too. I love warm climates, so it would have to be in the top half of Oz. Do we have a great cycling area in Oz that people love?

Well, I think the Sunshine Coast is just fantastic for cycling.
The QLD roads are good and reasonably quiet.
You have great beach roads and hinterland riding all in easy riding distance.
Lots of variety, and great weather.
It does get quite hot in Summer though, which I struggle with.

+ 100

Except for the bus drivers apparently

Inner northern suburbs of Melbourne seem to rate pretty highly, judging by the commuter traffic about.

Roadie wrote:Not too hilly,

Yep, generally flat roads

Roadie wrote:quiet streets

Yes.

Roadie wrote:off street tracks.

Yes there are several - but the quality can vary. Some great MTB trails along the Yarra close to the city as well.

Roadie wrote:Choice of places around the area to ride too and hopefully get a coffee!

Lots of that

Roadie wrote:A cycling culture in the area would be nice too.

Generally a strong cycling culture.

Roadie wrote:I love warm climates, so it would have to be in the top half of Oz.

Generally pretty warm, but I would rather the crisp cool sunny days of autumn and winter. I can always dress to stay warm. Hot days are less fun when you can't get cool enough.

If the city thing is too much there are some great country towns in Victoria that are very good for cycling. Bright comes to mind, or Bendigo for a bigger city with great cycling.

lived in melbourne for six years so another big + for melbourne - except a bit partial to the warmer weather up here during winter

hopefully we can sort out the bus driver situation -

My hubby always commuted in melbourne and the biggest fear he had down there were the tram tracks -

We were shopping one morning and a poor guy got his front wheel caught up, fell, skidded and put a head sized dent in my car door - luckliy he was OK

The rides around melbourne city always looked lovely - I did not ride bikes then so missed out. Great coffee, great food, great parks - now I miss Melbourne.....

Can't beat Adelaide... Choice of flat or hills, all from a comfortable distance from home... Long climbs, or long straight drags...

Drivers are wnakers but ya get that everywhere u guess...

In NSW...Coonabarabran; Orange/Bathurst; Broken Hill; Tumut.
In Victoria...Sunraysia region; Horsham/The Grampians.
In SA...northern Adelaide Hills; Melrose; Flinders Ranges.
In QLD...Carnarvon Ranges (but there's nowhere much to live around there!); Mt Isa.
In NT...Alice Springs
In WA...Wyndham; Tom Price; Denmark; Esperance.

...and many thousands of other lovely communities besides

I've lived in 3 states so can say out of those (Vic, SA, QLD), I'd choose QLD everytime. I lived in the suburbs of the capital city in each

Melb - too flat. boring. have to go a long way out to find a climb, crap weather
Adelaide - crap weather. good mix of roads. probably Australia's worst drivers
Brisbane - good weather all year round. the wet season can be a challenge, but it's rare. decent mix of flats and climbs around. though decent climbs are further away.

Can't beat teh southern Gold Coast.
Weather, girls, food/coffee, endless quiet rods, tons of cyclists, any terrain you want, awesome back country MTB at both ends, blah blah blah blah blah !!

I've always thought Adelaide would be cool, with those big hills just outside of the city.

Canberra or Launceston

Just by the number of elite riders that have originated from those towns.

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Melbourne - you can get hills and flat but in the end it comes down to coffee, best in Australia

I've lived and cycled in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, and so far have found Melbourne the best for cycling. About a year ago, I moved to Ringwood North, about 20km east of the CBD, and it's an ideal location, because it's got plenty of hills (the reason I moved there), nice scenery, and it's also within cycling distance of Mt Donna Buang and Kinglake, 2 of my favourite cycling spots . I even rode to Lake Mountain return once from Ringwood North, although I admit that's a bit extreme.

jasonc wrote: Adelaide - crap weather. good mix of roads. probably Australia's worst drivers

too hot for you?

I like Adelaide a lot. In the city, traffic is pretty much non-existent. Loads of amazing climbs within 20km of the CBD. Heck, you can go do a climb, cross the city then come back down to the coast all in one ride. I'd say it'd be hard to come close to what we've got.

And for the commuter, unless you're in the hills it's pretty flat. Singlespeed-able almost anywhere for sure.

jimboss wrote:

jasonc wrote: Adelaide - crap weather. good mix of roads. probably Australia's worst drivers

too hot for you?

i don't mind the heat (it gets hot in brissy too you know). winter is unpleasant - i actually think it's colder than melbourne as you don't have an island between you and the southerly winds from the antarctic)
20 degrees+ in winter is much more pleasant (the mornings are cold in winter, but it's easier to deal with cold than it is wet and windy).

EDIT: just looked at winter (1/6 to 31/08) and there is only 1 day I I went to work that I didn't commute by bike. I remember it too - it had rained all damn week and I was off site. made the excuse to catch the bus easy.

jasonc wrote:

jimboss wrote:

jasonc wrote: Adelaide - crap weather. good mix of roads. probably Australia's worst drivers

too hot for you?

i don't mind the heat (it gets hot in brissy too you know). winter is unpleasant - i actually think it's colder than melbourne as you don't have an island between you and the southerly winds from the antarctic)
20 degrees+ in winter is much more pleasant (the mornings are cold in winter, but it's easier to deal with cold than it is wet and windy).

EDIT: just looked at winter (1/6 to 31/08) and there is only 1 day I I went to work that I didn't commute by bike. I remember it too - it had rained all damn week and I was off site. made the excuse to catch the bus easy.

Adelaide has dryer winters than Melbourne though, right? I commute everyday of the week too - me and you are a rare breed! the only time I ever drive/train is if my bike is getting fixed or I need to take my car to the mechanic. Weather never plays a factor. On average there are two or three days a year where it is so wet that you pretty much drown. Apart from that, commuting is very manageable with a mudguard.

I've only been riding a geared roadie and 'training' (read: enjoying challenging myself on a regular program) for a couple of months, so it will be interesting to see if I am able to ride as much through winter. Commuting in the rain one thing, climbing big hills (and descending them) may be another entirely. See how I go.

jimboss wrote:Adelaide has dryer winters than Melbourne though, right?

melbourne has more wet days but it consists of more drizzle than rain

Reading comprehension 101 "for me it couldn't be a big city".

Canberra is pretty good with quiet roads (if you know where to look and pick your times) and warm climate during summer but quite cold in winter. A good strong cycle culture and as Skull said a lot of elite/pro riders have come from the area. Lots of coffee shops and lots of LBS too (about 13 for population of ~370K). Canberra's not too big; it takes me to ride from where I live in one of the northern most suburbs about 1 1/4 hours to ride to the southside. It is a bit hilly though, not too bad around town but when you go out (on southside) it gets quite hilly. Not so hilly on Northside though not flat.

Adelaide is good to ride in as well as I found out last January for TDU. Planning to go back again for TDU this January as well.

silentbutdeadly wrote:In NSW...Coonabarabran; Orange/Bathurst; Broken Hill; Tumut.
In Victoria...Sunraysia region; Horsham/The Grampians.
In SA...northern Adelaide Hills; Melrose; Flinders Ranges.
In QLD...Carnarvon Ranges (but there's nowhere much to live around there!); Mt Isa.
In NT...Alice Springs
In WA...Wyndham; Tom Price; Denmark; Esperance.

...and many thousands of other lovely communities besides

You clearly have a totally differ idea of what is good for cycling than myself and the majority of people!

I am with Il Padrone, the inner north of Melbourne is the best place for cycling in Australia. Judging by the popularity of cycling many people agree. I would consider Horsham and the Grampians as not conducive at all for cycling. Of course this is all opinion, each to their own.

Ken Ho wrote:Can't beat teh southern Gold Coast.
Weather, girls, food/coffee, endless quiet rods, tons of cyclists, any terrain you want, awesome back country MTB at both ends, blah blah blah blah blah !!

I agree! The whole area from Nerang to Springbrook down to Murwillumbah is amazing.. Looking forward to the xmas break and covering every road around there! shame about the drivers around Surfers and Coolangatta though.

jasonc wrote:

jimboss wrote:Adelaide has dryer winters than Melbourne though, right?

melbourne has more wet days but it consists of more drizzle than rain

and when it rains in Adelaide it only rains on your side of the road

We have a term called "Adelaide weather" one minute sunshine, next minute thunderstorms

Hobart - TAS, it's the nations best kept secret

usernameforme wrote:

jasonc wrote:

jimboss wrote:Adelaide has dryer winters than Melbourne though, right?

melbourne has more wet days but it consists of more drizzle than rain

and when it rains in Adelaide it only rains on your side of the road

We have a term called "Adelaide weather" one minute sunshine, next minute thunderstorms

Hahaha. This time of the year is pretty bad for thunderstorms hey.

Seriously though, over the years, I've always found Adelaide weather to be managable. It's not like Melbourne where you always need to carry a jumper.