Chatswood to Pyrmont ride

[manoz]

Hi all,

My first post here Nice to meet you.

Planning to take up daily cycling ride from Chatswood to Pyrmont - up and down from work. Mainly for health and to stay active. I have never ridden in a city environment or this distance before. Its about 11 KM and as per Google, would take me 50 mins each way. I am not a strongly built person and with my inexperience, i could take another 30 mins, I suppose. But willing to start, practice and grow.

But my question are these:
1. How safe is it traveling via Pacific Highway? Is there a dedicated bicycle path?
2. Does anyone know of a safer path where i can avoid majority of the road traffic?
3. Haven't got a bicycle yet and looking for used ones online These 2 ones seem interesting - Pedal Pacer Flat Bar Road Bike and Vogue 700c. Anyone have experience/reviews about these bikes?

That's it from me and looking forward to hearing from you!

[mikesbytes]

Hi all,

My first post here Nice to meet you.

Planning to take up daily cycling ride from Chatswood to Pyrmont - up and down from work. Mainly for health and to stay active. I have never ridden in a city environment or this distance before. Its about 11 KM and as per Google, would take me 50 mins each way. I am not a strongly built person and with my inexperience, i could take another 30 mins, I suppose. But willing to start, practice and grow.

But my question are these:
1. How safe is it traveling via Pacific Highway? Is there a dedicated bicycle path?
2. Does anyone know of a safer path where i can avoid majority of the road traffic?
3. Haven't got a bicycle yet and looking for used ones online These 2 ones seem interesting - Pedal Pacer Flat Bar Road Bike and Vogue 700c. Anyone have experience/reviews about these bikes?

That's it from me and looking forward to hearing from you!

Hi manoz, welcome to the forum

I use to commute that route in the opposite direction
1. How safe is it traveling via Pacific Highway? Is there a dedicated bicycle path?
The Pacific Highway is best left to fast and experienced riders. Perhaps that will be you in a year or two.

2. Does anyone know of a safer path where i can avoid majority of the road traffic?
There's a dedicated bike path that run's along/under the Motorway and there's a branch that goes about half way to the Chatswood shops and can be combined with some quiet back streets all the way to the Chatswood shops. Whether this branch is for you will depend on where in Chatswood you live. There's a gap from the end of the M2 cycleway to the Harbour bridge and there's been some improvements since I last rode it, so I'll leave that for someone else to detail.

3. Haven't got a bicycle yet and looking for used ones online These 2 ones seem interesting - Pedal Pacer Flat Bar Road Bike and Vogue 700c. Anyone have experience/reviews about these bikes?
Which bike is personal choice and that personal choice will change as you get more experienced with riding. I've mainly ridden road 700c style bikes and prefer the road handlebars to the flat bars but as I've said that's my personal choice. One consideration is that your commute is hilly so if there's a significant difference in weight, then you will feel the difference.

[Nate]

I did that route for ~5years.

Pac Highway - if you're fast & have the power its great, as you're in the bus lanes & can keep up. A bus *may* juuuust catch you, then it stops for passengers. On the way home its OK too - as its a T3 & everyone is single occupant cars pretty much.

You'll want to go the back way....
Head east on Mowbray Rd, then right onto Malborough to the end.
Left onto small street & follow the path at the end.
Then that pops you out around West St Cammaray, & into Nth Syd - across the bridge
Then i'd turn right on Watson, down argyle, then get onto Hickson Rd (nice & wide) & then over the pyrmont bridge

[find_bruce]

Nate's suggestion is one way to do it. Another is to join the bike path at Smith Rd, follow it along to narremburn shops, use the bridge over Willoughby Rd, riding the path alongside the freeway & joining West St. The Brooks St ramp can be a bit busy, but I usually don't have to wait long for a safe gap to cross. I ride to the east of the CBD so I'm not sure how Nate recommends dropping down from Argyle St to Hickson Rd & will leave him to clear that bit up.

An alternative for more confident riders is to use the bike lane along the freeway, & taking the Alfred St exit to North Sydney. Sadly I have not found an equivalent for the return trip so take the West St route

[mikesbytes]

When you get bored and are looking for something else to do you can ride down to Grenwich and catch the ferry to Birchgrove then thru Balmain, Rozelle and Anzac bridge. Takes longer so probably better on the way home