Suburbs to CBD - most convenient suburb?

[cyho11]

Hi guys,

I will be interning in Brisbane CBD for 3 months and I plan to cycle to work each day if I can't find suitable accomodation in the city.

Which suburbs should I be looking at?

I've been looking at Fairfield, New Farm, Wollongabba.

Edit: Also are there any organised rides in Brissy that I could join?

Thanks in advance for any help guys

[lethoso]

all those would be fine, might be a bit iffy if you don't like cycling in traffic though, I think there's a few main roads you'd struggle to avoid living in those suburbs. West end (and hill end & south brisbane) is pretty cool, and it's pretty low traffic riding into the city. Spring Hill would also be easy. Milton/auchenflower/toowong would let you ride along the river path into the city in the mornings.

[mrjones]

New farm is also very handy to the city along the river walk

[Max]

The inner north is a great place to live. Quiet, leafy, close to town. Have a look at Mitchelton, Everton Park, Enoggera, Stafford and Kedron. They can be a bit on the pricey side, but the peaceful environment is worth it.


Max

[ryan]

honest opinion? get as close to the city as possible. Forget anything outside of 5km from the city so you can spend your time riding before work as opposed to commuting to work. The population of narrow minded motorists is also exponentially correlated to distance from CBD.

I would limit my options to:
- Teneriffe (lots of young professionals, gyms, nice bars and restaurants, although expensive)
- Fortitude Valley (has it's highs and lows - pick your street carefully)
- West End (best coffee, less conservative than the rest of brisbane, arguably the creative hub)
- Spring Hill (very close to CBD while being out of the city)
- New Farm (handy to supermarket, ferry, busses, floating boardwalk straight to city)
- Auchenflower (closest to park rd cycling precinct)

Plenty of bunch rides departing within riding distance of the above between 5am and 6:30am. Try Park Road in Milton (forget times for fast/slower groups) and talk to bike shops in the area to find out about shop rides.

hope this helps.

[elantra]

New Farm would get my vote.
There is a dog park and all sorts of other facilities in proximity.
Keep away from the Valley unless you are deaf and nocturnal.
Wooloongabba is a good place to park trucks.
Teneriffe is terrific but further from city.

[landscapecadmonkey]

Kangaroo Point is a popular short-term employee accommodation suburb, with many highrise fully furnished units and its still close to the Valley, and the CBD. Its also well placed for both longer northern, southern and eastern rides. Lots of short term accom up around Spring HIll....

But for mine, West End is still the best 'place' in Brisbane. Culturally and socio-economically diverse, still has many inexpensive places to go/eat/see/buy etc and the easiest commute to the CBD of most suburb. Still has proper 'pubs' (ok, one...the Boundary) this close to the city. All the other suburbs mentioned are good though.

[Zynster]

+1 West End. It takes me 15 minutes to ride to work in the CBD. West End is also a culdesac surrounded on 3 sides by river, so all the traffic is local. Rents are getting high, though that's the case with all the inner city suburbs these days.

[beauyboy]

West End, New Farm & Toowong. All are a quick rides into the city and have a cycling culture so that the motorists are use to cyclists

Donald

[cyho11]

Great, thanks guys. Looking at those areas now.

Are there a Beach Rd (Melbourne) equivalent up there in Brissy?

[Dai]

Let me give my shout out for Yeronga.

It takes me 19 minutes from home to King George Square. Lovely ride along the Brisbane Corso, then down Annerley road, with reasonably wide shoulders (except for the one car that is blocking it every morning). Across the Goodwill Bridge and onto the bike path and up into King George Square.

I never get tired of my commute.

[Crawf]

I'd also suggest Greenslopes, you can pretty much get from there to the city mostly via new bike paths and avoiding main arterials.
Plenty of rental accommodation around there too.

[Comedian]

I think the key thing here is how far do you want your commute to be? I'd suggest having a look at these maps..
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-transport/cycling/bikeway-maps/index.htm

[aaron]

Coorparoo!!

[Max]

Those BCC maps are shocking. Half of the routes don't even have street names on them! Check out Open Cycle Maps. If you'd prefer to use a Google satellite map, you can use http://sautter.com/map/ to overlay OCM routes over Google Maps or Yahoo Maps.

Oh, and did I mention Mitchelton's a nice area?

Max

[goneriding]

Great, thanks guys. Looking at those areas now.

Are there a Beach Rd (Melbourne) equivalent up there in Brissy?

For that there is the River Loop (40 - 50 km's) and its variations (check bikely/mapmyride). Bunches go from everywhere around the Loop on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Try Park Rd to start with where there are a couple of rides that leave from La Dolce Vita. If you are living in somewhere like West End you are on the Loop.

The Loop also gives you access to Mt Coot-tha (2.3 km's at 9% on the back side) or, if need a bit of distance and climbing you can Loop and head out to Mt Nebo (18 km climb)

If you want faster rides there used to be a ride that left from Cycelogical (now closed) so I am not sure if that one is still going. I think there is another fast ride that leaves from Zupps in Aspley. Someone else might be able to confirm where these rides are at.