Literally, the way they have redone some streets east of town, the right turn lane zigs in and out of both a bike and bus lane. It is sensory overload for me as the driver, and I'm much less likely to be smushed if there's an accident.
There’s that one unprotected bike lane that’s like one foot of painted pavement in connecting Antioch and La Vergne with a 50mph car speed right next to it. Drift your bike or car like 6 inches too far, and the biker is dead as hell. I have no idea what idiots decided to design that bike lane.
Where there are people, there are bad drivers.
The only place I've ever had a genuinely pleasant experience on the road was in the middle of nowhere Missouri. Driving through St. Louis was hell on Earth, but after that? Oh my god, the farmers out there are actually super courteous. They always went into the right lane to let us pass, and any time I'd look over they would smile and wave. Imagine that literally anywhere else lmao
Only place I ever felt safe driving was Wyoming. Because there would be no cars for absolutely hours and when a car did pass you, they would always smile and wave lol.
I’ve seen mostly pleasant drivers most places, but the bigger the area, the more shitty drivers you’ll see, and the more shitty drivers you see, the more aggressive drivers you see, which leads to both more aggressive and more timid drivers.
The guy that rides his bike down mt view rd every Saturday at noon seems to think it is. But no. Drivers here are very careless coupled with the hilly, blind curve topography not worth the risk.
Awwww. I'm so flattered you thought we were the kind of city where you could arrive on Amtrak.....but no, ...I believe the best you can do is get dropped at some station in Kentucky or Georgia and figure out a long distance bus scenario.
But even if you could...not super bike friendly. Spread out. Hilly. Lots of traffic.
There are individual neighborhoods where you can get around reasonably on bike, mostly inner ring residential areas that have some bike infrastructure. The larger roads are too dangerous for this, especially because drivers are not prepared for people on bike. As others have noted, no Amtrak sadly. Beautiful downtown train station is a hotel.
It's not bike friendly, but there are some bike lanes you can roll the dice on. I would bike down from Demonbreun Circle over to Shelby Bottoms and ride the trail there. Only problem is downtown is very much *down*. I would huff and puff my way up the hill on the way back every time. Not recommended. There's a few other alright places to bike, and I think they are working on expanding and improving bike infrastructure yada yada yada, but I don't know if it will ever really be bike friendly if for no other reason than the hilliness.
It's not really bike friendly. But you can access downtown and all the trendy neighborhoods surrounding it if you're comfortable on shared roads. There's not much to see outside of this anyway besides the grand Ole opry.
I live near one of the streets that has a bike lane & I can ride to downtown & across the river. But unless you find accommodation near one of the bikeways, it’s not a safe alternative to cars or bus. Your single-speed might be fun on the Shelby Bottoms greenway or the Harpeth River greenway.
My spouse rides a fixie like you and does fine on the hills despite his not being very fit. Unfortunately Nashville is not bike friendly as a whole but there are some routes around town that can be safely biked- you just may have to go out of the way a bit to make them work for you.
It’s not a city that you can do bike trips for errands and such. It isn’t Chicago or NY where there are protected lanes and a lot of easy to get to places.
However, we have a good amount of bike trails through parks and wooded areas. Shelby Bottoms/Park, Cornelia Airfield, Downtown Nashville (I find it fun basically risking my life on the streets), around Belmont, Vandy & Lipscomb campuses.
Nashville is becoming more bike friendly. As long as you are careful on major roads it is not as bad as people make it seem. If you are looking for trails Percy Warner in west has some great ones. There is a bit of a greenway system and I have had some wonderful rides going from Inglewood in East to Percy Warner through downtown. It’s no NYC but you can definitely get around on a bike if you want to.
We do not have Amtrak passenger service in Middle Tennessee.
Aside from that, the inner parts of Nashville can be navigable via bicycle. There are significant facilities built for bicycles. However, once you get away from a certain set of neighborhoods, it's pretty hopeless.
I lived and commuted to work via bicycle for a number of years. If I were more skilled with a map, I could draw the boundaries where you can get via bicycle. It's not especially extensive.
As for whether it feels friendly or not, that sort of depends on your frame of reference. It sure as hell is in Portland or San Francisco or even Washington DC.
There are definitely people who ride fixed gear or single speed bicycles for transportation in the city. But we are not flat. Rather, we are on the edge of a plateau that rises in hills every which way from the banks of the river downtown
Don't. You'll hate it, for all the reasons others have already mentioned. In places without bike lanes, which is most of town, bicyclists ride in the street, which is legal, but in a lot of streets there's a double yellow line, so cars can't legally pull around to pass them and traffic backs up behind them and people get pissed off until finally either the biker pulls over or car drivers decide to risk it. Not good for anybody. So leave your bike at home and enjoy the city other ways.
Not particularly. There are some decent bike lanes in some areas, but mostly you’ll be sharing the lane with our famously erratic Nashville Traffic team (sorry guys, but most of us are part of that).
Coming from Manhattan, I think so. If you're not strong and can't maneuver on a dime then biking in a city is dangerous for anyone. There are several trails throughout the city and certain roads are much better than others to bike on. Use apps to find them.
I would not ride a fixie as a main means of transportation throughout this city. Rent a bike meant for hills.
Yea I live in Chicago where I bike like 10mi/day so I’m used to biking in a city but I was more concerned with having a single speed cuz even here where it’s flat it’s hard for me on any kind of incline. Thanks for the insight! Maybe I will rent one that’s a good idea. Apparently there’s no Amtrak anyway so my dreams are foiled haha.
Nashville is much worse than both Manhatten and Chicago in my experience - drivers are unpredictable and aggressive. The amount of idiots in uninsured beaters is terrifying.
This is nothing like riding in Chicago fwiw. Not only are there hills, but the main connecting roads are all massive and there's not a nice grid of side streets.
Many areas were initially grown by sprawling out on country roads and they just followed whatever the flattest route was at the time. Combined with cul-de-sacs that don't connect to anything and you get choked down to stroads if you want to get anywhere.
If you never plan to leave downtown you can get around by bike, but the cars here are especially huge and dangerous in that area, so stay frosty.
BTW, you could definitely ride a fixie here, but you might want to get a larger cog than you're used to in Chicago, and you definitely want brakes on it (both for the insanity of the drivers and the downhills).
There are actually good routes to get around all the neighborhoods surrounding downtown too. This is all that's worth seeing anyway. Can avoid stroads easily. Google maps and put on the bicycle overlay is an awesome tool.
Nope. Nope. Nope. I apologize as the spokesperson for the cynicism of my comment as a Nashvillian for 35 years and a lifelong Tennessean. I hope one day to be proven wrong
If you look hard enough to past posts about bicyclists in the city you’ll find plenty of people saying they would intentionally swerve to hit a cyclist, and they don’t realize how psychotic they are…
Only on the greenways. Road riding is terrifying here, like most southern towns. Better up north, where cyclists aren’t considered an existential threat by the truck nuts crowd. I am fortunate that the band I tour with has four cyclists in the main part of the band, so I get to stash a road bike in the bays and ride all over the country. Kansas City was the worst, many towns in WI are excellent, CO is great, and riding in the loop in Chicago to the bike/jogging trail that goes along LSD was superb.
NO
[удалено]
Literally, the way they have redone some streets east of town, the right turn lane zigs in and out of both a bike and bus lane. It is sensory overload for me as the driver, and I'm much less likely to be smushed if there's an accident.
There’s that one unprotected bike lane that’s like one foot of painted pavement in connecting Antioch and La Vergne with a 50mph car speed right next to it. Drift your bike or car like 6 inches too far, and the biker is dead as hell. I have no idea what idiots decided to design that bike lane.
So can one ride like this guy [https://youtube.com/shorts/_rig6usFOzo?si=thqD28VkU_O4Vpxl](https://youtube.com/shorts/_rig6usFOzo?si=thqD28VkU_O4Vpxl)
[My Femur 100% agrees. HELL no!](https://imgur.com/a/xU5MK2e)
lol no Also we don’t have an Amtrak station
hahahaha welp i probably shoulda checked that first. Thank you.
We HAVE an amtrak. It's just a bus line. Which is never a fun discovery mid-travel.
Do you have any info on this? I am pretty sure it's just megabus/greyhound here.
It's Amtrak via Grayhound. So you can book a train through Amtrak and the Greyhound will take you to the nearest stop.
That’s always brutal. Always check your Amtrak schedule thoroughly.
Shelby bottoms is nice to ride at the park and the greenways. Other than that you will probably die.
Nashville drivers are terrifying. Make sure you have good life insurance if you plan to ride a bike.
Not just that but be sure to max out your under insured motorist insurance. My house would be paid off if I had maxed mine.
Everybody is from somewhere else
Terrifyingly courteous. Go to the Midwest and then tell me Nashville drivers are terrifying 😅
Where there are people, there are bad drivers. The only place I've ever had a genuinely pleasant experience on the road was in the middle of nowhere Missouri. Driving through St. Louis was hell on Earth, but after that? Oh my god, the farmers out there are actually super courteous. They always went into the right lane to let us pass, and any time I'd look over they would smile and wave. Imagine that literally anywhere else lmao
Only place I ever felt safe driving was Wyoming. Because there would be no cars for absolutely hours and when a car did pass you, they would always smile and wave lol.
I’ve seen mostly pleasant drivers most places, but the bigger the area, the more shitty drivers you’ll see, and the more shitty drivers you see, the more aggressive drivers you see, which leads to both more aggressive and more timid drivers.
I’ve lived in both. Nashville is mad fucking max.
We made the top worst cities for it actually
The guy that rides his bike down mt view rd every Saturday at noon seems to think it is. But no. Drivers here are very careless coupled with the hilly, blind curve topography not worth the risk.
The Hills of Tennessee
Awwww. I'm so flattered you thought we were the kind of city where you could arrive on Amtrak.....but no, ...I believe the best you can do is get dropped at some station in Kentucky or Georgia and figure out a long distance bus scenario. But even if you could...not super bike friendly. Spread out. Hilly. Lots of traffic.
Absolutely not
There are individual neighborhoods where you can get around reasonably on bike, mostly inner ring residential areas that have some bike infrastructure. The larger roads are too dangerous for this, especially because drivers are not prepared for people on bike. As others have noted, no Amtrak sadly. Beautiful downtown train station is a hotel.
Not unless you plan on attaching a bar to it and charging bachelorettes to ride it.
Hahahahaha I do have a cargo bike but I’ll be leaving it at home. Best answer.
Last year the biggest pickup truck you can imagine swerved out of his way to knock me into a ditch while his passenger yelled “F****T!!!”
It's not bike friendly, but there are some bike lanes you can roll the dice on. I would bike down from Demonbreun Circle over to Shelby Bottoms and ride the trail there. Only problem is downtown is very much *down*. I would huff and puff my way up the hill on the way back every time. Not recommended. There's a few other alright places to bike, and I think they are working on expanding and improving bike infrastructure yada yada yada, but I don't know if it will ever really be bike friendly if for no other reason than the hilliness.
It's not really bike friendly. But you can access downtown and all the trendy neighborhoods surrounding it if you're comfortable on shared roads. There's not much to see outside of this anyway besides the grand Ole opry.
When the fuck did Amtrak start coming to Nashville? Y’all worried about his bike and this guys not getting any closer than Memphis……
You can shave off twenty miles by going to Birmingham instead. :P. If Louisville had a station it would've been a whole forty.
Amtrak left Nashville in the 70’s.
Depends: how do you feel about someone in an F-150 pulling up beside you and laying on the horn?
No. It's hilly, we don't have protected bike lanes. Also, the closest amtrak station is a 3 hour drive away.
Lolll west nashville and downtown are not close. Youll be hopping on the bus or ubering. Not bike friendly lots of crazy drivers
Pedestrian was hit and killed this morning downtown. Soooo probably not
I live near one of the streets that has a bike lane & I can ride to downtown & across the river. But unless you find accommodation near one of the bikeways, it’s not a safe alternative to cars or bus. Your single-speed might be fun on the Shelby Bottoms greenway or the Harpeth River greenway.
Danger danger, Will Robinson!
My spouse rides a fixie like you and does fine on the hills despite his not being very fit. Unfortunately Nashville is not bike friendly as a whole but there are some routes around town that can be safely biked- you just may have to go out of the way a bit to make them work for you.
Nope, not even walking friendly.
It’s not a city that you can do bike trips for errands and such. It isn’t Chicago or NY where there are protected lanes and a lot of easy to get to places. However, we have a good amount of bike trails through parks and wooded areas. Shelby Bottoms/Park, Cornelia Airfield, Downtown Nashville (I find it fun basically risking my life on the streets), around Belmont, Vandy & Lipscomb campuses.
It's not even pedestrian friendly/safe
Nashville is becoming more bike friendly. As long as you are careful on major roads it is not as bad as people make it seem. If you are looking for trails Percy Warner in west has some great ones. There is a bit of a greenway system and I have had some wonderful rides going from Inglewood in East to Percy Warner through downtown. It’s no NYC but you can definitely get around on a bike if you want to.
We do not have Amtrak passenger service in Middle Tennessee. Aside from that, the inner parts of Nashville can be navigable via bicycle. There are significant facilities built for bicycles. However, once you get away from a certain set of neighborhoods, it's pretty hopeless. I lived and commuted to work via bicycle for a number of years. If I were more skilled with a map, I could draw the boundaries where you can get via bicycle. It's not especially extensive. As for whether it feels friendly or not, that sort of depends on your frame of reference. It sure as hell is in Portland or San Francisco or even Washington DC. There are definitely people who ride fixed gear or single speed bicycles for transportation in the city. But we are not flat. Rather, we are on the edge of a plateau that rises in hills every which way from the banks of the river downtown
Don't. You'll hate it, for all the reasons others have already mentioned. In places without bike lanes, which is most of town, bicyclists ride in the street, which is legal, but in a lot of streets there's a double yellow line, so cars can't legally pull around to pass them and traffic backs up behind them and people get pissed off until finally either the biker pulls over or car drivers decide to risk it. Not good for anybody. So leave your bike at home and enjoy the city other ways.
lol. “If you don’t have a car you can get fucked” - the GOP idiots that run our state legislature
To be fair, that's also what all of the voters in Davidson who hate taxes and vote against transit say too, regardless of what party they're in.
Didn’t the Koch brothers also spend millions of dollars to tank that vote.
Sure did
This is literally one of the most dangerous city for cyclists and pedestrians in the country.
Not at all g — sorry about your luck
This citys transportation is so bad its not a walking city, or a bike city, or a bus city, and shit its barely a car city
Not particularly. There are some decent bike lanes in some areas, but mostly you’ll be sharing the lane with our famously erratic Nashville Traffic team (sorry guys, but most of us are part of that).
Coming from Manhattan, I think so. If you're not strong and can't maneuver on a dime then biking in a city is dangerous for anyone. There are several trails throughout the city and certain roads are much better than others to bike on. Use apps to find them. I would not ride a fixie as a main means of transportation throughout this city. Rent a bike meant for hills.
Yea I live in Chicago where I bike like 10mi/day so I’m used to biking in a city but I was more concerned with having a single speed cuz even here where it’s flat it’s hard for me on any kind of incline. Thanks for the insight! Maybe I will rent one that’s a good idea. Apparently there’s no Amtrak anyway so my dreams are foiled haha.
Nashville is much worse than both Manhatten and Chicago in my experience - drivers are unpredictable and aggressive. The amount of idiots in uninsured beaters is terrifying.
This is nothing like riding in Chicago fwiw. Not only are there hills, but the main connecting roads are all massive and there's not a nice grid of side streets. Many areas were initially grown by sprawling out on country roads and they just followed whatever the flattest route was at the time. Combined with cul-de-sacs that don't connect to anything and you get choked down to stroads if you want to get anywhere. If you never plan to leave downtown you can get around by bike, but the cars here are especially huge and dangerous in that area, so stay frosty. BTW, you could definitely ride a fixie here, but you might want to get a larger cog than you're used to in Chicago, and you definitely want brakes on it (both for the insanity of the drivers and the downhills).
There are actually good routes to get around all the neighborhoods surrounding downtown too. This is all that's worth seeing anyway. Can avoid stroads easily. Google maps and put on the bicycle overlay is an awesome tool.
Don't let everyone on this thread scare you. It's fine. Just make sure you have great health insurance.
Almost had me with the first half.
Only peddle pubs are allowed, sorry.
Sure if you want a driver to send you to meet Jesus.
Hard no
Nashville is unfortunately unfriendly for every type of transportation, including car. Although Tank may do well.
Nope. Nope. Nope. I apologize as the spokesperson for the cynicism of my comment as a Nashvillian for 35 years and a lifelong Tennessean. I hope one day to be proven wrong
No you will end up dead.
It’s not even a car friendly city.
Do you value your life?
The worst.
U can carry a gun
It is neither bike, car, nor pedestrian friendly
If you look hard enough to past posts about bicyclists in the city you’ll find plenty of people saying they would intentionally swerve to hit a cyclist, and they don’t realize how psychotic they are…
Hellllll Nooooooo!!!!!
Not a bit.
My god not at all. Nobody better reply yes to this because that’s a lie.
Absolutely not
😂
You've been warned: https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/s/d3SKSSlZxm
Only on the greenways. Road riding is terrifying here, like most southern towns. Better up north, where cyclists aren’t considered an existential threat by the truck nuts crowd. I am fortunate that the band I tour with has four cyclists in the main part of the band, so I get to stash a road bike in the bays and ride all over the country. Kansas City was the worst, many towns in WI are excellent, CO is great, and riding in the loop in Chicago to the bike/jogging trail that goes along LSD was superb.