Bicycle Rules In Key West

I had a chance to steal a day in Key West with Bicycle Stories girlfriend and I was amazed at the rich bicycle life in Old Town.

Key West easily wins best bicycle town in Florida if the criteria is a Florida community that most relies on bicycle transportation to get around.

People had all types of utilitarian bikes, with tons of baskets hanging from just about every section of the bike.

For the record, the Snel Top 4 bicycle towns in Florida are:

1. Key West: Bikes are everywhere and cars respect them on the streets. They rule the place.

2. Boca Raton: I know, hard to believe that a suburban-style city is number two in Florida. But Boca Raton has a wonderful citywide bike lane network, including bike lanes on the five-mile segment on A1A through its city.

3. St. Petersburg: The Pinellas Trail extension, including bike traffic signals, is an infrastructure highlight in Florida. And the city has more plans for bike lanes and embraces bicycling.

4. Gainesville: I thought there would be more bicycle infrastructure in this college town, but so many people get around by bike here that it has to be a Top 4 bike town.

OK, back to Key West and its bicycles. Did I say there are a lot of colorful bikes there?






Some people ride their bike to work. This lady's ride is her work.


Even the Mallory Square performers use bikes as props.




For pure and cheap utility, the Key West bike rules. This was a typical one -- single speed, rusted chain and not much flash. But it gets the job done.


Then, there's the quirky Key West bike, complete with parrot on handlebar and beads.


Very cool bike rack to lock your bike.


The low rider. There were several folks riding bicycle hogs.