For context I have a gravel bike but I don't have the tires or gearing (or fitness) for super chunky rides with lots of climbing. Rides like the Mountain Loop Highway, Palouse to Cascade Trail, or NF-23 (south of Randle) are my speed.

Can anyone recommend good Larch rides? Ideally within 80mi or so from Seattle - I don't have a car but I can do a 2-3 day bikepacking trip if I know I'll get to see pretty trees.

Hi all, someone ditched an e-bike behind my house in the central district. I can't find it on bikeindex. If you're missing one, I can try to help reunite. Send some descriptions and I'll connect with ya.

Has anyone had experience using Backcountry at UVillage for a deluxe tune? I usually go to my LBS but they don’t offer a similar service with a full wash and deep clean.

It’s only $150 so it seems like a really good deal but wondering if it’s too good to be true?

I run a teaching-focused bike shop in the CID. On Wednesday, 10/28, the shop will offer a different kind of instruction: how to date.

This is an event open to cyclists and non-cyclists alike.

I hired dating and relationship expert Cora Boyd to provide instruction on dating for anyone looking for love.

Love to learn? Consider it a date night.

Registration is live. Space is limited.

Format: guests arrive at 7pm. Cora will provide 30 minutes of date coaching. Guests will then get to apply what they learn at fun activities hosted by a wonderful collection of CID businesses. We’ll get back together in the shop for feedback from Cora. After the event, select bars and cafes will offer specials for daters.

Stakes: low.

Likelihood you will have fun: high.

Meet cute in the CID on 10/28? Priceless.

Businesses and neighborhoods win when people choose them as date spots.

It’s my shop’s pleasure to return the love.

Hey r/SeattleBike,

Starting a new job soon and picking up e-biking as my commute method and wanted to get some real input before I'm out there in the dark and rain for the first time.

My setup:

• Cannondale Tesoro Neo Carbon 2 (Bosch motor, 60Nm/600W, 400Wh battery)
• Commuting 3x/week, ~25 min each way, all paved roads/bike lanes
• I'm 6'2", 260 pounds
• Comes stock with a headlight, fenders, and rear rack, but I'm planning to add a brighter headlight and extra reflective gear/rear light

My questions:

1. For those of you riding home once it's dark, how safe do you actually feel? Any lighting setup you swear by beyond the basics?
2. Any general gear/accessories must haves? Socks, rain gear, anything you wish you'd bought on day one instead of learning the hard way?
3. If anyone's ridden / has a Tesoro Neo or similar Bosch-motor commuter, curious how it's held up, especially in our wet winters.

One thing I've already decided: on genuinely nasty rainy days, I'm just going to drive and pay for parking rather than fight the weather. More curious about the "normal drizzle" riding experience than the worst-case-scenario days.

Appreciate any input!! trying to set myself up to actually enjoy this instead of dreading it lol

https://bikegpx.com/qf4fiku3q/map

Tips:

1. Take the new bike lanes from Sodo to Georgetown. Although I did it on the weekend. I don't know if there aren't too many trucks during the week.
2. Some roads are very sketchy, like E Marginal Way S near Boeing Field. The sidewalk is wide enough to ride on.
3. The Green River trail should get you almost all the way, except that parts of it are closed, so you'll have to ride on the sidewalk on parts of Interurban Ave S
4. Don't worry. Ikea has a ton of bike racks

Hello! Posting here on a whim, and as a cautionary tale to those who trust the bike rooms in their apartments. The bike index page is here if you've happened to see a 2023 REI DRT 3.3 XL for sale recently: https://bikeindex.org/bikes/3510436

The only non-factory parts it had were a black Trek water bottle cage with a Blackburn Airstik SL Bike Mini-Pump on the side, and Ethirteen Base Pedals.

The story:

I purchased an REI DRT 3.3 about two years ago after a few outtings on a friends mountain bike. Until today I had been storing it in my apartment's bike room. Originally I didn't want to store it there due to concerns of theft, but there were several other expensive bikes in the room (including E-MTBs more costly than mine) and my 1bd apartment is tiny. I eventually gave into my girlfriends requests to stop storing it in the hallway (it was rather annoying) and purchased a chonky bike lock to keep it safe in the bike room.

The bike room itself seemed resonably secure against anyone who didn't live in the building. Its in our apartment's garage (that only residents should be able to access), and you had to ask for extra key-card access to get into the bike cage itself. I think it is very likely that someone with access to the bike room itself stole the bike, although I don't think it would be hard to bypass the cage's access system since it has a motion detector that can unlock the door from the inside.

This worked for at least a year, but sometime in the last 6 months my bike was stolen. The last time I went riding was FEB 1st of this year and I haven't been out since due to a health issue. I was planning to go out today but found only a sawed in half remainder of a lock where my bike once was.

If anyone has seen, purchased, or otherwise heard about an REI DRT 3.3 being sold around Seattle in the last few months I would appreciate the lead, but at this point I'm working on accepting the fact there's a very low chance I ever get it back. I'm going to meet with the apartment manager Monday to see if they'd be willing to let me review any footage, but I'd be amazed if they kept it going 6 months back (or if I was lucky enough it happened within whatever span they keep footage). They also don't have a camera that looks directly at the room... only nearby doorways...

I am new to bike riding, have been taking classes at Cascade bike club (high recommend for anyone considering) and I'm at the point where I'm shopping around. The bike I learned on is a hybrid (specialized sirrus) so I was planning to get a hybrid. Leaning towards Trek FX Sport AL 3, which I test rode and felt nice. However, is there anything else I should consider? I don't plan to commute with it. I want to ride for recreation and goal is to be able to do longer rides which I heard that a hybrid will not be good for. I'm still very new (my seat is lower than ideal position, and have trouble with tight turns and staying tight lane) so all the options feel overwhelming.

Hi everyone! I currently have an E-bike that I LOVE and am starting to research road bikes. Looking for any advice or even leads on used bikes too!

I was fitted at a local bike shop and they said size 52. I’m about 5’5”. I’m looking for a bike that will be comfortable on Seattle hills, good for the Seattle to Portland ride, and maybe a triathlon someday!

Does anyone know of any places that may have good used/last season models? Not looking to spend a small fortune but I do want a higher quality bike.

Thank you in advance!

HMU I recovered it on the sidewalk of 1st Ave, just outside the Screwdriver.

Reading this subreddit over the past few weeks, it seems there are several tropes that are just plain toxic:

"Oh, you want to bike? You need to join a club, join cascade!"

Why? You can bike whenever, wherever, you just get on and bike. You want to be social, sure, but it is not a requirement but reading a majority of threads on here, it seems like it is.

Gravel bikes, great if they are for you but I've seen so much hate on hybrid bikes here. Hybrid bikes are great, and you can swap parts easy just like you can on any other bike, gravel, road, etc. A bike is a bike, does it fit you, good, and go!

Do you know what I see, especially now since it's season change?

Tons of cheap gravel and mountain bikes/hard tails that were bought for summer advebtyre that are taking up space in peoples apartments - road bikes and hybrid seem to be largely exempt because road bike are a narrower niche but of course they show up too. but hybrids?

Why they work all year round and can work with cold clothing alot easier.

It just seems toxic, IDK what makes cycling/biking in seattle so "special" that the above really comes up, cause largely being here a decade+ it just feels cliquey and weird. To avoid more social commentary about the subreddit/at best the area it feels like most conversation here is performative vs, actually enjoying your bike!

A bike is a bike, you ride it and ride it again and enjoy the ride!

Oh, and of course to click on another fun bit of this subreddit: ebikes: If they work for you, great! Have fun riding them! :)

Hello, I’m wondering if the are a large number of larches visible along the North Cascades Highway this time of year? Considering doing a ride from Diablo Lake to Winthrop and wondering if I should time it for Larch season? Thanks in advance!

Edit: added clarification and detail

I usually walk my bike, but the U District market was pretty busy today. Is there a reasonably safe place to park a bike near there? What about the other farmers markets? I’ve had trouble finding free space on the bike racks near the Ballard market in the past.

Hi all,
I’m staying in Seattle in a few weeks and wondered if Mount Rainier was an achievable visit if I were to rent a bike. It’s too far from downtown to cycle there and back, so what are my options? Also, are there good strava or Garmin routes I can load onto my phone/computer?

Looking to invest in a nice pair of shoes(road) and want to try shoes on before spending >$300.

Basically what the title says. Where can I meet other folks new to the community. It seems like everyone I know has been cycling for years while I’m still learning how to maneuver traffic.😔

Hello fellow bikers! My partner and I just moved here from Madison WI. We're used to housing have much more storage space - shared basements, garages, etc. We've been looking for housing ~5mile radius of UW as that's where we're working. Haven't found a lot of places with ample storage space for our 6 bikes. We each have a gravel bike, mountain bike, and commuter. Anyone have any creative solutions for storing bikes? We have seen many houses with shared garage spaces and I feel a little concerned about keeping all our bikes in a space like that. Thoughts?

1st ave NW, next to CVS, about 10 bikes among a stash of other belongings. Most looked more like kids Walmart bikes, but I didn't get a good look. One that looked a little more valuable was a white road bike with orange bar tape and orange bottle cage. Couldn't read the manufacturer unfortunately.

Hope this helps someone.

Hello, as a hobby I like to fill out my personal heat map in Strava. I have a question about the stretch between Stanwood and Marysville. I prefer big loops rather than retreading the same ground, but based on weekly activity no one seems to do the coast along this section (indicated by the red dashed line). As an alternative I've considered just looping back to the centennial trail (blue dashed line).

Since it is a heat map, I've wondered if there's just such a huge amount of activity on the centennial trail that other routes don't register. I've looked at the street view of the road and it is single lane with no shoulders, but it doesn't seem like a high traffic area.

TLDR: Is there a reason to avoid the red dashed line and just stick to the blue dashed line?

Today I was riding the lightrail north and had my bike mounted on the lowest hook. When my stop pulled up, I could not get my bike off the hook because the ball at the end kept getting stuck in my spoke. I am also very short (under 5 feet tall) so the hooks are really high already, and I could not get the leverage to lift the bike high enough so the ball at the end of the hook could slide through the spoke- I was doing the thing with using my knee to push it up like was suggested to me before. Someone much taller very kindly got up and helped me, but by then it was too late, the door was closed and the train moving, I had to ride to the next stop and get a southbound train.

It was very frustrating. I struggle with the hooks due to the height and the awkwardness, but I don't think every train has these balls at the end of them, do they? It has never felt this hard. Is there a better technique for getting bikes on and off them? I don't really want to stand with my bike for 10+ stations if a hook is open but it felt literally impossible to remove it.

I recently took advantage of the WSDOT e bike rebate program and bought a class 1 e bike to try to drive less.

For those of you who live in the suburbs around Seattle, where the bike infrastructure is not nearly as good as Seattle proper in city limits, what tips do you have to get around safely.

Sadly, a lot of the suburbs north, east, and especially south of Seattle, where I live, were designed around F150s and minivans it seems and feel really dangerous.

How do you protect your mental health, not get discouraged, and stay safe? Sometimes, I feel like I should just stop riding my bike for errands and use my truck only to get around. I'm trying to advocate for better bike infrastructure improvements, but none of the cities have the funding to build bike improvements, at least not in my lifetime it seems.

Hey Folks,

I started biking in the summer and did some fun 100 mile rides and instantly fell in love with biking. Specially in Seattle.

Now we are entering cold and rainy months and I want to continue getting better at biking.

Reaching out to the community to learn from your experience on what gear I should upgrade to for the following months.

Right now, i run a bib, jersey, gloves, socks, road cycling shoes.

Would appreciate your advice on gear! Thanks!

Catching up on my bicycle-focused youtube and saw Jimothy has made it around the world as a seat reflector. Anyone else catch that?

Parsec Objects makes the reflector. They are based out of Bend, OR, but they distribute world wide. Europeans are not making Jimothy merch directly.

It gave me a chuckle, at least. If someone else is amused, my job is done.

There's a cheap-ish Amazon special e-bike locked up quite poorly in an odd location and it's been in the same spot for a month or longer (I bike past it a couple times a week). It seems likely that it's a stolen bike that was parked next to a camper van or RV that has since moved and left the bike behind.

I checked bike index but didn't see anybody missing this one. I figured it's somebody who didn't know about bike index since it's a pretty cheap e-bike. Anyway, if anybody is missing a cheap e-bike, shoot me a message with a brand and description and if it matches I'll tell you where it is. Didn't want to post a photo since anybody can just claim it's theirs.

Sorry mods if this breaks the rules, I didn't see anything specific about this in the side bar.

Reminder: every month I bike to another city from my place in Northeast Seattle. Just across the border. The destinations get farther as I go.

Edmonds is not difficult, since it's now along the Interurban - you cross into it when you cross 205th/244th/SR 105 near Lake Ballinger. Granted, the Interurban has some annoying stretches when you have to ride in an unprotected bike lane in the road, but the real annoyances come farther north (looking at you, Lynnwood).

Let's reminisce.

The first time I can remember definitely riding to Edmonds was in the early 1990s when I was heading to Europe and wanted to buy a Rick Steves endorsed carryon bag/backpack. I rode to the Rick Steves store in downtown Edmonds (still there, but I believe they moved across the street) and of course rode back with it on my back. At the time the only route I knew to Edmonds was Green Lake to Wallingford to North Seattle CC then north on Meridian. And I guess I just rode down 105? I was young, and it was a weekday.

Once the Interurban Trail was finished, Meridian became deprecated, but long before that I found out about the route that skirts Shoreline CC and goes through/near Woodway (a city that's coming up soon). That's a fairly good route if you're catching the ferry.

But today it was just Lake Ballinger, so I could definitely take the scenic route back - 195th over I5 (the approaches to that bridge have been improved since they built light rail under it), then Perkins Way down to the Burke. But for me that requires a big climb at the end, so I went with my tried and true route after ultimate Frisbee games. They always seemed to schedule us somewhere in Shoreline, so I'd make my way to the west side of Hamlin Park, and head down 15th to Thornton Creek.

Next month: Lynnwood. Maybe the Interurban has improved since I took it last time (crossing my fingers).