I’ve often wondered if some cities have inherent qualities that lend themselves to cycling more than other cities. And when one city recently declared itself the cycling capital of Canada (rather presumptuously, in my opinion), it gave me the nudge I needed to break out the spreadsheets and whiteboard.
In other words: This is me looking at a Victoria, B.C. and Montreal, Quebec, to see if they have some kind of cycling secret sauce.
0:00 Introduction
1:31 What are these Canadian cities anyway?
1:57 How bikeable are they really?
2:26 Demographic similarities and differences
3:08 Comparing data to a regular, not-so-bikeable city
7:05 Do politics explain their bike-friendliness?
9:43 Cycling innovation
10:57 Civic vibes
13:25 Thank you to brand-new Patreon members!
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26 Comments
I ordered a Priority continuum Onyx on July 15, 2024, and received it in Canada the following July 19. It is an excellent bike. However, mine arrived not only damaged, but also defective. The bike had receive multiple hits, for wich I provided photos, and had a broken caliper.
Customer service was quick to help. Unfortunately, this service is as fast as it is impotent to actually help. Basically, I strongly advise against buying a Priority if you're outside the United States since then you are far from being one of their priorities.
Here's my exchange with Priority so you can make your own opinion:
1. Priority
Thanks for reaching out and congrats on your new Priority Onyx! Sorry to hear about the issues you've been experiencing. Let's get this sorted out!
First, for the knocks and paint issues, it does sound like a shipping mishap. While not ideal, using the included touch-up paint should help cover those spots. As a small token of goodwill, we can offer you a $35 refund or a $50 store credit. Just let me know which you'd prefer!
For the brake issue, it seems like there's a problem with the calipers. Could you or your bike shop fill out this form so we can get you the right parts or further assistance?
Looking forward to getting your bike in perfect shape!
2. Me
Thank you for your reply. I have filled in the form.
The bike was not damaged during transport. The box was almost intact (I took photos before opening it, which I can send you). The bike was also protected by some packaging.
I was sent a damaged bike.
Several parts that should not have been assembled on the bike were. The brake disc, front reflector, rear mudguard, etc. The front brake cable had been incorrectly attached (I had to undo the assembly to run it through the outside as shown in the YouTube video).
Everything suggests that I was sent a bike that had already been used.
3. Priority
Thanks for filling out the form! My tech team will reach out to you pronto to help with the defective brake. Regarding the bike appearing used, if you could wait until tomorrow, I'll have a solution from my customer support manager for you.
4. Priority
I'm sorry but I looked at your order, and since you're in Canada, we can't provide a direct warranty.
To make things right, we're happy to offer you a partial refund for $50 or a store credit gift card for $75. Also, for the brake caliper, you can replace it with a compatible system at a local bike shop.
Thanks for understanding, and we're here to help!
5. Me
So I'm pretty much expected to replace the broken caliper I've never ride with at my expense.
One could conclude that if Priority deliver broken pieces outside of USA it's just too bad and "thanks for understanding".
They since offered me to ship a new caliper (+/- 80$ of value). Still, if I could just ship the whole bike back to get my money and my time back I would.
It really feels like they want to help you, but can't really. That must be taken into account before buying.
Montreal should have been a poutine, never had 1 better than from Montreal
The cities are very different in size and population. I think Victoria, being a government town, the politics are very different. There is a different approach to urban planing. Montreal has real challenges because they are working to house a population that earns less than government workers. This means every kind of person and family live in the city in large numbers. Victoria's bike valet that is fancy. In Montreal not everyone works downtown. Some building owners make accommodations to park your bike and that is great but not the best incentive.
In the case of Montreal I think the city can not spend a single penny on bike infrastructure and bicycle usage would remain the same. Even if you scrapped Bixi. There are many great trails in place. People are used to riding for work and pleasure. Even if a new administration is elected and they remove some lanes on streets I don't think it will have a big impact. I wonder if in Victoria the same is true.
In Bogota, Colombia, there are lots of paid bike parking, even in malls and parking lots there are spaces for specific for bikes, many are paid some are free, but the cost is less than a quarter of the cost for park a car, which is completely ok to have peace of mind about the bike not being stolen.
In Winnipeg I’ve moved 3 times all within 5kms of my 7 jobs in last 17 yrs. Your right, short distance makes it easy to bus & bike. Winter biking since 2020. When one of my jobs was 8 km I bought an e-Bike.
Montreal is unique and has always been ranked at the top best biking cities in the world with more than 1,000 of biking infrastructure . Montréal is a world class metropolis , a leading-edge AI and urban development ecosystems, academic institutions,.Greater Montréal is clearly leading the way on sustainability—a key pillar of our strategy to build a green economy that is resilient and inclusive.
Quite a learning 🙂
Montreal has always been ranked the best biking city in North america and one of the best in the world . Victoria has never been mentionned .
Montreal has more than 1,000 km of biking infrastructure on the island all year long ( even in winter ) . Montreal has the largest urban parks in Canada ( 2,000 acres ) , 5 times the size of Stanley park ( 400 acres ),the most sustainable city ( Vancouver welcome 329 cruiseships , coastal gas link and not a green city ) .
Montreal ranks at the top best biking cities in the world . I have never heard of Victoria on any reports .
Suburban American here just hoping for some road shoulders… someday… maybe.
So, what did you decide on about the sandwich? That 5th thought? Regarding the declaration for Victoria (That's the name of a city in south-east Texas also.) don't you suppose that it might be more about collecting more tourist dollars than anything else? Not to be really cynical about it. But if not that, then you wouldn't think they'd be proclaiming it.
It’s giving: “I DECLARE… BANRUPTCY!”
just came back from a bikepacking trip in Vancouver island and i wouldn't know about Montreal's infrastructure and biking there, but biking there is fantastic.
Dudes name is Tom and looks like a healthier Thom Yorke Lmao. Y'all are probably related or distant cousins.
Some of Monteal's suburbs are on the Island of Montreal. The city of Montreal doesn't occupy the entire island.
The island is about 50 kms long & it occupies 472.55 km2. The city of Montreal occupies 365.13 km2 of that 472.55 km2.
The uni-city vs. multi-city idea would also apply to the biking success of Paris.
Winnipegger here. I’m a committed bike commuter. I can’t argue with our limited bikeability. It’s gotten much better the last few years but admittedly the priorities here are still very car-centric with just an overall unwillingness to change.
However yes our home affordability and standard of living is better so more people own homes especially in the newer subdivisions.
More people end up driving from these suburbs.
Having said all this, I feel encouraged that I see more people on the existing bike infrastructure every year so it is slowly happening maybe just not as quickly as some other cities.
Our advocacy here also is woefully inadequate… I rarely pay attention to folks like the ‘bike mayor’… they just seem a little juvenile in their approach.
Doesn’t matter though , I’m still out riding every day in spite of it all.
Change starts at home.
I was so sure that was a royal lion for Victoria 😂
Really interesting deep dive Tom! That is really interesting about the one council vs many, but it does kind of make sense I guess that it gives the more urban core the freedom to better meet it's specific needs.
Jason (JP) from Bentonville, AR the self proclaimed, “MTB Capitol of the World!” However, it was not the city that pitched this claim but the Marketing arm of the Walton (as in Walmart) family.
I think this distinction is different from here because this was a bit marketing sure but also a bit different of a ‘commitment’ as well. NWA where Bentonville is located is definitely a MTB destination and tourism spot. Heck the Olympic trials were held here and the U.S. Olympic MTB team has lived and trained here. When GCN visited they didn’t confirm but certainly indicated that is anyone wants to challenge that bold claim they have their work cut out for them.
The thing is that this focus has had interesting trickle down effects. For instance to get to many MTB destinations Bike Lanes and separated Greenways have been built spanning the entire corner of the state. Much more than most Suburban or Semi-Urban areas I’ve visited have had. We have eBikes and Cargo bikes making huge showings already on the eve of a city eBike rebate program.
Then the cycling has expanded beyond just MTBing we’ve hosted the Pump Track Worlds, Cyclocross Worlds, National Cyclocross, the Big Sugar Gravel part of the Lifetime Grand Prix off-road tour, the Amped Electric Games which feature OneWheel and Electric Unicycles, the PeopleForBikes Annual Bike Industry conference, the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA) training week, and an Adaptive Off Road event.
The irony is that someone in a recent discussion around health and eBikes have mentioned that I’d never hit my level 2 cardio zone. I responded that the only zone I tend to worry about on my commutes leads with ‘Construction’ with a huge Downtown Bike-Ped corridor, new Walmart HO cutting out a major chunk of our Greenway arterial, countless hotels coming in, and roadwork to deal with growth NWA also had the highest number of construction cranes per capita of anywhere in North America.
Heck it seems like a strange thing to complain about but a major section of greenway was put in but a surfacing was used that made it slick and unsafe so they ripped it out and replaced it almost as soon as it had gone in.
I guess what I’m trying to say is there is a difference in a city self proclamation and a benefactor backer backing up the marketing hype. At the moment NWA isn’t a commuter paradise but in about a year time it honestly could be. Heck ask your buddy Mr. Brunt about his time here or look up Seth’s videos from Berm Peak when he moved here for a month.
Funny story I was heading to do the types of bikes in your community count from your subscriber milestone and I heard Seth’s voice from off the Greenway I was walking in and paused to say high once he finished his video. I didn’t even know he was in the area.
When you started the video talking about a self proclaimed Best city title my thoughts went back to the first time I heard the “MTB capitol of the world” claim and I laughed but slowly with time (years) it’s went from “self proclaimed” to simply self proclaimed and the way it is going that add on may get dropped all together and the self proclaimed might get added to “Gravel Capitol” next and then the qualifier for type of biking might just drop off.
Heck even ARDOT who is notoriously terrible for cyclists-pedestrians-disabled just opened up their latest project for Bentonville for public comment and it’s got a 12-foot bike path and design that doesn’t cross highway on ramps and leans in on gravel and MTB access, it’s not perfect but I honestly was blown away as ARDOT is a tough nut to crack.
Look forward to your more research focused videos. If you like to go down the rabbit hole of research about the place OneWheels and EUCs have in the micro-mobility space I’d be happy pitch in on the research side.
I think if you're going to talk about Victoria you should talk about the entire CRD (or at least Victoria, Esquimalt, Saanich, and OB)
i’m working towards a masters in urban planning and really appreciate the multiple lenses that you looked at this through 🙂 lots to think about!
As someone who bikes from Langford to Victoria weekly, this has been a very interesting watch! My bike is my primary mode of transportation around the Victoria BC area, and I have a lot of hope for future bike infrastructure. Even in the last two years there's been a huge influx of new cyclists on the paths! It's great to see more people wanting to ride! I hope we see greater expansion of bike lanes and multi-use paths soon 😀
I'm perfectly happy having you
throwing Winnipeg under the bususing Winnipeg as a control group. But I was disappointed that you didn't use it in the second half of the video. Didn't go into why Winnipeg is not a bike friendly city. I have my opinions and I would like to see how others see it.You didn't mention it but let's be honest, Victoria has the mildest winter weather in all of Canada, which will help with people continuing to cycle throughout the year. That being said, would love to bike around in Victoria to explore their bike path system 🙂
Ottawa is perhaps the worst affected city in Canada its political system. It amalgamating massive swats of areas, bigger than montreal, toronto, vancouver, and calgary put together. So when comes time for election, all the suburbs out vote the core city and the result is the core of Ottawa and the people who live in it suffering with terrible transit and barely any bike lanes.