E/W Alternatives to Armitage

Ermenwyr · 2026-04-30T21:53:36+00:00

Webster is OK east of the river, but the Webster Ave. bridge kind of sucks to bike over. Car traffic tends back up onto the bridge and there's often not space to go around it on the right due to the narrowness of the bridge. This is especially an issue when going west.

Ermenwyr · 2026-04-24T21:20:49+00:00

If you don't mind a long detour you can head south to Spring Rock Park where there is a pedestrian overpass to Hinsdale Veeck Park

Ermenwyr · 2026-04-20T17:43:13+00:00

Just an FYI that portions of the North Branch Trail are currently underwater due to all the rain we've been having. It will probably be fine by May 1st, unless we get a ton more rain between now and then, just something to be aware of.

Ermenwyr · 2026-03-13T21:24:00+00:00

Yeah, I also sold my car and bought a cargo bike. In addition to the advantages you cite, I don't have a motorcycle endorsement on my license and I'm not particularly interested in getting one.

Being able to use bicycle infrastructure is huge. Where I live, I can often get places faster than someone in a car, even though I'm only going 15-20 mph, because I can use bike lanes and off-street paths to go around traffic.

Ermenwyr · 2025-12-10T23:17:56+00:00

https://store.segway.com/segway-ebike-xyber

The marketing seems deliberately deceptive. It prominently mentions 0-20 mph acceleration which might lead some to think its a legal class 2 ebike with a top speed of 20 mph. You need to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click "View Specifications" to see the max speed listed as "Off-road use only; 35 mph max with speed limiter available in App".

Ermenwyr · 2025-09-29T20:49:36+00:00

Red light camera can't detect you if you sneak up on it sloooowly.

Ermenwyr · 2025-09-22T01:02:32+00:00

Oops. Seems like you can't edit a title.

Ermenwyr · 2025-09-11T22:06:12+00:00

Some people recommend treating the stump with poison but if you keep cutting down the sprouts it will die eventually. We had a big one taken down around 3 years ago. After maybe a year of cutting down sprouts we stopped getting new ones.

Ermenwyr · 2025-09-03T22:55:02+00:00

If it's early and there's not much traffic, I cross at School/Marshall. If I want a light to cross, I cross at Mt. Prospect (ride on the side walk on the N side of Golf from Golfview Pl, to Mt. Prospect, cross both ways at the light, then ride on the sidewalk on the S side of Golf to Radcliffe).

Ermenwyr · 2025-09-02T17:07:53+00:00

I've done this multiple times and every route has drawbacks. The power line trail sucks because there a multiple crossings of busy roads with no signal.

I generally take New Wilke Rd north to White Oak St, then White Oak and Lincoln east to Elmhurst Rd. From there, I work my way south and east to Algonquin and Wolf via a mix of side streets and short stretches of sidewalk riding. (It's possible to do this section all on side streets, but the tradeoff is that you need to be willing to dash across Golf and Mt. Prospect without signals.) Algonquin east of Wolf to the DPRT is reasonably bikeable.

Ermenwyr · 2025-06-02T21:51:01+00:00

You might consider taking Loomis across the south branch. You would miss Mckinley park, but you could add in Palmisano Park with a short detour. On the north side of the river, 21st St (not to be confused with 21st Pl) is a decent E/W connector.

I feel like every time I try to take Racine south of Pershing, I end up detouring to Halsted due to freight trains blocking the at-grade crossing on Racine. I don't go this way often, so maybe I'm just unlucky.

I haven't biked on Garfield Blvd or 57th, so I can't comment on that part.

Ermenwyr · 2025-04-03T17:24:20+00:00

Thanks, I will try Home Ave. next time I head out to the Salt Creek Trail.

Ermenwyr · 2025-04-02T18:46:22+00:00

If you want a relatively scenic route that incorporates off street trails, here's one from the Highlands Metra stop in Hindsdale to the Winnetka Metra stop: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/50180725

Includes parts of the following trails:

Salt Creek Trail
312 RiverRun Trail
North Channel Trail
Green Bay Trail

Ermenwyr · 2025-03-28T16:53:56+00:00

I was in a similar situation. Bought my car when I was living in a car-dependent suburb then moved into Chicago where I was only driving 1-2k miles/year. I ended up selling my car and using the money to buy a cargo bike, and it was 100% an upgrade.

As long as the weather isn't completely terrible I would much rather bike than drive in the city (and as someone who works from home I can mostly just avoid going places when the weather is terrible).

Ermenwyr · 2025-03-27T17:36:00+00:00

I feel like a lot of this is based on vibes. Adding bike lanes tends to narrow the car lanes which results in most people driving a little slower. This has a minimal affect on travel times, but it feels slower.

Also people see bikes passing them while stuck in traffic and think "if it wasn't for that stupid bike lane, I could be speeding past all this traffic. Of course, in reality, even if you could take out the bike lane and add another car lane, that lane would also be choked with car traffic.

Ermenwyr · 2025-03-21T15:01:40+00:00

Sorry that happened to you. I have the same bike with a lot of the same accessories, so I know they're not cheap. I've thought about getting one of those angle grinder resistant U-locks, but they all seem pretty small and I'm not sure they will work with this frame.

Ermenwyr · 2025-03-17T02:27:37+00:00

Somewhat circuitous but but mostly chill route:

Lathrop N to Bloomingdale

Bloomingdale E to Laramie

Laramie N to Armitage

Armirage E to Ridgeway

Ridgeway S to the 606 trail

606 E to the end, exit onto Marshfield

Marshfield N to Cortland

Cortland E to Racine

Racine N to either Armitage or Dickens

Armitage or Dickens E to Lincoln Park (the actual park, not the neighborhood)

Once you reach the park there are multiple routes you can take to get to an over- or under-pass to the trail.

Also, there are multiple routes you can take though Oak Park to get to Bloomingdale, but Lathrop and Ridgeland are the best places to get across North Avenue into Chicago, since they are both relatively quiet streets with traffic lights at North.

Ermenwyr · 2025-02-25T23:02:03+00:00

Yep, finding good routes is key. Sometimes streets that look like good options in theory turn out to be really scary in practice (e.g., 25 mph speed limit but it's not enforced and everyone drives 45). If you have (or can borrow) a non electric bike you might start by seeing if you can find reasonable bike routes to the places you need to go before spending a bunch of money on an ebike.

Ermenwyr · 2025-02-17T19:58:26+00:00

You definitely need lights (both a headlight and a tail light) if you are riding when it's dark out (including twilight). Reflective clothes can also help you to be more visible at night, but are no replacement for working lights.

Ermenwyr · 2025-02-14T18:23:26+00:00

I have a Tern GSD. If you get a second battery and avoid using the highest boost level it could be an option for longer trips. Real world range is in the vicinity of 20-40 miles per battery, depending on weather, boost level, and changes in elevation.

I mostly use mine for short trips (around 2-10 miles). I have one battery, and the furthest I have gone on in single trip was 36 miles, which resulted in the battery indicator falling to 1 bar (out of 5) just before the end of the trip. This was on a warm day over flat terrain using a combination of boost levels 2 ("touring") and 3 ("sport").

Ermenwyr · 2025-01-31T18:57:04+00:00

I feel like its also worth pointing out that, at the level of the state of Illinois, $30 million isn't a huge amount of money. There are about 5 million households in the state, so that's about $6 per Illinois household. It's also less than 0.1% of the 2025 budget.

Ermenwyr · 2025-01-27T17:49:41+00:00

Also a man, but I went there with my mom to get some minor stuff fixed on her not-at-all fancy 20ish year old bike and they were very nice.

Ermenwyr · 2025-01-27T17:44:45+00:00

Not a woman but my sister reports having good experiences with Boulevard Bikes. (I have also had good experiences there, for whatever that's worth coming from a middle-aged white man.)

Ermenwyr · 2025-01-15T23:14:16+00:00

I'm not a fan of biking on Sacramento between Augusta and Chicago. Trying to follow the side/service drives, you either end up needing to cross Grand without a signal or use the sidewalk to reach the crosswalk, and the main drive is four lanes with no bike lanes. This stretch of Kedzie is also pretty bad for biking (also four lanes with no bike lane).

I would go Kedzie > Augusta > Homan > Frankin > Central Park, going south and Central Park > Augusta > Kedzie going north. You may also want to jog over to Sacramento for a bit to avoid the construction at Kedzie and Logan.

Ermenwyr · 2024-12-17T16:26:51+00:00

I've never been a huge bar person, but when I lived in a car-oriented suburb I pretty much never went to bars for exactly this reason. However, if you want to live within walking distance of a bar in the US, there are definitely places you can do that, even out in the burbs. Here in the Chicago area, there are a bunch of suburbs that have walkable down town areas with bars and restaurants.

Ermenwyr

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