City and State (or Province): New York, NY

Country: USA

Best and worst seasons for riding: As should be expected anywhere in the north eastern part of the country, the winter is the worse time of year for riding. Not necessarily due to the temperatures, but the possibilities of ice/black ice, and snow. Then there is also the salt that is thrown on the roads to melt the snow and ice. This can cause slippery gravel-like conditions, and will eat your bike to pieces due to its corrosive properties. Other then that, there is not a bad time for commuting in NYC, but please remember, that riding in NYC is commuting, as there really are no good roads within the city that I would classify as for good riding

Best and worst time of day: As with any major metropolitan area, the rush hours are the worst for riding in. For the most part, you could be walking faster then you are riding. Rush hour can extend from about 6:30 AM until 9:30 AM and on the reverse, from about 3:30 PM until almost as late as 7:00 PM. Other than that, you can get in and out of Manhattan relatively easily. If you are attempting to get to Manhattan during the rush hour, and are not willing to break the law by lane splitting, or like me, your bike is too big to safely lane split, then your best bet is to take the side streets to the Williamsburg Bridge.

Best and worst time of year: Due to the sheer volume of traffic in and out of NYC every day, there is no best time of year to be commuting into the city, but the worst time is any holiday weekend, especially the major shopping holidays.

Best and worst roads to take to work: During rush hour, there is no better road to take, as everything is jammed, but on a motorcycle, you can make pretty good time through the streets away from the highways, as you can sneak up to the front at every traffic light as long as the cages cooperate, and don't filter right and left in attempts to get around, or make a turn before the one in front of them.

General impressions on your fellow motorists: For the most part, NY motorists can be very cordial, careful, and generally aware of their surroundings, but don't let that lull you into complacency, as we do have more then our fair share of Road Hawks, and road rage incidents. In my opinion, the highways around NY are the safest way to travel, as the side streets have too many intersections with people always in a rush, and that means that they are rushing, rolling, and blowing stop signs like crazy.

One major tip for riding in Manhattan is to watch out for the Yellow cabs. Now everyone is familiar with the wild antics of the Yellow cabs, as they will do anything to get ahead of or around you, and will make last minute turns, and cut from one side of the road to the other to pick up, or drop off a fare. These are actually the easy ones, as you can expect the worst from them. The really dangerous ones are the so-called normal vehicles. By this I mean the non-commercial traffic in the city, as they are quite often overwhelmed by the amount of traffic, and the unorthodox happenings of the traffic flow, causes them to be highly unpredictable. When riding in Manhattan, your situational awareness has to be set on extreme maximum. If you see someone standing in the street near the parked cars, or curb, you can safely assume that they are looking for a taxi, and if there is a cab anywhere around you, expect the absolute worst thing from them at this time, as they will run you over to get that fare.

How cool or grumpy are the local cops: The cops in NYC get to see society at its ever-loving worst, so if you are being stupid in your actions, they will treat you as such, but if you are not being stupid, and treat them with respect, it is quite possible to actually have a pleasant encounter with a member of NY's finest (or as pleasurable an experience as getting a ticket can be). The NY State Highway Patrol is extremely courteous, and are known to give numerous breaks to those that are not being totally obnoxious. The police officers in the suburbs around NYC are a whole different animal, though.

Your name: Jim DelPriore

Your bike: Honda Valkyrie/ Suzuki Intruder 800

Years/miles riding: Off an on, I have been riding all of my life, and could not even begin to estimate how many total miles I have ridden, but in the past two years alone, I have ridden over 50,000 miles.

* * *

City and State (or Province): NY, NY

Country: USA

Best and worst seasons for riding: Worst: winter, due to black ice even during dry spells, snow-related salt deposits in turns, etc, and of course the freezing temperatures.

Best and worst time of day: In Manhattan depends on if you're traversing peripheral routes or streets and avenues, but generally prior to 8:30am-10am and then from 4pm-6pm is another segment during which traffic is very heavy with slow flow.

Best and worst time of year: Best: April to late September/mid Oct. Worst: October-mid March. Variation in temps in early spring, late fall, affect in between times.

Best and worst roads to take to work: Best - Early morning: FDR Drive along the East River; any city streets or aves. There are also recently-implemented Thru Street rules in effect from 10am-6pm during the week (see NYC DOT for explanations): succinctly, rules dictate no turns off streets or avenues until major cross streets to ease gridlock. Worst: from 8-8:30 to late afternoon.

General impressions on your fellow motorists: As a group motorists here are very amenable to lane splitters. In 4 years of splitting EVERY SINGLE DAY I commute - which is as long as it's above 20degrees F and no snow or ice on the roads - I split lanes average ~5 mi - and have never had someone cut me off to be vindictive. This holds for local surface streets, the Parkways, and area highways. Most will move over to allow safe passage.

How cool or grumpy are the local cops: Depends on the clerk, so to speak. Overall they're ok. In my daily splittling up the FDR Drive I routinely split past NYC cops creeping along in traffic and only once a unit PA'd me to stay in my lane. Suffolk Co. on Long Island however you better behave.

Your name: Dave W

Your bike: Commute on Suzuki GSXF 1100 or one of two Ducatis

Years/miles riding: Years/miles riding: 4yrs/ 75K mi