[Closed] Cardiff vs Manchester vs Leeds

Most of the nicer bits of Leeds are north of the city, and mostly outside the outer ring road. Which coincides nicely with most of the decent off road riding, which gets better the further northwest you get, imho.
Great for shopping if that's your thing - plenty of city centre parking (not all that cheap mind, £3/hr except the Merrion Centre at weekends, £1/hr for the first 3 hours ) and the CBD is really very compact.
Good music scene too, and now the Arena is open, good sized artists have a decent venue to play.

The Loop is not that difficult once you get used to it. Airport is nicer than Manchester Airport IMO - and easier to get to except by train - although granted not as many destinations.