I lived in London 15 years, liked it, but not so great for the outdoors life, beaches, riding etc. Moved to Cardiff for last 8 years, I still like it but my work situation has changed and it's given me the oportunity to travel, possibly abroad.

What is your folks opinion on Citys, the best for life style, standard of living, things to do?

Only condition for me is that it's English speaking, my language skills suck. Anyone live anywhere they think is great?

I'll be the first to declare Edinburgh.

Another vote for Edinburgh

Glasgow because there is a vibrancy about the city and it's easy to get to some nice big hills.- I thought Edinburgh was an unfriendly place to live.

Melbourne by a country mile.

Kathmandu, fantastic climate, great food, great biking and miles of it from the door.

i loved brussels but best place ive lived is morgin its a fantastic location 🙂

Sheffield. Amazing trails right out the door, big city facilities but feels small and friendly. I came to uni here and never left.

Montréal. Hands down.

@corroded, my old work has offices in sydney and melbourne, i've heard it's pretty nice there, what makes it so good for you? is there much riding to be had?

Amsterdam. Really had a great 2 years living there.. And not just because of the obvious… Great people, great area, and had one of the best bunch of people I've ever workd with.

Another vote for Glasgow, great people, great night life, great cycling near by.

UK: Edinburgh
otherwise: Paris or Copenhagen
(worst: Houston)

Can't be Glasgow, he said his language skills sucked

Huddersfield.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

My issues with riding in Australia would be twofold; too bloody hot half the year, and not the network of trails that exist over here. Not much you can do about the weather, but local knowledge would improve the riding I guess. Beaches of course are fantastic 🙂

Any particular reason you'd have to live in a city? You could live in the country and commute.

The best city I've lived in was Salisbury and even then I couldn't wait to get out. It's nice and small, and encircled by rolling hills. Now living about 4 miles away in a small town, best of both worlds IMO.

UK: Newcastle upon Tyne, a great City surrounded by fantastic countryside and coastal beauty. I came here 15 years ago and love it….

Abroad: Seattle or Vancouver, North American without the madness. Clean, safe, great standard of living and more outdoor fun than you could manage in a lifetime

IMO Cape Town, working here for a World Cup project, but mountain biking is the fastest growing sport here they organise events almost every weekend and there are loads of trails to get out on. Plus the cost of living is really cheap, bottle of beer in the tourist areas about £1. Crime in cape Town no worse than any major city, but avoid JoBurg after dark!

I've lived in Cardiff, Colchester, London and Oxford!
Cardiff is by far the best! You have everything in one place, a great city, sea and mountains on the doorstep for some awesome riding or trail centres locally for a change. I'm dying to move back to Cardiff! hopefully soon!

Adeliade in australia…awesome, the hills have loads of really good mountain and road bike riding and are cool enough in the mornings and evenings…amazing place…i was there for 8 yrs and should have stayed longer

Auckland. Relaxed vibe. Great road riding scene. Close to some fantastic mountain biking. Came back home after a few year, regret it every day. A bit wet and clod in the winter, but that's the only drawback.

Hobart. Got here 9 years ago & everything just fell into place. Within a week I'd met a good crew to ride with, a great job & the girl I married last year. Everything you could want in a city, but small enough to be nice to live in.
& the singletrack is right over the road.

Durham. 3 years at University. Someone pls invent a time machine so i can go back again.

Brisbane

Don't really like cities, but I could never tire of Paris.

Spindleruv Mlyn, beautiful mountains with no access restrictions, loads of single and friendly Norwegian girls in the Winter or Czech birds in the Summer. Beer is virtually free, food awesome, views to die for.

London-Best and worst!

Lived in London, Sheffield, Chester, Hull, Coventry and New York. New York is the best but prefer the (Surrey) countryside now.

Brighton.

Chichester

Florence. Liking Portland, Oregon a lot.

Edinburgh – by a big margin!

Leiden, Netherlands
(with Bristol a close 2nd)

I've lived in London, Canterbury, Peterborough, Lincoln, Sheffield and Nottingham.

Canterbury is a lovely place, the right size and great to look at. Bit touristy though.

London is a sh*te-hole, full of bloody Londoners and takes for-ever to get out of.

It's a no-brainer though, Sheff has the night life, the people and of course the Peak on the door step.

APF

San Diego would get my vote, although I hear San Fran and as above Portland, OR are supposed to be great. California just has everything from great beaches to skiing, it is the birth place of mountain biking, great food its even got yosemite. Nuff said.

ANother vote for Edinburgh

the only city I've lived in was Bradford, from '82 when I went to uni, to '98 when I finally got out into the 'burbs. Sh&thole.

now in a 'village' on the outskirts of the Bradford district, but with trails, hills & countryside right from the doorstep. Still have to go through town to get to the motoroway to work though. Still a sh&thole, made worse by the Westfield Hole where they promised a shopping centre

but it is cheaper than Leeds 😉

Sheffield, haven't live there yet but hope to do a pgce there next year and have spent a decent ammount of time there visiting friends. The riding on your doorstep is awesome, the people are really friendly and down to earth and its a cheap place to live.

Vancouver – wish I could have stayed longer than a year.

Best biking in the world on your doorstep, skiing, ocean, great food

+1 for Glasgow in the UK and Vancouver globally