What’s a great place to retire for an e-biker?

[Alaskan]

You said the Arizona desert may not be for you but I think Flagstaff checks just about every box you have:

1. No state income tax.
2. Very reasonable housing prices.
3. It is pretty rural but is big enough to have the kind of city amenities you’re looking for like public transit . Population 70,000.
4. Lots of trails in the city and surrounding area.
5. Average high is 81 in July and 43 in January. Phoenix and it’s warm winter weather is only 2 hours away. Downhill skiing in the mountains is also close by.
6. It’s 45 minutes from the biking Mecca of Sedona and 2 hours from the amazing scenery of southern Utah (not to mention the Grand Canyon which is 30 minutes away).
7. Low crime.

You make Flagstaff sound quite appealing. Am I correct that the Flagstaff area is also a bit greener than most of Arizona?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

You make Flagstaff sound quite appealing. Am I correct that the Flagstaff area is also a bit greener than most of Arizona?

Yes, Flagstaff is at a substantially higher elevation and is well-timbered. Of course, like much of the Interior West, it is also extremely flammable.

There are a lot of very appealing towns in the Interior West but until this fire thing gets sorted out I wouldn't recommend moving into them.

 

[Dionigi]

Yes, Flagstaff is at a substantially higher elevation and is well-timbered. Of course, like much of the Interior West, it is also extremely flammable.

There are a lot of very appealing towns in the Interior West but until this fire thing gets sorted out I wouldn't recommend moving into them.

That might not be in our lifetime, but who knows things might look better after 2020.

 

[tctjh0]

You make Flagstaff sound quite appealing. Am I correct that the Flagstaff area is also a bit greener than most of Arizona?

Yes it is much greener. It gets about 22 inches of precipitation a year vs 8 or so inches in Phoenix. Lots of pine forest but also deciduous trees like aspen.

 

[tctjh0]

Yes, Flagstaff is at a substantially higher elevation and is well-timbered. Of course, like much of the Interior West, it is also extremely flammable.

There are a lot of very appealing towns in the Interior West but until this fire thing gets sorted out I wouldn't recommend moving into them.

I don’t know that fires should be a reason to not move out west. Tornadoes and flooding kill a lot more people and damage more homes than forest fires. There is some haze maybe a week or two a year. That’s generally it. 100,000,000 people live in the western US and get along just fine.

 

[TForan]

We have 60 miles of hard surface bike trails , here in Traverse City, but you have a lot of winter to deal with. The summers are glorious.

 

[bob armani]

Thanks for all the responses. I was thinking of Algarve, Portugal. The weather is very temperate (in the winter) and flats are on the cheap side compared to the rest or Europe. I'm not sure about the bike infra. I'll probably go next summer.

Ah, also, Portugal has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe. So it ticks that box too.

Ah yes, I spent some time in the Algarve in Faro Portugal. I also had a a chance to bicycle ride thanks to our friends we had at the Villa we stayed in. An incredibly beautiful place to be year round and very friendly environment. The Marina nearby is also picturesque and a great place for outdoor painting.
'En plein air (French for outdoors,) or plein air' Good Luck and happy travels!

 

[Cowlitz]

I don’t know that fires should be a reason to not move out west. Tornadoes and flooding kill a lot more people and damage more homes than forest fires. There is some haze maybe a week or two a year. That’s generally it. 100,000,000 people live in the western US and get along just fine.

It isn't just the fire. You may live miles away but have to deal with thick smoke for weeks. Last summer we had a fire In BC to the north, CA fires to the south, a fairly close fire raging in the Pasayten wilderness to the west, and fires to the east. It wasn't fun. I left for a bit to a still smoky, but not as bad spot, but I had to come home. That has happened for the last few years. I will get a headache the first day and then have a scratchy feeling throat for the duration. A lot of folks wear masks, but my nose is running so bad that it doesn't work too well.

I used to go out on fire crews once in a while. Even then, it seemed we could get out of the smoke for a while. Times have changed. I hope we have a damp summer this year.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Re Portugal, this is pretty entertaining:

 

[Cowlitz]

Here is an example of not too bad smoke from various fires. We had it worse in August.

 

[tctjh0]

It isn't just the fire. You may live miles away but have to deal with thick smoke for weeks. Last summer we had a fire In BC to the north, CA fires to the south, a fairly close fire raging in the Pasayten wilderness to the west, and fires to the east. It wasn't fun. I left for a bit to a still smoky, but not as bad spot, but I had to come home. That has happened for the last few years. I will get a headache the first day and then have a scratchy feeling throat for the duration. A lot of folks wear masks, but my nose is running so bad that it doesn't work too well.

I used to go out on fire crews once in a while. Even then, it seemed we could get out of the smoke for a while. Times have changed. I hope we have a damp summer this year.

Yes, there can some smoke/haze to deal with sometimes. I never found it too bad and its usually just a few weeks at most. The worst smoke I've had to deal was actually when I lived in north Florida. They have fires all the time.

 

[Alaskan]

We were hit with two weeks of horrid air quality from the fires in August. Scratchy throat and inadvisable to do any outdoor exertion. I would still rather live here than someplace covered with snow for a third of the year or frequently hit with thunderstorms, tornadoes or hurricanes. There is no perfect climate (except maybe San Diego) but they have fires and mudslides occasionally. Pick your poison.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I don’t know that fires should be a reason to not move out west. Tornadoes and flooding kill a lot more people and damage more homes than forest fires. There is some haze maybe a week or two a year. That’s generally it. 100,000,000 people live in the western US and get along just fine.

I suspect that residents and former residents of Paradise, CA, Santa Rosa, CA, Fort McMurray, AL, and Gatlinburg, TN might have a different perspective than you do.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

We were hit with two weeks of horrid air quality from the fires in August. Scratchy throat and inadvisable to do any outdoor exertion. I would still rather live here than someplace covered with snow for a third of the year or frequently hit with thunderstorms, tornadoes or hurricanes. There is no perfect climate (except maybe San Diego) but they have fires and mudslides occasionally. Pick your poison.

... with the qualification that human behavior has a much larger effect with respect to wildfire risk than for any other natural disaster I can think of. There are a lot of dials on the machine that we humans have mucked up with respect to wildfire risk. There aren't any such clear connections with respect to earthquakes or tornados, and while you could make arguments about flooding events and hurricanes there are still far more clear correlations with human activity and wildfires, especially catastrophic wildfires.

 

[DDBB]

Gatlinburg TN. ... what a tourist trap!

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

The title subject is a bit of an open question, and it probably can be subject to many different interpretations.

So I’ll refine a bit:

• Rural area with a strong community or a smaller city. I don’t like big cities, but I’m not looking to live in the middle of nowhere either…
• Favorable (unambiguous) e-bike laws. I would commit to the e-bike as sole means of transportation, but only with laws that are clear.
• Reasonable housing prices in a relatively safe neighbourhood. I don’t need luxury.
• Daily errands and activities can be done by e-bike. That means a bike infrastructure which offers a relative degree of safety.
• Sufficient trails and paths for leisure rides.
• The climate in summer is fairly moderate (meaning not too hot). I have trouble over 90F. I wouldn’t see myself living in the Arizona desert.
• Winters would allow for moderate e-biking (enough to do your errands), even if it means piling on the layers of clothes and buying a fat e-bike
• Some form of public transportation, just in case the snow piles up. Stuff happens…
• A LBS which carries or works on e-bikes would be a nice to have, just in case.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I realise that some areas (countries or US states) have some very favorable tax laws for retirees whereas others don’t. But this wouldn’t be a primary consideration for the moment…

@JayVee
I thought Swiss was a pretty decent place for E-bikers.
Lots of great responses in this thread. I have not lived long enough to share any particular place. But, I know that Northern Montana and Vermont are extremely beautiful and a great place to ride bikes from May until October.

 

[Chancelucky2]

I suspect that residents and former residents of Paradise, CA, Santa Rosa, CA, Fort McMurray, AL, and Gatlinburg, TN might have a different perspective than you do.

As someone who spent most of his life in California, I believe the paired management of water and fire in the west remains a serious problem. Much of California is essentially a desert and the state, especially the southern part, wasn't meant to support anywhere near its current population levels. It's also still quite beautiful and the weather's terrific for biking. Now that i'm in the Southeast, there are similar things going on, but there's a lot more rainfall.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

The title subject is a bit of an open question, and it probably can be subject to many different interpretations.

So I’ll refine a bit:

• Rural area with a strong community or a smaller city. I don’t like big cities, but I’m not looking to live in the middle of nowhere either…
• Favorable (unambiguous) e-bike laws. I would commit to the e-bike as sole means of transportation, but only with laws that are clear.
• Reasonable housing prices in a relatively safe neighbourhood. I don’t need luxury.
• Daily errands and activities can be done by e-bike. That means a bike infrastructure which offers a relative degree of safety.
• Sufficient trails and paths for leisure rides.
• The climate in summer is fairly moderate (meaning not too hot). I have trouble over 90F. I wouldn’t see myself living in the Arizona desert.
• Winters would allow for moderate e-biking (enough to do your errands), even if it means piling on the layers of clothes and buying a fat e-bike
• Some form of public transportation, just in case the snow piles up. Stuff happens…
• A LBS which carries or works on e-bikes would be a nice to have, just in case.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I realise that some areas (countries or US states) have some very favorable tax laws for retirees whereas others don’t. But this wouldn’t be a primary consideration for the moment…

New Bern, NC (where I live) checks almost all your boxes. We are off the beaten path if you want amenities a small town can't offer, but Wilmington is only 90 minutes away, and Raleigh is 2 hours. There is no bike infrastructure on our streets but my wife and I have adapted well. It does get hot in the summer but winters are very mild. No public transportation.

We live in a small community about 5 miles out of town and do most of our errands etc. on ebikes. Lots of fun places to ride nearby, if you have a rack on your car (as we do.)

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Oh yeah, and it's called New Bern because - you guessed it - the original colonists were from Bern, Switzerland.

 

[Dionigi]

That's on the other side of the Roschtigraben. They're our enemies.

In popular culture, they're the "totos" (Swiss Germans) and we're the Welches (Swiss French). The Roschtigraben is an imaginary boundary that separates the linguistic regions. It originates from the name for hashed potatoes, rosti, which is a typical Bernese or Swiss German dish.

My wife’s family is from Biel which I think divided between French and Schweizerdeutsch. They like potatoes and fondue.