Biking in Chicago

This guide is for people who want to get around Chicago on two wheels: commuters deciding between buying a bike and leaning on Divvy, weekend riders who want a long flat route with a lake view, and newcomers figuring out which streets are safe. It covers the Lakefront Trail, the 606 and the boulevards that feed it, how Divvy pricing works in 2026, the suburban trails you can reach by Metra, and independent shops for repairs and rentals.

Chicago is flat, and the city now counts more than 500 miles of bikeways, close to 70 of them physically protected. The drawbacks are winter, a Lakefront Trail that turns into a crowd on summer weekends, and plenty of arterials with only a painted stripe between you and a bus.

The Lakefront Trail

The Lakefront Trail runs 18 miles from Ardmore Avenue in Edgewater to 71st Street in South Shore, and since 2018 it has been two trails: an 18-mile bike path and an 18.5-mile pedestrian path, side by side but separated. The two swap sides several times, so watch the pavement markings; walkers have the right of way wherever they cross.

The busiest stretch is North Avenue Beach to Oak Street Beach, where the bike path pinches down and fills with rental bikes and wandering beachgoers from late morning through sunset on any warm weekend. If you want to move, ride before 9 a.m., or go south: from Museum Campus past 31st Street Beach to Promontory Point in Hyde Park the trail is quieter and the skyline view looking north is the one on the postcards.

Getting there and parking

The Red Line runs about a mile inland the whole way, so the practical access points are Bryn Mawr and Berwyn for the north end, Fullerton for Lincoln Park, and the Loop stations for Grant Park. On the South Side, the Metra Electric at 55th-56th-57th Street puts you a short ride from the lake in Hyde Park. Free street parking on Cannon and Stockton drives in Lincoln Park is gone by 10 a.m. on weekends; the Park District lots at North Avenue Beach, Montrose and 31st Street are paid.

The Chicago Park District began section-by-section trail repairs in mid-September 2026, starting at the south end and moving north over the following months, with signs ahead of each work zone. Expect short detours. The trail stays open year-round, but ice forms fast on the exposed stretches north of Belmont.

The 606 and the boulevards

The 606 is the park system built on the old Bloomingdale rail embankment at 1800 North. The Bloomingdale Trail on top of it runs 2.7 miles between Ashland Avenue (1600 West) and Ridgeway Avenue (3750 West) through Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square and Humboldt Park, with 12 access points roughly every quarter mile, all of them wheelchair accessible. The path is 10 feet wide with 2-foot running lanes on either side, open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, and no motorized vehicles are allowed.

It is a pleasant ride and a terrible place to go fast. On a summer evening the path is shoulder to shoulder with strollers, dogs and joggers, and the ramps at Damen and Milwaukee back up. Ride it early, or use it as the connector it was designed to be: a car-free way across the Kennedy and Ashland. The Blue Line at Damen or Western and the Metra Clybourn stop are each within two blocks of a ramp. There is no dedicated parking, and much of the nearby side-street parking is permit-only. The city has a preliminary plan to extend the trail east past Ashland, with no construction date.

The boulevards

The west end of the 606 lands you in the boulevard system, the ring of wide, tree-lined parkways linking Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Garfield Park and Douglass Park. Logan and Kedzie boulevards have bike lanes and slow frontage roads, and Humboldt Boulevard through Humboldt Park is getting a one-mile concrete-protected lane from Grand Avenue to North Avenue, announced by CDOT in 2025. Milwaukee Avenue, the diagonal most Northwest Side commuters use to get downtown, has protected lanes from Wicker Park to the Logan Square traffic circle. The catch is that the links between the boulevards run on ordinary streets like Sacramento and California, so keep your head up at the transitions.

Divvy: how it works

Divvy is the city-owned bike share, run by Lyft for the Chicago Department of Transportation, with stations across Chicago and Evanston and bikes available around the clock. You unlock a bike by scanning its QR code in the Divvy or Lyft app and end the ride by docking it until the light turns green. The classic blue bikes are heavy and slow; the black e-bikes are the ones people want, and on a hot afternoon near the lake they are often gone.

Pricing as posted on the Divvy site in September 2026: a single ride on a classic bike is $1 to unlock plus $0.20 a minute. A day pass is $19.90 and includes unlimited classic rides of up to three hours each in a 24-hour window. An annual membership is $143.90, with a $99 first-year rate for new members, and members get 45 minutes free on each classic ride. E-bikes cost non-members $1 to unlock plus $0.44 a minute, and members $0.20 a minute with no unlock fee. Scooters are $1 plus $0.44 a minute for non-members and $0.34 a minute for members. Divvy for Everyone gives qualifying Chicago and Evanston residents a $5 annual membership, with cash accepted.

The rule that trips up visitors: e-bikes and scooters can be locked free at any of the public racks Divvy lists in the app, but leaving one at any other legal spot costs $3 for non-members and $2 for members. Classic bikes must go back in a dock. Divvy is no replacement for your own bike if you ride daily, but for a day along the lake or the last mile from an L stop it is hard to beat.

Bikes on the L and Metra

You can bring a bike on any CTA train except on weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m., two bikes per car, and every CTA and Pace bus has a front rack. Since January 2024 Metra allows bikes on every train, including rush hour, in the priority seating area or in cars marked with a bike logo. E-bikes are allowed on Metra, but you have to lift them up the steps yourself. Divvy bikes are not allowed on either.

Suburban trails

The North Branch Trail is the ride to do first. The Forest Preserves of Cook County path follows the North Branch of the Chicago River about 20 miles from the Northwest Side through Skokie, Morton Grove, Glenview and Northbrook to the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, paved the whole way. From the garden, a mile-long path connects to the Braeside Metra station and the Green Bay Trail, so you can ride north and take the UP-N home. Cyclists can ride into the garden during open hours, but the garden charges admission and holds the path inside to 8 mph.

The Green Bay Trail runs about 9 miles from Wilmette through Kenilworth, Winnetka and Glencoe to Highland Park along the Metra UP-N tracks, alternating asphalt and crushed limestone. It is never far from a train station or a beach.

West of the city, the Illinois Prairie Path is the big one: about 61 miles of crushed limestone on the old Chicago, Aurora and Elgin electric railroad right-of-way, from Maywood through Wheaton, then branching to Elgin and Aurora with spurs to Geneva and Batavia. The Metra UP-W line follows the main stem; Wheaton, where the branches meet, is the natural start. Limestone is fine on a hybrid or gravel bike and miserable on skinny road tires after rain, and none of the suburban trails are plowed consistently in winter.

Bike shops and repair

Near the Lakefront Trail, Kozy’s Cyclery at 3712 N. Halsted St. in Lakeview is one of three Kozy’s locations and the closest full-line shop to Belmont Harbor; they carry Specialized, Cannondale and Cervélo and bundle two free tune-ups with a bike purchase. A few blocks east, Johnny Sprockets at 3140 N. Broadway is the place for Surly and Salsa steel bikes and takes walk-ins for repair.

In Roscoe Village, Roscoe Village Bikes at 2016 W. Roscoe St. has been around since 2007, rents bikes, does flat fixes first come, first served, and runs a family Kidical Mass ride from Audubon School through October. Closed Wednesdays and Sundays. Village Cycle Center at 1337 N. Wells St. in Old Town is the big Trek dealer, open seven days, and the handiest shop to the trail for anyone staying downtown or in the Gold Coast.

On the Northwest Side, BFF Bikes at 2056 N. Damen Ave. in Bucktown sits a block from the 606; they sell used bikes, do fittings, rent, and run no-drop group rides. Boulevard Bikes at 2769 N. Milwaukee Ave. has been Logan Square’s shop for 22 years, stocks Bianchi, Jamis and Surly alongside vintage Schwinns, and is open seven days. Comrade Cycles at 1908 W. Chicago Ave. in Ukrainian Village is where to go with a cracked steel frame or a custom build in mind; closed Sundays.

South of downtown, Blue City Cycles at 3201 S. Halsted St. in Bridgeport has been open since 2009 with Masi and Linus bikes, steel frame repair, powder coating and a shop cat named Vanya. Working Bikes at 2434 S. Western Ave. in Little Village is a nonprofit that refurbishes donated bikes and sells them to fund shipments abroad; the sales floor is the cheapest way to get a solid used commuter, open Wednesday through Saturday only.

In the suburbs, Pony Shop at 1224 Chicago Ave. in Evanston is the closest shop past the north end of the Lakefront Trail, closed Sundays, and Wilmette Bicycle & Sport Shop at 605 Green Bay Rd. sits on the Green Bay Trail with parking behind the building.

Good to know

Checked September 28, 2026. Lakefront Trail repairs began September 15, 2026 and move north in sections over the following months. The Park District is holding town halls on September 29, September 30 and October 6, 2026 on new rules for e-bikes and scooters on park paths under a new state micromobility law, so trail rules may change this winter. Bike the Drive, the car-free ride on DuSable Lake Shore Drive run by the Active Transportation Alliance, took place September 6, 2026; the ride falls on the first Sunday of September. The Divvy $99 new-member rate is a limited-time offer.

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