4. Montréal

North America's most European city hosts the annual Bike Festival every June, boasting the most (35,000-plus) rider involvement in world. The festival stretches from Friday's Un Tour la Nuit, the costume party cum critical mass cycling event, to the Tour de l'Ile de Montréal, an exclusively two-wheel ride through car-free city streets. Two hundred miles of bike trails also make the island Canada's top cycling city. The city takes its top rank seriously, recently launching a $90 million (CDN) plan full of initiatives to equip all buses and taxis with bike racks, add hundreds of miles of paths and add five times the bike parking space. Most exciting, Montréal now offers Vélo Québec, the first Paris-style rental program of its kind in North America.

For more information: Vélo Québec