So, yes, I signed up for an annual membership in the NYC Citibike bike share program. As a jingoistic native of the greatest city on planet Earth, I am not worried that we are going to turn into another Paris, Amsterdam, or London. For starters, Londoners ride on the wrong side of the road. Additionally, the grid is an American construct.
I have a bicycle. It gathers dust in my apartment. Why? People steal bicycles. If you lock them up, they steal wheels. Now, I no longer have to worry about that. I grab a bike from a secure station, ride to where I need to go, and park it in a secure station. The second the bike is secured, it is no longer my problem.
Isn't that the ultimate freedom? You need something, and there it is. When you're done with it, you move on.
The Right seems to think that the only true expressions of freedom are owning a car and a gun. However, when you drive, your freedom is expressly limited by the other cars on the road. BTW, if you cannot afford a car, buses and trains give you the freedom to travel that you otherwise lack.
The Right complain that trains constrain you to the schedule they run on, but they do not lodge the same complaint against flights. If you want to drive your car around town, knock yourself out! If your only argument against bicycles is ridicule, you need therapy- of maybe it's the fact that the cycles are bi.