With 1.6 cars per household, LA boasts one of the highest rates of car ownership in the world. In rush hour, that statistic feels less like a number and more like a personal insult. You could be forgiven for thinking that every driver has brought a spare car along, just to make absolutely sure Hollywood Boulevard is properly gridlocked.
What often gets overlooked is that Los Angeles can also be a genuine cyclists’ city. Hard to believe, but true nonetheless. Together with the local heroes at Aventon, an ebike brand with Californian roots, we dive into the city’s cycling subculture. It is a scene that does not roll out a red carpet. Instead, you get dust, sweat and a surprising amount of heart.
Since travel is meant to broaden the mind, we set ourselves an ambitious goal. We didn’t just want to come back from Southern California with sun-kissed skin, but ideally a little older, a little wiser and with a few proper life lessons tucked into our jersey pockets.
Lesson 1: Know Your Limits
Where’s the Hollywood glamour? Welcome to the dusty reality of LA’s biking scene.
In truth, you’ll rarely manage to get by without a car altogether. LA is a horizontal city, sprawling outwards like a badly folded map. Apart from a handful of urban hubs with the odd cluster of skyscrapers, everything is built low and wide, spread across a rolling and surprisingly varied landscape that shifts from relaxed and flat to unexpectedly steep in the blink of an eye.
It is hard to understand why no Hollywood blockbuster has ever featured a full-blown MTB chase scene around the city. The terrain would certainly deliver. Most major cities can only dream of the trail network that surrounds Los Angeles – there are loads of them! They are steep, fast, peppered with jumps and features, and rideable almost all year round. And the backdrop is thrown in for free.
After long dry spells, though, you need to watch your grip. The dust can be treacherous. It is a fitting metaphor for life in LA. Everything exists in excess, but if you lose focus for a moment, you will find yourself face down in the dirt.
Luckily for us, the Aventon crew are riding as our guides. The ebike brand’s HQ sits just a stone’s throw from the trails, practically begging you to head out for a lunchtime blast. The team know every corner and every drop, which means they can steer us safely past any potential trouble spots.
The biggest hazard of all is the Pendleton Marine Corps Base, which borders the southern edge of the San Clemente trails. As you might expect, this is strictly off limits. The crack of gunfire from the training grounds and the thrum of military helicopters circling overhead carry all the way to the trails, a constant reminder that you really do not want to stray too far off line here.
Common sense keeps us well clear of the base. Even so, the LA locals send us off with two simple life lessons:
Know your own limits.
Check your brakes before every ride, so you do not end up rolling into places you most definitely do not belong.
That advice about knowing your limits is, admittedly, charmingly ignored later that evening at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. After all, you cannot master every life lesson in a single day.
Lesson 2: Don’t Take Your Part from It, Be Part of It!
LA is a cultural melting pot. And if you are spending time here, you might as well let yourself melt into it a little.
Los Angeles has a vibrant bike community that does more than just ride: it connects. If you are looking to plug in, head for the cycle path along the west side of the LA River in Elysian Valley. By the time you reach Spoke Bicycle Café, you are almost guaranteed to meet some like-minded riders. And with a bit of luck, someone will passionately explain why their 30-year-old steel bike is the only machine truly worth owning.
Inspiration is everywhere. But watching from the sidelines does not cut it. If you want to feel this city, you have to ride it. Everything is in motion. Everyone is chasing flow. The next big thing could be you. Joining in is good. Leading out feels like magic. In LA, nobody waits for permission. If you stand still, you’re out of the picture.
If you want to belong, you need to show what you bring to the table. Rather than simply tagging along on a group ride, why not start one yourself?
Alongside established formats such as Critical Mass, the city regularly hosts protest and community rides focused on climate justice, transport reform and social equality. This is not just about turning the pedals – it is about taking a stand.
The lesson we take home? When you ride not just for yourself but for a cause, cycling opens up a whole new dimension. Suddenly it is not about metres climbed – it’s about the position you take.
If you are less rebellious and more technically inclined, make a detour to The Cub House in San Marino. Styling itself as “America’s number one bike and plant store”, it’s a magnet for tinkerers, fettlers and cactus lovers alike. People debate gear ratios with the same passion they reserve for the latest addition to their windowsill jungle. It is the perfect place to share your own bike hacks or let your green fingers rub off on someone else.
Lesson 3: If You Don’t Like It, Move On!
Have you ever found yourself somewhere and wondered, why am I still here? And would anything really change if I just moved on? In LA, the answer is surprisingly often yes. And that change tends to happen instantly.
If you are buzzing with energy, you can let off some steam on the outdoor gym equipment at Muscle Beach, surrounded by physiques that look as though they’ve been drinking protein shakes since birth.
Craving greasy comfort food and entertainment that lets you travel without moving a muscle? Then Santa Monica Pier is your spot. Ferris wheel, rollercoaster, arcades, pubs and restaurants, all bathed in neon and pastel hues.
For all the buzz, there comes a point when you start craving the real Pacific breeze. A ten minute ebike spin towards Venice transports you into a different world, one that begs to be explored on two wheels, if not by paddle board. Narrow canals weave between the houses, serving up a touch of Venice, only with skateboards instead of gondoliers.
If the deep-fried feast from the pier suddenly sits a little heavy, there is a more refined way to make amends, without squeezing in among the glistening bodybuilders at Muscle Beach. Point your bars towards Brentwood and roll up to the Brentwood Country Mart. Designed in the style of an English market and trading since 1948, it is home to organic food, local delicacies and boutiques run by homegrown creatives. Consider it detox for the soul, if not quite for your calorie count.
And if you are not quite sure whether you are in the mood for full-throttle action or a dose of calm reflection, make your way south to Laguna Beach. This narrow strip of town is only a few hundred metres wide, sandwiched between the Pacific and the rolling coastal canyons of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. After roughly 300 metres of climbing, the viewpoint known as Top of the World rewards you with sweeping views through Laguna Canyon and out across the ocean. And if you suddenly decide that contemplation can wait, a handful of punchy downhill trails are ready to tip the balance firmly back towards action.
In LA, you do not have to commit to one path. You just have to keep rolling.
Lesson 4: Nothing Is More Constant Than Change
Los Angeles is a city that truly pulses with energy. And no, we are not talking about the tourist crowds on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where you end up weaving between superhero impersonators and stars set into the pavement. The real movement is more subtle. This city is in a constant state of change. Glance at it briefly and you will miss it. Stay a little longer, and you start to see that everything is evolving, spatially, culturally and mentally.
It’s not just that every district, every county and every neighbourhood has its own character. Over time, these areas shed their skins like snakes with platinum credit cards. A prime example is the Arts District.
So why not indulge your inner artist for a moment? We wind the clock back a few years and build up a pair of fixies from the Aventon archive – a bike category that Aventon have since dropped from their line-up. Even bicycles are not immune to shifting trends and market forces. Here, nostalgia rolls along on very narrow tires.
In the Arts District, it hits you straight away. This was once a place of proper graft. Warehouses, red brick, steel beams, pure industrial grit. But the factories have long since moved on, leaving behind space. Space for galleries, loft apartments, micro roasteries and murals on a monumental scale.
Every wall becomes a canvas. Every façade makes a statement. Towering graffiti pieces tell the story of the city, from portraits of the late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, to political messages and tributes to the Asian American civil rights movements. Not by chance either, as the Little Tokyo Historic District sits right next door. Past and present coexist here quite happily, with the occasional Instagram filter layered on top.
The lesson? Change is not a glitch in the system. It is the operating system.
Instead of resisting it, you might as well see it for what it is: a creative force. Sometimes letting go moves you further forward than clinging on, even when we are talking about beloved fixies.
Lesson 5: Don’t Forget to Have Fun!
A trip to the movie capital without stopping by the Griffith Observatory or the Hollywood Sign makes about as much sense as a bike test without a proper ride. It’s time to head up into the Hollywood Hills.
With the observatory perched more than 300 metres above the city, we decide to take a pragmatic approach and hop on two Aventon commuter ebikes. That said, for views like these we would probably have suffered the climb on our fixies as well. You can celebrate heroics, or you can let the motor do the heavy lifting. The planetarium itself draws the crowds. The panorama, though, is something else entirely.
From up here, Los Angeles feels less chaotic and more… colossal. The city stretches for roughly 70 kilometres from north to south. Asphalt, palm trees, haze; an urban mosaic with no clear edge.
Faced with that kind of scale, you almost instinctively start searching for a grand insight, a metaphysical answer, a neat little life lesson to take home. And you find… nothing.
Maybe that is exactly the point.
Maybe not every viewpoint has to deliver a revelation. Maybe it is enough to stand there, take it all in, and simply enjoy yourself.
Next to the observatory, a bust of James Dean recalls his role in Rebel Without a Cause, where he staged a cinematic daredevil run towards the edge of a cliff in Griffith Park. For a split second, we toy with the idea of following suit and racing each other down Eastern Observatory Road.
The thought flickers. Then our trip proves it has, in fact, changed us. A little wiser now, we hear lesson one chime back in.
Having fun is mandatory. Knowing your limits is not weakness, it is style.
And style, as you will have gathered by now, is something LA has in abundance.
Words: Rudolf Fischer Photos: Aventon
About the Author
Rudolf Fischer
In his previous life Rudolf was a dab hand at promoting innovation, putting his brain behind big-ticket patent assessments that easily ran into six-or-seven-plus figures. These days, the self-confessed data nerd’s role as editor at DOWNTOWN and E-MOUNTAINBIKE is no less exciting. Given his specialism in connectivity, Rudolf’s often placed on the front line of future mobility conversations, but he’s also big into testing new bikes–both on the daily as a committed commuter and intensively for our group tests. The business economist graduate is as versatile as a Swiss penknife, and that’s no hyperbole. Away from two wheels, his background in parkour means he’s a master of front, side and backflips, plus he speaks German, English, French, Russian and a touch of Esperanto. Japanese remains woefully unmastered, despite his best home-learning attempts. Good to know: Rudolf’s sharp tongue has made him a figure of fear in the office, where he’s got a reputation for flexing a dry wittiness à la Ricky Gervais... interestingly, he's usually the one laughing hardest.
