W.Mids - too lazy to cycle ?

I still don't think the enviromental issues are a problem, there's places just as bad/worse than Digbeth in many other cities and large roundabouts don't seem to be an issue for people commuting in London. Plenty of people live <5miles to Birmingham City centre too.

Of course the car centric multi lane roads & roundabouts are a HUGE issue.

The city centre is surrounded by ring roads, its hard to go anywhere without ending up on one.

And no matter how skilled & confident cyclist you are, you do dice with death when tackling the simplest of junctions in Birmingham. One example being Rob Tilling (who is regulary at critical mass) He is actually a Cycle Proficency tutor,and a very experienced safe cyclist. He got purposely run over by a car at the simplest of juctions outside moseley swimming baths (right by where he lives) last year, resulting in a broken pelvis. This was purely because the driver could stand seeing a cyclist in front of them.

Drivers are totally unaccustomed to cyclists being there. They drive way too fast, do not give way or allow you to change lanes and cut accross your path.

They also commonly honk & shout at you for being on the road, in some cases actually throwing stuff at you.

You can only really consider riding on the road if you can ride consistently fast & very assertively. And most 'normal' people like to cruise along in a slow & relaxed manner, which would just about work in quiet suburbs but nowhere else.

Like I said before, any sort of 'cycling culture' has died in Birmingham long ago. There is no common knowledge left of what constitutes a decent bike & its value. And Foremost, there is now just not enough numbers for it to be a obvious, appealing,convenient, efficent & safe transport option for the masses.