By Jay Lloyd

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- With urban bicycling all the rage these days, you can bike big cities and avoid the traffic scrum.

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As a kid in New York City I didn't own a bike, and my parents only allowed me to rent one for an hour a week.   It cost 35 cents, and they worried every second of it.

Now I have two gown kids living in New York.  They ride bikes, and I understand my folks' concerns.

Big-city cycling can be traffic-free, and scenic to boot.  Here in Philadelphia, try the river drives, where bicycles are available for rent.

In New York City, biking is a treat along the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan to the Battery and beyond, where it becomes a family affair.

"Everybody would love it here," one New York City kid told me.

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We've found rental bikes available online, in cities and resort destinations here and abroad:  beachside in Barcelona, along the Toronto waterfront (top photo), by the canals of Amsterdam, and in a quiet neighborhood in Brooklyn.

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Peddle an hour or a day, and just go where the path leads!

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