Both are pretty equivalent in terms of being located near business, restaurants and various other mischief-making opportunities. I forgot if you said, but do either of you have a car? Parking can be a pain in Loring Park (Oak Grove). Even if a spot is included with the apartment, it can be nearly impossible for car-driving friends you might have to find spots. Especially come plow season. (Oh boy!) That's been my experience with Loring Park, at least. That would be one drawback, but maybe others haven't had that experience.

I currently live on Pleasant a couple blocks south of Lake. I have had a great time living there. Close to both Lyndale and Lake (and the Greenway), which are full of stores, restaurants, bars, etc. I don't have a car, but parking is much less of a problem. It is usually easy to find street parking and it is off of several major bus routes (21, 4, 18, 113), which was important for me. My particular block doesn't have the most "curb appeal" and you have to be sure to lock your car and whatnot (general urban-living common sense stuff). Otherwise, I never felt particularly unsafe.

we're selling the car and only bringing our bikes. the apartment we got is downtown, so i'm assuming there are lots of businesses and possibly some trouble to find.

about the area, is there anywhere/anything in particular i should look out for, good or bad?

this'll also be my first real winter and i'd like to try and ride through it, so i'm looking into winterproofing my bike.

if you pm me the names of prospective LL's I can tell you whether they are shitty slum lords or not. DO NOT RENT FROM UPI DON'T DO IT! REALLY!

Fixed it for you.

Either that or you get a new bike in the sping, thus having a winter beater for next winter.

is it just the frame that'd need swapping for the season or are the components vulnerable to the same damage?

frame's gonna be the last thing to go

i feel like a boob b/c i just sold my spare frame and some components to pay for the move haha.

either way, my first day in minneapolis will be next monday. any recommendations for clothes shopping and restaurants/local groceries? sorry if the questions seem asinine, but this forum is the only means of finding out about the city other than wiki pages and lame travel sites.

Whereabouts is your new place - i.e. what's the closest main intersection? It won't help you if we tell you about great places way in South Minneapolis if you live in North Minneapolis, etc.

i'm downtown, near e14th and park/portland. from google street view, it looks like lots of offices

There's a Salvation Army store at 900 N 4th St. which has a ton of great stuff. Bonus: forums member 2fast4love works there. The downstairs is full of Target overstock and sample items, i.e. not used stuff.

There's a Lund's (grocery store) at 25 University Ave. SE. You're also close to the Seward Coop, which is at 2111 E Franklin Ave.

There's a ton of restaurants... hard to recommend something without knowing you.

You should come meet some of the folks here at one of the many, many rides/races/other events which happen all the time, and pick their brains about more specific stuff!

Have you looked at Cyclopath.org yet?

truth. there's group rides almost every nite of the week. check out mpls/doesbike for some good calander references for bigger rides and races. and then the relaxed and social and for the fun of it threads here at MBL for other rides.

once you get a little moved in you could even post a ride of your own for some evening. ask a few people to bike you around a few of the neighborhoods and show you some good routes and whats what. mpls is a great biking city and people here are proud of it and like to show it off. you'll have a good time.

i'll check out all of those links, thanks!

i planned on getting out to some rides/races immediately. that's kinda how i plan on learning my way around the city, aside from riding aimlessly. either that, or spend my spare cash on a ps3 and spend the winter fattening up.

edit for sidenote:
critical mass in mpls...is it worth going? i haven't been to a mass in over a year (i tried once this summer and ended up going home as it got rolling), but i miss the opportunity to meet other folks on wheels.

I don't want to start a pro/anti CM shitfest, but I'll just say that there are pleennnnnnnnnnnty of other ways to meet bike folks.