Motor City is fast becoming Detroit Bike City

They seem to be everywhere you look around the city: people on bikes.

All kinds of people, and all kinds of bikes.

The bikes caught the attention of Matt Fry, director of the Detroit Artists Market.

Fry's observations reflect a feeling among many that the Motor City is fast-becoming what one popular T-shirt proclaims: Detroit Bike City.

"I kept seeing people biking," Fry said. "And it's not just the Slow Roll (weekly ride) phenomenon. There's this seemingly endless list of great cycling-related activities and clubs. It occurred to me that there's this growing bicycle culture in the city."

Fry hatched a plan to put Detroit's bike culture on display in an art exhibit. "We the Vehicles: A Tribute to Detroit Bicycle Culture," featuring approximately 50 works of art created from old bicycle parts, opens Friday and runs through August at the Detroit gallery.

Many factors contribute to the booming bike culture in Detroit. Among them: a revived interest in the city. Living green and healthy is trending. Detroit's sparsely-driven roadways make great ground for bikers.

"Biking has totally exploded," said cycling advocate Tom Page. "I don't think any of us could have imagined it. Every day there's a riding event going on and at the same time we're starting to get the infrastructure — bike lanes, parking racks — that support it."

Evidence of a growing bike culture in the city abounds. Consider:

• The number of dedicated bike lanes has grown in five years from about 50 miles to close to 200 by summer's end, according to Todd Scott, executive director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition.

• The first stationary bike repair stations placed in areas around the city frequented by cyclists, including on the riverfront and the Wayne State campus. There are four in the city thus far and more planned, Scott said.

• At least three new bike shops opened in the city this summer alone: Motorless City Bicycle in the Eastern Market; Metropolis Cycles in Corktown and Detroit Bikes in Capitol Park.

• The annual Tour de Troit, which started with about 25 people some 14 years ago, expects 7,500 cyclists on Sept. 19.

• Wheelhouse Detroit, a thriving bike retail and rental business on the riverfront, opened a second location in Campus Martius this summer. When it opened in 2008, there were 1,000 rentals. Last year, there were 7,500 rentals and business just keeps growing, said co-owner Kelli Kavanagh.

• When Detroit Bikes opened its factory on the city's west side in 2011, it sold about 1,000 bikes. This year it expects to sell 5,000, said founder and president Zakary Pashak.

Related: Let's try bicycle lanes, Hamburg-style

And now universities are rolling in with rides. Wayne State University will debut its annual cycling event "The Baroudeur" (pronounced bah-roo-DUHR; French, meaning "warrior" or "fighter"), offering cyclists from 20- to 100-mile routes through metro Detroit, on August 22. Leading the pack will be the university's president, avid cyclist M. Roy Wilson.

The University of Detroit Mercy began hosting periodic Tuesday night rides this summer. This follows years of presenting a midnight ride scheduled for Sept.18.

Fueling, or at least reflecting, the city's fondness for cycling is Slow Roll, a ride through the city's streets that attracts upward to 5,000 cyclists every week. Word of the starting location, which varies each week to attract attention to local businesses, spreads rapidly through social media and word-of-mouth.

People ogle from street corners and front porches as the cyclists roll through a city known for cars. If the numbers don't impress them, the variety of bikes and cyclists is sure to.

You're likely to see a bit of everything on Slow Roll, including a group of cyclists dressed as clowns, people on fancy bikes tricked out in multicolored dancing lights, at least a couple of church groups in matching T-shirts, a woman whose bike frame is adorned with crochet, another woman whose bike and outfit mimic Tweety Bird and a guy whose bike makes him as tall as a giraffe. There's a mix of casual and more polished cyclists, as well as adults, children and even dogs in buggies or in backpacks. Interspersed throughout are all manner of boom boxes sharing everything from hard-core rap to Motown classics to foreign-language classical tunes.

Related: Bike to Work Day is every day for some Detroit cyclists

And what would a Detroit event be without a little hustle? People have also found ways to make a little money while rolling, pedaling along with wagons of homemade ice cream bars or coffee for sale.

Diversity is a big part of the attraction, said Jason Hall, who cofounded Slow Roll with a buddy, Mike MacKool, in 2010 when the first ride drew less than a dozen friends.

"Detroit is an amazing melting pot," Hall said. "You have Dearborn. You have southwest Detroit. All these places exist. People want to see the diversity. When you create something where people can come together that energy is infectious —the ability to meet new people and diversify your crowd. And the ability to see Detroit in a different light."

Slow Roll is so popular that Hall has become something of a celebrity because of it. He stars in a popular Apple commercial about how his iPad helps him plan and promote Slow Roll. He also travels internationally for Apple promoting the iPad and how to use it. He wears activewear provided by Levi to help promote its brand. And he's a regular guest who speaks on a wide range of topics on WDIV-Channel 4's "Live in the D."

"It's given me the ability to have a voice outside of biking," Hall said of Slow Roll. "I never intended it. It's bigger than I ever could have imagined."

You can't credit Slow Roll enough for boosting Detroit's bike culture, Page said.

"Slow Roll has brought bicycling to the nonspandex wearing crowd," said Page who organizes rides around the city and points people to various rides on the Facebook page Detroit Bikes Group. "You can wear regular clothes and just have fun."

In addition to Slow Roll, there's at least one ride in metro Detroit every day of the week, including a Phat Kid Ride to various eating spots on Tuesdays; a Wednesday night ride out of the Hub, a nonprofit bike repair and retail shop in Detroit; a Thursday night ride out of Palmer Park; a Friday night ride for more serious cyclists through the northern suburbs from the Royal Oak Public Library, and Saturday rides posted on the Facebook page Biking Belle Isle.

While increasing numbers of people are on bikes throughout the metro area and beyond, cyclists are finding special affection for Detroit's wide and often little-trafficked streets.

"On any weekend there are 200 to 300 cyclists going to the city as a destination point," said Calvin Hughes Jr., vice president of touring for the Wolverine Sports Club, one of metro Detroit's oldest cycling groups, composed primarily of suburbanites.

"Detroit is just a really nice place to ride," Hughes said. "People wave and smile at us. And the city's roads are nice and wide. They were built for heavy traffic. But now that the population is down, the sheer volume of motorized traffic is not high. When we head back (to the northern suburbs), we take Second (Avenue). The street is pretty much deserted."

Hughes, who has been cycling for more than 40 years, said he's seeing three kinds of cyclists with some spillover between the groups: experienced cyclists with a focus on fitness and form as well as fun, cyclists for whom bikes are a primary mode of transportation and cyclists for whom biking is probably more social than sport.

"There are so many different reasons to do it," said Scott of the Detroit Greenways Coalition. "For the fun. For the health of it. It's inexpensive. It's social, and it's green."

Pashak of Detroit Bikes said the reasons go even deeper than that. It's about building community, he said.

"People want to interact in a city," he said. "What you see going on in these rides is people who want to explore the city, and people who want to connect to each other. You can only do so much in a car."

Stacey Hale of Detroit, a DJ known internationally as HotWaxx, is among the many regulars on Monday's Slow Roll. But she also hops on her burgundy-and-silver Raleigh road bike at least four times a week, including a Sunday afternoon post-brunch ride with friends.

"I'm a native Detroiter, but I see things I've never seen before when I'm on my bike," Hale said. "I'd much rather be on my bike than driving. Children smile when you ride by. Truckers beep in support. I've met a lot of people who've become friends on bikes."

Tracey Parker, 51, of Bloomfield Hills, said Slow Roll helped her through a divorce.

"I wanted to do something out of the box, and someone told me about Slow Roll," said Parker, who's known as the Bubble Lady on bike because a bubble-making machine blows as she rides. "Biking helped clear my head, and I've made some really incredible friends."

Detroiters Mike Torres, 43, and Maria Nash, 27, met through biking and plan to marry — maybe on bikes — this summer. "Biking is life," Torres said. "That's our transportation. That's what we do in our spare time. Our family and friends are part of the biking community. What else can you do that's that much fun and mostly free?" Torres asked.