Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, has a Kuota K-Factor bike with Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLS wheels. “It’s for triathletes,” he said, as he walked out of City Hall and along the bike lane on Grove Street. He wore a long brown coat and a blue-and-red tie. “I did an Ironman—that’s with a two-and-a-half-mile swim, a hundred and twelve miles on the bike, and then a marathon,” he said. “Now I do the half Ironman. In the mornings, I train.” This involves a 5:40 a.m. bike ride: twenty-five miles, up to the George Washington Bridge and back. Fulop, who is thirty-eight, has posted on Twitter and Facebook about his athletic pursuits, his encounters with tapas chefs and local artists, and a free heart checkup with Dr. Oz. He moved to Jersey City in 2000, and, after stints in the Marine Corps and at Goldman Sachs, he was sworn in as mayor in 2013. “We’re not yet at the forefront of top-tier midsize cities,” he said. “Starting to do things like bike-share systems is how we’re going to get there.”

In January, Fulop announced that Jersey City will start a program that connects to Citibike, in New York, allowing a person to hop on a bike, ride it to the PATH station, turn in the first bike, and pick up a new one on the other side of the river. He envisages the program attracting New Yorkers who want to spend the day in Jersey City. “The views of Manhattan are second to none,” he said.

He strolled toward Grove Street Plaza, which during the summer, he said, is “literally filled, filled, filled with bikes, so this is an ideal place for one of the larger docking stations.” He looked around. Behind him was an Asian fusion place and a Duane Reade. He added, “There was nothing here. It was empty. In the past four years it’s been on steroids.”

A few bikes were chained to sign poles. “We started off with a program that was going to be Hoboken, Jersey City, and Weehawken together on the bike shares,” he said. But Fulop dropped out. “There became a difference of opinion,” he explained. “The other two towns were more conscious of the price, because the system to integrate with New York is more expensive.”

Fulop has raised about two and a half million dollars from sponsors, enough to pay for the first order of bikes—three hundred and fifty of them, at five thousand dollars each, to be delivered in late summer. (As with Citibike, the color scheme goes to the highest corporate bidder.) He broke the news to the other New Jersey mayors gently. “It wasn’t the best of conversations,” he said. Dawn Zimmer, the mayor of Hoboken, said, “My priority was city-wide, and his priority was connection to New York City.” The bikes in the program she is running with Weehawken will cost less than a third of what Fulop’s cost.

Some people refer to Jersey City as New York’s sixth borough. “We’d be foolish if we didn’t try to capitalize on the proximity,” Fulop said. When his office approached Mayor de Blasio’s people about the program, he said, “they were supportive but relatively indifferent.” He continued, “They have their own challenges there. They weren’t really thinking about what’s happening across the river.”

Fulop popped into Grove Street Bicycles, where he buys parts for his Kuota. The proprietor, Rodney Morweiser, greeted him with a “Sup.” He had a long goatee and wore a mechanic’s shirt. He pulled out a bicycle that resembled a Manhattan Citibike. “Something like this is more casual, unisex,” Morweiser said. “The handlebars are higher rise, so it’s more comfortable. This is perfect for just knockin’ around town.”

Fulop gravitated toward another bike, near the front of the store, with wheels almost as thick as truck tires. “Maybe I should ride the fat bike,” he said.

Morweiser shook his head. “That’s extreme,” he said. “You can ride on sand, you can ride on snow. Imagine—three, four inches of snow, just flyin’ around in the park. It’s a blast. Ultimate in traction.”

Fulop lingered for a moment, and then returned to the knockin’-around bike and rolled it out the door. The cashier ran to bring the Mayor a helmet. Fulop started pedalling on the sidewalk. Then he said, “Don’t ride on the sidewalk!” He swerved over to the street. “I wouldn’t mind using it to get to a ribbon cutting,” he said. ♦