It’s bikes vs. bagels, panniers vs. pastries, helmets vs. challah — whichever way you slice it, a storied Annex bakery is leading opposition to a proposed two-way bike lane with friends in high places.

It’s a fight that has split Harbord St. between warring petitions and competing visions for the thoroughfare.

Harbord Bakery, famous for its doughy, golden bagels, thinks the bike lane is unnecessary, since drivers and cyclists mix fairly harmoniously already.

Harbord is the second busiest bike route in Toronto, with cyclists representing 40 per cent of traffic during rush hour, according to a city report released in June.

“We feel the street is working as well as it can right now,” said bakery owner Susan Wisniewski.

But Wisniewski, whose family has owned the beloved bakery since 1945, worries the proposed lane could crowd out parking spots for customers and suppliers.

It’s a concern shared by many local stores, according to Neil Wright, chair of the neighbourhood business association. “The restaurants will have a major, major problem,” he said.

About 80 of the street’s 195 parking spots could be lost, according to the city’s projections.

Harbord is currently kitted out with a mix of painted bike lanes and “sharrows” — white arrows meant to draw drivers’ attention to the presence of cyclists.

The new bike lane, slated to be created next summer, would replace all of that with one lane running along the north side of Harbord.

It will be about 3.5 meters wide — enough room for three cyclists to ride abreast — and contain bike traffic going in both directions, all separated from cars by a concrete curb.

There are no two-way dedicated bike lanes in Toronto yet, but they are common in Montreal and Chicago.

Wisniewski fears the rash of bikes heading in both directions could lead to collisions.

“I just see it as a horror story,” she said.

Patrons entering her fragrant store are greeted by a petition started by a local cyclist urging the city to scrap the Harbord bike lane.

About 125 people have signed on, and Wisniewski says most of them ride bikes.

Andre Karlsson, who works at a bike shop across the street from Harbord Bakery, is with the bakers. “I bike here every day and there are no problems,” he said, black chain grease coating his hands. “If you’re trapped in that little space, there’s a high risk of accident,” he added, referring to a curb-separated bike lane.

But many prominent cycling advocates support the two-way lane.

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Cycle Toronto launched a petition in support of the project this week that has gathered about 250 signatures.

Jared Kolb, the group’s director, said most cyclists aren’t “kamikazes,” happy to ride in dangerous conditions. Separated bike lanes make most people feel safer.

“These lanes are not going to be for cyclists who want to ride 30 km/h … They’re designed for cyclists who don’t feel safe in traffic.”

Since commuter cyclists on Harbord mostly go east in the morning and west in the evening, he said, there is unlikely to be much two-way traffic at any given time, making collision concerns moot.

Councillor Mike Layton is also in favour of the lane, part of which runs through his ward.

“This is going to increase the number of cyclists that are using the road,” he said.

And he has another, unintuitive reason for supporting a bike path on Harbord’s north side: solar snow removal.

“Look at a bike lane in the wintertime. The south side is always icy and full of snow. The north side is always clear … because it’s the one that gets the sunlight,” he said.

Harbord Bakery is on the south side of the street, but residents who disagree with its management about the bike lane don’t plan on giving the cold shoulder to the neighbourhood fixture.

Cycle Toronto is organizing a “love-in” at the bakery on Sept. 14 to gently protest the store’s position. A Facebook group encourages bikers to show up wearing helmets as identification.

“We just want to tell the Harbord Bakery that their customers are cyclists, too,” said Kolb. “We love their pastries and their breads — but we want to tell them that while we love their food, we want to see separated bike lanes on Harbord.”

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