As the search for more affordable real estate in New York City pushes deeper into neighborhoods that were once considered out of the way, bicycle lanes are taking on new importance. Since 2007, the city has carved out more than 350 miles of bike lanes in the five boroughs, according to the Department of Transportation. As a result, the distance from the nearest subway or bus stop has become less of a drawback for the two-wheeled set, particularly in transit-challenged areas of Brooklyn like Red Hook, Greenpoint and parts of Bushwick. In a twist to the real estate catch phrase, location, location, location, brokers say, bicycling is beginning to influence some real estate decisions.

Image Mr. Warner-Levine and Ms. Nickelson heave their bikes up and down three flights of stairs each day. Credit... Michael Appleton for The New York Times

“Your housing options change when you buy a bike and use it,” said Lyon Porter, a sales and leasing director of Town Residential, who relied heavily on a fixed-gear Dutch cruiser when living in Williamsburg several years ago and continues to cycle frequently around the city. “People get so much more for their money in this tight, compressed market,” when freed from the need to be near a train line, he said. “Your definable boundaries are different on a bike.” Without one, he said, “your map changes.”

By zipping along Flushing Avenue’s bike lanes and across the Manhattan Bridge, Mr. Warner-Levine, a retail wine salesman, found he could make it to his job in Lower Manhattan in 18 minutes flat. His wife, Ms. Nickelson, takes about 30 minutes pedaling up First Avenue to get to United Nations Plaza, where she works in administration for Unicef. He carries his bicycle to the basement of the wine shop. She chains hers up on the sidewalk outside her office. Apart from work, the couple from Wallabout were soon cruising to SoHo for brunch or Greenpoint for drinks, roughly a 20-minute ride from their apartment in either direction. “Most of my friends use bikes to get around Brooklyn,” Ms. Nickelson said. “It’s the best and most direct way for everyone to meet up at a central point.”

Getting together with friends at a bar in Prospect Heights from Greenpoint, for example, can take nearly an hour by bus or train versus half an hour by bicycle. “I noticed my friends who don’t ride bikes,” she said, “it’s more of a hassle for them.”

Last month, Dana Johns, a physician assistant, doubled her living space and cut her rent by 20 percent by moving from a two-bedroom in the East Village she shared with a roommate to a two-bedroom, two-bath she also shares at 110 Green Street, a luxury rental building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that advertises “bike storage” and “bike-friendly streets” on its website. Ms. Johns has a Bianchi Pista and a Brompton folding bike she stores indoors, but to ease her commute, she bought a vintage ocean coaster at a flea market in Bushwick for $75. The two locks she uses to tie it up on the street, she said, cost more.