This is just for fun….Putting selectivity and affordability aside, what colleges are nice environments for bicycle riding, either on campus or around campus. And not just for getting from dorm to class but to explore, relax, and enjoy the outdoors. 
ETA: Ideas about which colleges not to attend for kids who like to ride bikes are also welcome.
Northwestern and Evanston have a great bike path along the lake front and the city has bike lanes to improve safety for riders. It’s flat too so easy biking and there are bike share stations.
Purdue is also very bike friendly with bike lanes and there are nearby parks adjacent to campus to trail ride. Purdue has an interactive bike map that shows all the bike paths, bike shares, racks, etc… Added bonus at Purdue that if you forget to lock your bike, it will just get put up in a tree vs stolen. ; ).
Are you talking about street/bike-path bike riding or mountain bike riding?
I was thinking about street, country road, path, and/or trail riding that’s possible for someone with a regular bike or cheap mountain bike. But it would be nice if all kinds of bike riding possibilities were included.
UC Davis
Both the city and the campus, has earned the name Bicycle Capital of the U.S. because of efforts to provide its thousands of cyclists with a bicycle-friendly environment.
Wide streets, well-marked bike lanes, inviting pathways, gentle terrain, mild climate, and an attitude of mutual respect between cyclists and motorists have resulted in a community with the most bikes per capita of any in the nation. In Davis, bicycling is a way of life.
Indiana University has a long standing cycling culture (the annual Little 500 bike race, which the movie Breaking Away was about.)
There are a lot of great small colleges in the Blue Ridge Mountains that are great for mountain biking, but probably not great for road cycling and not great for a casual bike rider who likes flat paved paths.
Brevard, Warren Wilson, Lees-MacRae, UNC-Asheville, Appalachian State are all great for mountain bike loving kids.
University of Colorado
Boulder is a bike-friendly city with dedicated bike lanes, a bike park, and amazing singletrack/MTB trails through the foothills. There is even a bikeway from Boulder to Denver.
Also, the city hosts lots of fun and competitive cycling races including the Buffalo Bicycle Classic and the Davis Phinney Tour de Victory. Thursday night cruiser rides are popular too—costumes and glow lights are encouraged!
LOL. Stanford. Bikes everywhere and trails in the adjacent hills.
Western Colorado.
Here’s those above and some more .
Don’t see it on there but would add U of Arkansas. Not only is the campus and surrounding area gorgeous and biking encouraged but the Walton family has built the Mecca of Mountain Biking just 20 miles or so North near Bentonville.
From Kenyon students can cycle on a multi-use path along the Kokosing River adjacent to Ohio farmland and into the town of Mount Vernon.
As noted in the following quotation, Hamilton’s surroundings offer abundant opportunities for cycling:
“The hilly terrain and sparsely traveled roads around Hamilton provide exceptional training grounds for success. ‘Many people on the team have commented on how Hamilton might arguably have the best location for cycling in the Northeast: tons of rural roads to choose from and great opportunities for finding lots of hills,’ said Anderson.”
Colorado State. The whole university and town is set up to be bike friendly.
I’ve heard that the U. of Arkansas is a good place for bikers. The area (especially Bentonville) is really designed for bikers, including lots of mountain biking.
Universities in New Orleans would work well for these purposes (Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, Dillard, U. of New Orleans). The terrain is pretty flat and New Orleans is a silver-level community for biking. There are an increasing number of bike lanes on the roads, and there is a nice bike path along the lake as well as a long bike trail along the Mississippi River.
Speaking of the Biking Friendly Communities, there is this database that awards communities (and universities) as well as states. Even if a university is not designated, if it’s in a bike-friendly community or state, that would certainly help to find choices.
There’s also the Hilly Hundred for interested bike riders.
UCSD has a small trail system in the Eucalyptus grove on campus with a few MTB features. There’s also a big network of trails in nearby Penasquitos Canyon and the surrounding mesas. The coast highway from the campus north is an extremely popular bike route and there is a bike path that goes from near campus to Mission Bay. The school itself doesn’t have a big bike culture like Davis or UCSB, but lots of cycling nearby.
UCSB, UC Davis
Proximty to long distance trails suitable for road bikes may be of interest, such as these from Pittsburgh to D.C. and Buffalo (or Rouses Point) to NYC:
Boise State. There is the green belt that runs for many miles along the river, but also foothill paths for mountain bikers.
Virginia Tech has the huckleberry trail, another long paved scenic path, on campus and into nearby Christiansburg. Their are three very nice rails to trails opportunities nearby: the New River Trail, the Virginia Creeper Trail, and the Greenbriar Trail. They would be a day trip for weekend fun.
UCSB. I had never seen so many bikes parked outside one building since I’d been in China. There were at least a million, I swear.
