Cheap, fun, and healthy way to explore Montreal! Other than using our own two legs, the Bixi bikes were our 2nd most popular mode of transportation during our trip.
The bikes were a bit clunky so riding up hills were more of a strug than if we had road bikes. The gears were also pretty wonky. Honestly the only gear that was remotely useful was the last one (7 or 3 depending on which type of bike you had). Nonetheless, to get from point A to point B, the bikes got the job done.
Some tips:
+Get the 24 hour pass. It was 5 CAD-- so cheap!
+Set up your desired bike (seat height etc) before you take it from the dock. You have to dock the bike every 30 minutes so you don't want to waste your time fumbling around. With that being said, 30 minutes is more than enough to get you where you need to be
+Even if you get the 24 hour pass you have to swipe your credit card again and get a new code (you never use your code more than once)
+There are Bixi stations literally everywhere, but the online map (https://secure.bixi.com/map/) helped us locate the closest one to our destination, and showed us whether the docks were full or empty
We missed the Free Bixi Sunday by one day, but I'm glad they give back to the community by having free days and encouraging an active lifestyle!