My family and I live car free in Charlotte. Happy to answer any specific questions you have.
The city seems to be improving for people who bike and walk by the day, but there's certainly a long way to go. Charlotte's center city and "close-in" neighborhoods around the 277 loop have a deserved reputation for pedestrian and bicycle friendliness, but predictably, also have higher rent and home prices (though there are deals to be found). The further out regions have been planned poorly - designed around dependency on automobiles. If you have questions about specific neighborhoods, I'm happy to answer to the best of my ability.
Overall, I find the drivers relatively courteous. I've taken a few safety courses, Cycling Savvy (
http://cyclingsavvy.org/) is a good one that's offered here. If you're not familiar, the gist is to ride very similarly to the way you'd drive a car (in the travel lane), which makes you visible and predictable to other road users. The increased visibility also encourages drivers to pass in a different lane, preventing the same-lane overtaking collisions that are most common between bikes and cars. Occasionally I'll get some unfriendliness from a driver who doesn't understand the laws, but it's relatively rare.
Charlotte has a great cycling culture that I found very welcoming when I moved here. There are recreational, social, long and short-distance rides every day of the week. If/when you visit, I'd be happy to meet you at one of these and introduce you to other folks plugged into the biking scene. There are a number of organizations working to improve Charlotte as a biking city.
Some resources to check out:
Cross Charlotte Trail - 26 mile trail for ped/bike, some parts existing, some currently under construction, some being planned.
http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/charlottefuture/CIP/CrossCharlotteTrail/Pages/default.aspxCharlotte Spokes People - Advocacy group. They organize lots of social rides. If you are only able to do one, be sure to check out the PMTNR. It's a slow rolling party.
http://cltspokespeople.org/Transportation Choices Alliance - Advocacy group (part of Sustain Charlotte), funded by the Knight foundation.
http://www.movecharlottesmarter.org/Bicycling Program - Information from city of Charlotte.
http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/Transportation/PedBike/Pages/Bicycle%20Home.aspxBicycle Map - Existing infrastructure.
http://charlotte.maps.arcgis.com/apps/PanelsLegend/index.html?appid=00e8015ea3e54607a880fe31cc7e2fbf