<p>Should I bring one? Are they of any real use? Do I have to ship it back home in the summer?</p>
<p>Tbone</p>
<p>lol no need for bikes. main campus is probably a 5-10 minute walk from end to end. If you try to walk in a circle, that'd probably take you ~15-20 minutes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
main campus is probably a 5-10 minute walk from end to end.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Plus, it's all staircases from the dorms to the classes. Not much fun biking up stairs.</p>
<p>hahaha...thanks.</p>
<p>Tbone</p>
<p>When Denzera arrives, I expect a complete retelling of his 7/4/04.</p>
<p>lol i wanna hear this...</p>
<p>heh. I dunno if that's the best reply to this thread, but i'll give the summary: I kept a bike around on campus, was a great decision. That particular day, friends of mine living north of hoboken were having a pool party, so my girlfriend and I hopped on bikes, went over the GWB, and biked down to the party. She had to leave early for an NSOP thing, so she took off the way we'd came, and when I was ready to leave, I start down Blvd East and two blocks later run over a big nail and have a flat tire. In jersey. On july 4th. A friendly bus driver yelled at me but finally relented and let me bring my bike onto his bus (normally prohibited) and schlepped me back to port authority, where I met WindowShopping and another friend of mine to go downtown to an office tower to watch the fireworks. Just another typical day for me :)</p>
<p>Anyway, having a bike on campus has tons of advantages and disadvantages. You'd be amazed how often you need to travel within 30 blocks of campus, or cross-town, and having a bike saves a ton of time. Buses run REALLY slowly (sometimes you can almost out-walk them), and only come occasionally. Even on-campus, it'll save you minutes getting around campus or getting to class. Doing errands like getting groceries, you can put bags on the handlebars, save yourself the haul. Going to the doctor's office or something local around the UWS, it's not worth it to take the subway, bus takes too long, so I'd just bike. And on nice days, being able to bike around the park or down the west side highway bikepath is an awesome experience. It runs from riverbank state park all the way down to battery park, and when I used to umpire little league down in battery park city on sunday mornings, it was a lot faster to bike the 25 minutes down there than wait for a (rare) #1 train. Etc. It's just handy, if you're the active type. And there's a very good bike store on 96th st by broadway, with friendly guys who'll do basic minor repairs for nothing ("just tip the mechanic").</p>
<p>The downsides are, you need a really heavy-duty lock, and even then can't leave it outside overnight. Columbia's security office sells discounted Kryptonite "New York-grade" U-locks for $50. I had two bikes stolen in my 4 years, although one was because I didn't have the right lock because I didn't know what I was doing. If you don't have a good room or are in a building without good bike rack facilities, you may have to keep it in your room, which can be a pain. It never was an issue for me except over the summers when I lived in Broadway and didn't really have a good place to put it.</p>
<p>So, I loved having a bike on campus but I can see why people might call it crazy.</p>
<p>yea, storing it would be a huge pain in the ass but there are several occasions when i wished i had a bike around....would make the trek to 125 or below 110th alot more pleasant.</p>
<p>i've gotta get the "FAHGETTABOUDIT" ny model! :)
<a href="http://www.kryptonitelock.com/inetisscripts/abtinetis.exe/PublicArticleDetails@public?artid=2789&atf=products_item&pgrp=20%5B/url%5D">http://www.kryptonitelock.com/inetisscripts/abtinetis.exe/PublicArticleDetails@public?artid=2789&atf=products_item&pgrp=20</a></p>
<p>Didn't you then drag a Bloomingdale's shopping bag full of bud lights - given to you on the subway - into a movie theater? That was probably one of your finer (and funnier) moments.</p>
<p>Guys what about kick-boards or scooters? They're small enough so you can take them into your room, but you'll still be faster on them than on foot.</p>
<p>Seems like a lot of work to go two blocks...</p>
<p>hmm, i suggest getting one of those if you plan on never getting laid....those things are LAME!</p>
<p>also, columbia's campus is full of cobblestones and bricks and other nasty stuff that isn't really wheel friendly....and of course as someone mentioned above...the ridiculous amount of stairs.</p>
<p>No bikes. No scooters. Gosh, looks like I'm gonna have to walk in the end, :D.</p>
<p>You could get a segway.</p>
<p>Guys I don't think you realize that Columbia's campus is ridiculously small. You don't need a transportation device of any type unless you're physically unable to walk for 5 minutes.</p>