<p>As an out of state student, I was wondering how necessary is a bike on campus? Is it preferable to no bike? (like sometimes the hassle of locking it up or it getting stolen is not worth owning one)</p>
<p>And I know they rent bikes, how much does it cost and how are the bikes? When i visited the campus, are those ugly old school bikes (if anyone knows what i am talking about) the ones they rent out?</p>
<p>We are out of state and when we brought son to campus we looked on craigslist and bought a used but functional bike for ~$60 that son used without incident all year.</p>
<p>We live locally, but I stumbled upon something that might be of interest. They’re have new cruiser bikes for $95, are student run, near USC and deliver. I am not associated with this company in any way:</p>
<p>[Dorm</a> Bikes:USC](<a href=“http://www.dormbikes.com/index.html]Dorm”>http://www.dormbikes.com/index.html)</p>
<p>Go to Lion’s Bike Shop on Vermont, they have good bikes and great service. The bike shop in the UV is another choice, but I haven’t been treated well there.</p>
<p>Bikes are great. Once you learn how to ride it among everyone else there, you’ll wonder how you got along without it. Buy a good lock and always lock your bike to something, people will grab bikes and throw them in the back of pickups if they want to steal it. Also make sure you register your bike with DPS.</p>
<p>I’m going without a bike. Campus seemed pretty manageable for me at orientation.</p>
<p>if you’re living on campus, you can get along fine without a bike. if you’re living off campus, having a bike makes getting around a lot faster.</p>
<p>You can definitely survive without a bike. That said, everyone claims that life is a lot easier once you have one though in terms of getting to places quickly. On campus itself though, no where really takes more than 15 mins or so to walk to.</p>
<p>I lived on campus this year and made it through the begining of October without a bike. I was very anti bike in the begining for the reasons mentioned here (everythings close, its a hassle) but i eventually caved. Almost everyone has bikes so if you’re riding to parkside or something for dinner it makes life easier. Also you can sleep a few extra minutes in the morning, which was a plus for me.</p>
<p>if you live on campus you do not need a bike, 100% honest. it does, however make things more convenient since people are lazy lol.</p>
<p>i really wish they banned on-campus housing people from having bikes though lol. there is just so much unneeded congestion everywhere.</p>
<p>I’m living in Parkside next year… I think I’ll really appreciate having a bike, cause it’s pretty far away.</p>
<p>Nobody NEEDS a bike. Just like nobody NEEDS a longboard, or an extra pair of shoes, or a new backpack. But it’s definitely convenient to have, and you’ll be much happier with it.</p>
<p>Oh, josebiwasabi, you can take my bike from my cold dead fingers. And maybe not even then.</p>
<p>Definitely not necessary. I think it’s preferable, though. I’m from out of state, and I bought a bike for not too much money at a local bike shop. I feel like it was definitely smart to get one, but I went a few months without it, and that was fine too even when I was still getting used to the campus.</p>
<p>Not necessary but its nice to have when you have to run somewhere. I would get it. I got one from craigslist for 10 dollars after my first one got stolen. Just don’t get a super nice one.</p>
<p>Will I have trouble finding open bike racks during the school year?</p>
<p>Near the main classroom buildings where everyone has classes, yes. There are sometimes a few open, but they are only open because the beach cruisers on either side with their gigantic wide handlebars makes getting another bike in impossible.</p>
<p>USC needs more bike racks. DPS carts away bikes that are looked to anything other than bike racks which is really a problem when you can’t find space. If your bike is registered with DPS it is much easier to get it back if they do take it.</p>
<p>I am a parent and I plan on going to the USC parents group to see if we can raise money for bike racks and bike paths.</p>
<p>The problem isn’t having more bike racks, it’s having space to PUT the bike racks. Been outside THH lately? If there’s class going on, then the bike racks are completely full, there’s another row of bikes near the entrances, and bikes scattered all over the place near the doors. Same deal with bike paths. There just isn’t any room to put them, not to mention that pedestrians would walk there anyways, destroying the purpose of a dedicated bike path.</p>
<p>My advice: get good at riding a bike. When you can dodge full-volume traffic going the wrong way down Trousdale, then you know you’ve made it.</p>
<p>My OA say there’s going to be a bike ban on Trousdale starting this year, actually.</p>
<p>whattt why?</p>
<p>They’ve been trying to do that for a couple years now. Bike bans… don’t work so well, especially when enforcement is as spotty as DPS usually does it. Expect it to be abandoned by December.</p>