<p>Not a deep philosophical question but my son is heading out to Stanford for graduate school in a couple of weeks. My recollection from my time at Stanford is that the campus is huge and you need a bike just to get from dorms to classes in a reasonable amount of time. He will be staying in the Lyman dorms this year (and likely Schwab next year). He has a decent but not terrific mountain bike (probably $500 in replacement value or less) and a 15+ year old Fuji aluminum frame road bike that probably would be about $2K new (although it is far from new). The former is heavy, the latter incredibly light for a bike.</p>
<p>I recall getting up some mornings at Stanford and deciding it was too beautiful to let the day go by without some time outdoors and would ride my bike up into the hills. I'm not sure he would do that.</p>
<p>Assuming the bike is used primarily to get from dorm to class, which bike would you advise? If it is used for both, which would you advise?</p>
<p>I would say it makes the most sense to get a mountain bike, as it can serve your son well for bike trips that are both necessities (class to dorm, etc) and leisures (biking on the hills)…</p>
<p>Sorry if this didn’t help. I am neither a bike rider Nor a student at Stanford… Yet.</p>
<p>I’ve had both mountain and road bikes at Stanford and have been on the cycling club-team. You can easily get around the campus with either. Two things to consider are which you’d prefer to have while living at Stanford – both for biking to class and for biking off campus, and bike theft. Bike theft is common, especially among new students who aren’t in the habit of protecting their bike well (even a U-lock may not be enough). Hundreds of bikes are reported as stolen each year. I’d expect the total is well over 1000 bike thefts per year, if you include thefts that are not reported. It would be disappointing to lose a $2000 bike soon after arriving at Stanford.</p>
<p>I would recommend bringing the cheapest bike to school (of the two he has)…the one that your son wouldn’t mind “losing” due to 5 finger discount…</p>
<p>…now, if he didn’t have a bike…most students and parents and administrators strongly recommend getting the cheapest bike from Target or Walmart (and there are plenty of cheap bikes ranging in price $100-$200 to choose from at both stores…could order it to be picked up at local bay-area stores or have it built at home and bring to school) with a good U-Lock…and for most, it should be more than adequate for 4 years of college or advanced degree…</p>
<p>…most, if not all, students don’t need the extra “stress” to be worrying about potentially having a bike stolen…because it will happen to “someone” you know or to “you” (usually from carelessness but sometimes even with the best of locks)…the best thing is to move on a get another cheap bike…</p>
<p>Also going to be a student there! Personally I would get a cheaper road bike or a hybrid bike. Mountain bikes I find too clunky for long riding in non hilly areas while road bikes work great on both flat and hilly areas…as long as there are roads. However like gravitas2 mentioned I don’t think bringing a $2K Fuji bike even though it’s old is a great idea…If you could purchase a cheap road bike from Walmart (I’m looking at the GMC Denali which I tried it and feels great) then go with it. Otherwise the mountain bike is the way to go. </p>
<p>100% concur with the idea to get cheapest, decent looking bike possible. You have to assume that either the whole bike, or parts thereof, are going to get taken during your time at Stanford. The fact is the bike theft is very commonplace and I’d hate to run into the folks that are stealing handlebars and stems (yup, this happens) because these must be some very desperate folks. Two options - a fixie/road bike from an outfit like Critical Cycles for about $220; shipped right to campus. Or, head for Target or Walmart and get whatever basic bike they still have in stock. If you realy want to have something to brag about buy a used, slightly rusty bike, and at the end of four years when you haven’t experienced the downer of running out to the racks to find your wheels gone, you’ll thank this forum.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice. Looked at Critical cycles. It costs us a bit less to take the bike on the plane ($50 plus cost of box/boxing) and then replace the quick release hubs with regular ones. We got good locks including one for the seat (as that also had a quick release). He’s so happy to have a bike out there. A very cute young woman at the Stanford bike shop told our son to return in a few days where they redecorate the bike to make it less attractive (not clear what they actually do). He’s not mechanical and she volunteered to help him. Sweet. The Stanford bike shop was very helpful. If that gets stolen, we will go the other route.</p>