<p>When buying a bike for riding around campus, would you recommend getting a bike with coaster brakes, or with hand brakes?</p>
<p>Also, are 1-speed bikes easy to use on campus, or would you suggest getting one with different speeds/gears?</p>
<p>People use various types of bikes on campus, from fixies to mountain bikes. A lot of people own fixies, and those are single gear. I own a hybrid, which is somewhere between a mountain bike and a road bike.</p>
<p>I think most bikes at UCD are beach cruisers or the kind that are funny looking like this
<a href=“Site Map : Ski Market”>http://host.web-print-design.com/ski/products/bikes/comfort-cruiser/old-bikes/Raleigh_Venture-4pt0.jpg
</a></p>
<p>called a comfort bike I guess. essentially a mountain bike with funny looking handle bars - and they’re very popular lol.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t get too crazy. Those that have nice road bikes tend to take them into the classrooms with them out of fear of theft. It does happen, make sure you get a good lock!</p>
<p>There’s also tons of rusted piece of junk bikes XD</p>
<p>Seriously, try Google Images and look up davis bikes or davis bike racks, it’ll give you a good idea of what goes around :)</p>
<p>If you’re planning on riding around in the rain (which I assume is the case) I’d probably get a hybrid/comfort bike like the one above. Its good to have at least a few different speeds for more control and thicker tires if riding in rain</p>
<p>I’m starting next year but from what I’ve heard you need to get fenders for both tires so you don’t get rain water flung at you from the tires</p>
<p>Campus and the city of Davis are pretty flat. However, especially off-campus, the roads and bike paths are not well-maintained. There are tons of large cracks in the roads/bike paths so you can be in for a bumpy ride. On campus there are a few problem spots but for the most part things are good. </p>
<p>Another issue is that many Davis residents put their ‘street piles’ (big pile of yard waste including stray leaves) in the bike lanes in the city. These street piles will block the entire bike lane at times and the scattering of leaves when it rains is slick and dangerous. In general you should avoid them no matter what kind of bike you have, but it might be something to talk to the bike shops you visit about.</p>
<p>If you plan to ride your bike off campus (run errands, get groceries, etc) you might want to take the state of the city of Davis paved ways into account.</p>
<p>I ride in the rain and only use a fender for the back, I don’t need a front one; I have a road bike.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the input! The information is very helpful!</p>
<p>As far as streets are concerned, the condition of them is fantastic compared to where I used to live o_O I think my car’s suspension is really happy right now. </p>
<p>However, I’ll agree - the yard waste heaps are ridiculous! I’m also not sure what the conditions of the bike paths are like since I’ve never been on one. </p>
<p>Still, you might want to keep an open mind and consider what kind of bike you have right now, what you’d like to have, and how much you’ll be using it. I notice some people drive their cars in (probably from other towns), and then use a bike to get around on campus (I love this, and it favors a SMALL bike, but yea…)</p>
<p>From class to class, you can get away just fine with a cheap bike (this is the majority of what I see), but if you want to ride around a lot you might want a road bike.</p>
<p>The added speed of a road bike may help, but it probably won’t because during the busy times of day, you can only go so fast on a bike before it starts getting dangerous on campus.</p>
<p>OTOH, if you have a road bike or a lightweight fixed gear bike, those are great for when you live in an apartment building and want to keep the bike in your apartment (in which case, you’d be able to carry it up the stairs more easily since it weighs 18lbs instead of 35!)</p>
<p>However, if you’re going to get a cheap bike and keep it locked downstairs, it doesn’t matter as much.</p>
<p>In my case, I wonder if I’d bother spending $500 for a 10lb savings when I could lose the 10lbs for a lot less $$ :D</p>
<p>Of course, if you want light & cheap that’s also an option - there’s plenty of $200 and under fixies out there that are light, cheap looking, and after some use they probably won’t be very big theft targets. (Most “fixies” are sold as regular single gear bikes that just look like road bikes)</p>
<p>I got mine for 700. That is about the cheapest brand new road bike I could find. This is after spending 175 for a RB. off of craigslist and constantly having to fix it. I promise you I have no buyers remorse this time. It is great! way better for transportation than my Dyno BMX was…anyway, to all you riders, GOOD LUCK and watch for drunk drivers! they like to hit bicycles…</p>
<p>As suggested above, look into a 700c commuter bike or flat-bar road bike; suspension fork optional. Don’t buy anything from WalMart or Target unless you know what you’re doing. Second best option is a 26" mountain bike. You don’t NEED to buy a fancy-pants drop-bar road bike, but it could be nice if you want to get into cycling.</p>
<p>DO NOT BUY a used bike from the on-campus bike shop unless you like wasting money. Their new bikes are a bit of a toss-up - pricey but not too out of line. Still, I’d look elsewhere. </p>
<p>Fenders: Yes. Absolutely yes. There’s no dancing around this. I would suggest getting front/rear fenders; rear as absolutely minimum. Learned THAT the hard way. Bike lights too but never set them so that they’re perpendicular to the road and never to blink unless you want to blind everybody. </p>
<p>But whatever you do, do NOT buy a cruiser. You’ll take up two parking spaces, the entire width of the road, sound awful, and everybody will not be too fond of you. :D</p>
<p>“get a skaet board not a bike
why u being nerdy ugh
if u get bike i steel it n sell it 2 my niggas in sarcamento
OAK PARK IN DIS B!!!TCH AAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY
GO DUMBBBBBBB NIGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAA”</p>
<p>I need you to know, the above post is what’s nerdy here.</p>
<p>i have a single speed. got it for 300. it’s amazing.</p>
<p>I have two bikes, one is a $100 fixie, another is a $800 road bike, and i think that what your getting really depends on what you will be doing with your bike. if you plan on riding slow back and forth to class, or around Davis sometimes, then a cheaper bike is completely fine. I rode my $100 bike a lot, and started having a lot of problems with it, but its fine to ride back and forth to class. If you plan on riding 10 miles+ a day, i would recommend a road bike from a shop. In my experience walmart bikes break when you actually ride them a lot.</p>
<p>Could you guys offer some suggestions on bikes/bike shops for me? We have a $100-150 budget range, and I’d just be riding it around town and to and from class. If it affects anything, I’m an inexperienced rider; literally learned how to ride as a kid then stopped after doing it a couple times.</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated. Very informative thread, by the way!</p>
<p>For that range, I think the Bike Barn has a couple of cruisers for around that price. Scroll down to Bicycle Shop Comparison on [this</a> Davis Wiki page on bike shops](<a href=“http://daviswiki.org/bicycle_shops]this”>http://daviswiki.org/bicycle_shops) to see the lowest price range of each bike shop (with a low budget, you’d more than likely be looking at a used bike). You can even buy a used bike off of another student via [url=<a href=“http://ucdavis.uloop.com/forsale/index.php/bikes]Uloop[/url”>Bikes Near UC Davis | Uloop]Uloop[/url</a>].</p>
<p>If you’re not going to do serious riding, even a bike from Target or Walmart will do–just make sure you have an experienced person to help you put it together, haha. My former roommate once bought a bike from Target after someone stole her fixie (her mistake was not buying a U-lock and using a cable lock instead) and she didn’t realize that she assembled her bike wrong until one of my suitemate’s relatives came up to visit. Two of my suitemates have department store bikes and it’s served them well so far.</p>
<p>You might also want to check out craigslist. If you want to spend 150 or less you may be able to get a good used BMX bike. I know it wouldn’t be a new cruiser but I’ve had several bikes and cruisers always made me feel like they were more work than necessary; big, bulky, hard to get started and just an overall waste of space. But that’s just my opinion based on experience. Davis is flat, which means a small BMX bike would be a good riding bike. If you plan on riding a lot around town though I would get a road bike, or something similar.</p>
<p>We just found out that a family member has a 7-speed beach cruiser that she’s selling for $150. Would that be good?</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>She’s family, it should be free.</p>
<p>The bike barn cruisers start around $220, I’d know because I’ve walked past them a few times and I’m fairly sure of that -_- </p>
<p>For $150 you could grab a gmc denali road bike. still kinda wondering how those hold up (target and walmart, and amazon sell them)</p>
<p>the idea of a 7 speed beach cruiser sounds cool… sounds a bit overpriced too, but I like bikes with gears 
Don’t have to push as hard to get em going!</p>