<p>I’m an incoming freshman and I’d like to know what bike would be best to use to get around school? I’ve looked into beach cruisers simply because of their looks, but I’ve been reading their heavy and slow which sounds like it’s a problem. So I’d like to know:</p>
<ul>
<li>Which bikes last the longest?</li>
<li>Which bikes run fairly cheap</li>
<li>The difference between fixies, road bikes, hybrids, comforts, cruisers, etc.</li>
<li>Oh and I’d also like to put a basket on a bike so what bikes are compatible with that?</li>
</ul>
<p>Davis is really flat so beach cruisers will run fine and so will single gears. I got a fixie and I’m going to make it really low profile as in dark colors and such so it wont get stolen. Remember not to spend so much money because there is a chance of it being stolen even with very expensive u lock. Do lots of research! & beach cruisers are really known for being able to put a basket. I got my fixie at Bikes direct . com and it’s pretty cheap it was less than 250 dollars and that’s how much high end walmart bikes go for. </p>
<p>Fixie = single gear
Road = More gears than 1.</p>
<p>fairly cheap prices? check out local bike stores (they’re a bit expensive but the service is awesome) it’s not a bad idea to buy your bike in davis at a local bike store so you can get check ups there.</p>
<p>I’m actually thinking of upgrading my bike and put it in my dorm rather than outside at night. I don’t think there’s a big chance of getting a bike stolen during daylight when im in class :o</p>
<p>bike racks! or probably ill get a nicer bike when i move to an apartment/ house rental during junior year or so. haha & my bike is really light :o if anything it’ll make me stronger. strength over loosing money!</p>
The main factors in how long your bike lasts are the quality of the bike itself, how hard you ride, and how well you care for the bike. As far as the quality of the bike itself, if you buy your bicycle from a bike shop with a good reputation you should be all set. Avoid buying bicycles at the mall, in department stores, at Wal-Mart, etc. if you want them to last longer than the warranty period. How hard you ride has to do with the speed, whether you hop up onto curbs or down off of curbs, the weather you ride in, etc. How well you care for the bike could mean tuning it up yourself or bringing it into the shop regularly for your 30-day tune (which means 30 riding days, not 30 days of your bike sitting in the garage). Most likely some middle ground.</li>
</ul>
<p>Define “cheap”. The first new bike I bought with my own money was a hybrid made by Trek. I think it was in the 7000 series, maybe a 7200, and I bought it at a very good local bike shop for about $280, plus the cost of accessories (lock, lights, helmet, bottle cage). This is definitely an affordable bike, and if you’re serious about bikes, it qualifies as cheap. If you know nothing about bikes you might say hey, but I can get this other bike at Sears for only $180, that’s a cheap bike! Yes, it’s cheap, but the difference in quality is well worth the extra money if you’ll be using this bike for the next 4 years. If you want a decent quality bike at a Wal-Mart price, look for a lightly used bike on Craigslist. The rules for buying a bike on Craigslist are: always test ride before you buy; don’t spend any money you wouldn’t be comfortable throwing away entirely if there is ANYTHING not functioning on the bike, because if the seller was riding a broken bike it may have been damaged even further or be just waiting to break down; make sure you know how to tell whether a bike is the right size for you (use Google); and look for sellers who give a good vibe. In this case a good vibe means not just a friendly person who doesn’t seem like they’re cheating you, it also means a person who looks as though they know something about bikes and have taken good care of this one.</p>
<p>Fixies are for hipsters with health insurance. You need special shoes to ride one and you will get injured while you’re learning to handle yourself, because your shoes are physically fastened to the pedals and coasting is impossible (hence “fixed” gear; the wheels and pedals always move together—even in reverse!). No-one should ever buy a fixed-gear bike unless they know exactly what they’re getting into. Cruisers, as you’ve heard, are heavy and almost always single-speed (though not fixed, so you can coast) which is what makes them “slow”—they are best for leisure riding and short commutes in flat areas. They often have baskets but some are incompatible with rear racks or panniers, which limits storage capacity. Mountain bikes are popular and thus tend to be a bit less expensive, but it’s just silly to ride a mountain bike for campus commuting. Hybrids have some of the durability and more aggressive tread of mountain bikes, but are made for urban and light trail riding; basically a compromise between road and mountain bikes. Many manufacturers are selling “street” bikes as well, or some other type of bike using their own terminology, which are still hybrids but closer to a road bike than to a mountain bike. Think of these as road bikes with straight handlebars and more traction; they may stay upright when riding over gravelly roads where a road bike would not. Finally, road bikes are made for going fast on good surfaces. They are the closest to true racing bikes, the lightest category, and if you put skinny racing tires on they’ll be very zippy but low traction; pretty risky for a novice riding through areas with other bike or auto traffic.</p>
<p>You can put a basket on most bikes. There are different ways the basket can be attached, and not all bikes will work with all baskets, but you should be able to find something that works without too much trouble. Many bikes also can accept front and/or rear racks.</p>
<p>I would recommend a hybrid bicycle to start with. They are popular with casual riders, students and short commuters, so there are many inexpensive models around like the Trek I mentioned earlier. After riding a hybrid for a while you may decide you want something a little zippier or that you want something a little more aggressive, and you can upgrade with the benefit of experience and make a more informed decision about what you want. Keep in mind that “hybrid” means anything in-between a strict mountain bike or road bike, so if you shop around and look in different brands in different stores you will find a range of places to start. Remember also that you will have to add the price of accessories, so figure on $100-150 additional for helmet, lights and lock (you are legally required to have lights equipped and in-use if you ride at night in Davis). A further $10 gets you your bike license (also legally required), good for three years. Buy a U-lock! I own a pair of bolt cutters from Home Depot that I guarantee can easily cut ANY chain or cable lock you can buy. Chain or cable locks are only good for locking your tires when you’ve already locked your frame with a U-lock, or keeping drunk people from grabbing an unlocked bike.</p>
<p>There are a whole bunch of bike shops in the middle of Davis so it should be easy to look around and get a whole bunch of opinions from the employees. You will get a feel for who knows their stuff and who is just a salesperson. I bought a new helmet a couple weeks ago from Freewheeler on 2nd Street, much better venting than my old helmet and well worth the $65 since I’m planning to commute 20 miles to campus from my house in Sacramento. On the topic of helmets, if you ever do take a spill and hit your head at all seriously while wearing a helmet, you must replace the helmet. They are only good for one impact. A good rule of thumb, if the helmet doesn’t appear cracked, is that if the impact was hard enough that you would have had stitches or a concussion without the helmet, you should get a new helmet. Better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>Speaking of sorry, I apologize for how long this got while I was rambling on. Good luck with your purchase, and let us know if you have a particularly good or bad experience with any bike shop(s) in Davis!</p>
<p>@bakemaster You. Are. Awsome. Don’t worry about how much you’ve typed, because honestly the more information the better. Thank you so much for that response!</p>
<p>On the subject of theft, many bikes have “quick release” front wheels and/or seats. These are very easy to remove which makes them targets for theft even when your bike frame is locked. You can help to safeguard your wheel with a second lock. I used to remove my front wheel and lock it with my frame and rear wheel all together with one U-lock, but this takes a bit of practice and isn’t possible on every bike rack. Some people remove their quick release wheel when they enter a building and bring it in with them. Quick release seats don’t generally get stolen unless you bought an expensive seat to replace the stock one. I did have a gel cover stolen off of my seat once while my bike was parked at work… That ****ed me off.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about theft, you can always get a “beater” bike at the auction or on Craigslist; just make sure it’s super cheap so when it stops working you can get another one. [Bike</a> Auction - Davis Wiki](<a href=“http://daviswiki.org/bike_auction]Bike”>http://daviswiki.org/bike_auction)</p>
<p>The OP asked what bikes last the longest. Bikes in the $100-200 range definitely do not last the longest. Yes, they’ll get you around campus for a while. If you never ride them anywhere else, you don’t ride hard at all, and you know how to tune up your own bike and take care of it, a bike in that price range can last through four years of school. But no-one who is inexperienced enough to have to ask the sorts of questions asked in the OP is at all likely to be capable of doing the necessary maintenance themselves, and if you can afford the extra cost of professional tunes and repairs on a low-quality bike, why not buy a higher quality bike in the first place?</p>
<p>These cheaper bikes are best suited for kids and casual riders who only use their bikes occasionally. People who commute regularly on their bikes tend to just pick them up and zip off to where they need to go; they don’t check the tire pressures as often as they should, they don’t wipe the bike down after riding through bad weather to prevent buildup of dirt, grit and corrosive materials, they don’t know how to adjust their seat and handlebars, they don’t lubricate their chain, and so on. For a bicycle to stand up to this kind of wear long-term, it should have parts of a certain degree of quality. At the extreme low end (sub-$200), the manufacturer is very limited in what materials and parts are affordable while still being able to turn a profit.</p>
<p>Common points of failure or damage on cheap bicycles are rusting or warping over time of the rims and spokes; low-quality derailleurs going out of alignment, which is annoying at first and will start causing thrown chains if not dealt with; reflectors held on not by hardware but by a weak adhesive, and eventually falling off. If you ride hard, lots of hopping and curb-jumping, you can break the pedal right off of a cheap bicycle.</p>
<p>The final nail in the coffin for these bikes, as far as I’m concerned, is the availability of so many high-quality used bikes on Craigslist and eBay in the exact same price range. With just a little patience, you can find used bikes for $150-250 used that sold for $600-800 new, and the difference in quality is huge. Road bikes in this range tend to be lighter; hybrids tend to be much more comfortable and better-geared; mountain bikes tend to have better suspension. In any style, you’ll find nicer features in this range, like more comfortable grips on the handlebars, indexed shifters, better seat design. A used bike may already have accessories installed such as fenders, racks, lights, extra reflectors, bottle cages, and so on. And because these bikes are made with higher-quality materials, they can be (and often are) ridden for decades. But when people sell them used, they often are no more than five years old, and may have seen only occasional use. When in good condition, that’s just so much more bike for your money.</p>
<p>It’s not wrong to buy a cheap bike from Wal-Mart, and if you think you’ll be able to afford something nicer in a year or two, maybe you’d rather have a warranty in the meantime than buy something used. Just don’t expect it to stand up to daily use on and off campus for four years. Repairs will always become more expensive in the long run than high quality materials and proper care.</p>
<p>good posts, except you don’t need “special shoes” to ride a fixie. you just need to get used to not coasting. most fixies have toe clips which work with most shoes.</p>
<p>i’m going to reiterate bakemaster’s point - the best thing to do is to get a good used bike. i have a single speed (not fixed, but it has a flip flop hub) and it’s fine. i’ve never felt the need to shift gears anywhere in davis.</p>
<p>IMO you don’t need a mountain bike (fat tires and suspension = energy loss) or even a hybrid, unless you really find road bikes uncomfortable. davis is truly a bike friendly city, so a road bike should be fine, especially if you know what you’re doing.</p>
<p>Ugh, toe clips. Not a fan at all. Clipless are easier to get out of in a pinch, which is safer; have a more rigid connection, so you have more power; and you can buy them with recessed cleats so walking isn’t a problem. But you’re absolutely right, the shoes aren’t strictly necessary. Just way better than the alternative, IMO.</p>
<p>flip flop hubs all the way man. single gear/road bikes are so light and it looks so much better than a fat mountain bike USED bikes are a really good choice too. you have 2 months to get used to what ever bike you’re going to get!</p>
<p>Reading those huge walls of text and what not have taught me
1)I’m screwed at what bike to pick
2)Don’t know anything about bikes
3)Need to convince parents on not buying a bike from Walmart
4)Did i mention I’m screwed at picking a bike?</p>
<p>If your parents are the ones paying for the bike, you do kind of have to live with what they’re willing to pay for. And if that means Wal-Mart, I guess that means Wal-Mart.</p>
<p>Why are you screwed at picking a bike, FutureEE?</p>
USED bikes are a really good choice too. you have 2 months to get used to what ever bike you’re going to get!</p>