My advice - don't ride the nice bike. Buy an old rigid mtb for $40 off of CL or build a beater out of an old steel frame and ride it instead. When it gets stolen or pulled out from under you, you won't be out much.
As an aside - There are "marginal" neighborhoods, and there are "dangerous" ones. Not sure what yours is, but as a parent I gotta say I wouldn't be too exicted about my kid zipping to/from school through a bad part of town. But, at under two miles you might become king of the sprinters.
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"Love is not the dying moan of a distant violin, it’s the triumphant twang of a bedspring."
S. J. Perelman
Last edited by bigbossman; 02-02-10 at 06:21 PM.