Originally Posted by
Chris L
The practical solution to this problem is to obtain a run down beater bike for $50 at a garage sale. You may have to replace a couple of things on it, but that shouldn't be too much trouble, and you can ride it to wherever you like. A lot of thieves won't bother stealing it, and even if they do, it won't cost the world to replace it.
The same thing goes for the bikes kids ride to school. Personally I've never understood the obsession with buying children expensive bikes anyway. In 12 months they'll probably grow out/get tired of it (strike out whichever does not apply). It's best just to get them cheap bikes and solve both problems.
My favorite bike ever was a bike I got for $6 at a yard sale. New tires, tubes, and cables, and the bike worked wonderfully. Doesn't mean I wouldn't have been devastated if someone stole it, though. I've still never found another bike like it. Was a Schwinn road bike with disc brakes.
There's also the fact that for some people(and arguably, some of those people are the MOST likely to be willing to use a bike for transportation) $50 can be a large portion of their discretionary income. Maybe they don't even have that much discretionary income at one time.