Originally Posted by
Kevin S
Thank you all for the ideas. We would prefer non-suspension, but our budget is about $200 and that leaves us firmly in the suspension bike market.
Even moderately priced road bikes and hybrids jump up in price to $350, $400 and more. Looking used would give us more options, but I have very limited knowledge for buying a used bike. I'm interested in recommendations.
Kevin S.
Kevin, if you want some recommendations, then it would be worthwhile to know a little about who the bike is for. Things like age (14- see that), size, riding experience, most likely type of riding to be done ...
We could recommend things we personally hold dear or we can be objective based on provided info and maybe come up with some good options which might fit the need.
$200 - you, of course have the safety gear already figured out, or would this also include having to buy stuff like a helmet, lights, lock, seat pac and emergency gear, etc? These are as important as the bike.
Budgets can always be met, but often the lower the budget the more extended the time needed to get some decent stuff which fits the bill.
If you have to make quick decisions on a very limited budget, then you'll likely have to make a lot of compromises. Some of which will require further funding soon enough down the road.
'Suspension' isn't a bad thing, and may actually provide some unexpected benefits. Getting a nice condition used bike for well under $200 is not that difficult. And since Craigslist is quite ubiquitous, it should be quite doable in your area as well.
Anyway, now that you've opened it up to more than just 'fenders', its up to you to define how useful we can be as opposed to how much bandwidth chatter we send out.