Northern California - Best bike for San Francisco hills?

Hello,

I'm looking for recommendations for a bike to be used in San Francisco (very hilly). It's for a friend who is female, about 5'5" or 5'6", and is new to biking. She'd like to use it for carrying groceries and commuting a few miles (not so much long distance rides, trails, or anything like that) so she will be attaching a front basket, panniers, etc.

I understand that for hilly riding it would be helpful to have multiple speeds, low gears, low weight, thinner tires etc. But I was wondering if anyone can recommend any specific bikes that we should look at. Her budget is around $500-600 at most (cheaper is better of course as the add-on equipment will add up I'm sure). I've heard that some models to consider are Pake Urban 6-speed, Trek 7000/7100/7200 series, and Giant Transend W/Dx W. Any thoughts, good or bad, about these models?

Thanks for any help.

Personally, for city commuting, I would get a used mountain bike - any brand/model that fits properly. You don't want really skinny tires, since SF city roads are full of potholes and the muni and cable car tracks can eat your tires. All mountain bikes have low gears. Many will have eyelets to mount a rear rack. Bike theft is a problem, but losing a used bike is less painful than losing a fancy new bike.

I agree with Johnny99 -- with one caveat. I'd look for a used mountain bike from the mid-1990s or earlier, i.e., without a suspension fork. Craigslist has lots of old Specialized Hardrocks and Rockhoppers in the $100 - $200 range, sometimes even cheaper.

If you prefer to buy new, another good option would be the Kona Smoke (http://www.konaworld.com/09_smoke_u.cfm). Steel frame, wide tires, gearing in between a mountain bike and a roadbike (i.e., 48/38/28), retails for $425. Mojo Bicycles (http://www.mojobicyclecafe.com/) is one SF shop that carries Kona....

SF? Clearly a fixed gear with no brakes is your only choice.

:thumb:
SF? Clearly a fixed gear with no brakes is your only choice.


Actually how about a nice Hybrid...straight bars gears etc.

I recently got my wife to upgrade from her not great fitting cruiserish Diamondback to a Jamis Allegro 1.0. Her needs are pretty similar to your friends. My wife loves the bike and can't believe how much faster she is. It's a great spec for the price (I forget what we paid, but I am pretty sure it was under $600, even with some extras). I really like that it is a compact double vs a triple, since you don't really need super high gears on a bike like this. Also, the 700c wheels with fat touring tires are much better rolling through SF potholes or cruising along those few flat sections than 26". I haven't had to touch the bike since she got it except for one brake adjustment (typical for a new bike) and lubing the chain -- it's a really decent parts group.

Marin makes a great line of commuter bikes, with 700C wheels and easy to use shifters.
My wife had one to get to UC Berkeley and back until it got stolen.

she also has a nice giant road bike, but she always talks about how much she liked the position and ride of the commuter (even with the 10 extra lbs or so of crap on it).

Thanks for all the tips/suggestions everybody. I'm all for reusing so I think we'll try getting a used bike first and see how that works out.