Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Overweight newbie needs help on first purchase

I am 5'11" and around 155lbs. I plan on using a bike every day to get to campus which is 3 miles away from me. I need suggestions on a bike to help me loose weight and stay active. My father wants to buy me a bike for my upcoming birthday so I was wanting some help deciding what would work great.

Wow, you're not overweight at all compaired to a lot of the folks here (including me). You can ride pretty much any bike without worry, so try some out and pick the one that inspires you to ride. In general you'll find better bikes at your local bike shop. Bike theft tends to be a real problem on any campus, so you'll want a good lock with any bike that you buy, and of course a helmet. What ones have you seen so far that you like.

Only 155 at 5'11"? Man, most of us would kill to have that kind of BMI. :D

At only 6 miles round trip, most any bike will get that job done. Some with a degree of practicality, some with style.

You can be super practical and get something with fenders and racks and an internally geared hub or you can be horribly cool and impress the honeys with a fixed gear or you could even get away with a full on competition ready road or mountain bike and go racing on the weekends.

You're really only limited by your budget and imagination here....

Unless you are of the female gender, I would say that @ 5'11" & 155# you are about 25# underweight!

Are you sure that wasn't a typo? Maybe 255#?

I recommend a Craigs list bike for your first purchase. Look for the best hybrid bike in your price range. A hybid has some thicker tires for getting around some dirt and pavement on campus. If you want a better bike later you can resell the CL bike for around the same price that you paid for it.

All bikes in the less than $500. range will have similar componets and frame. Research the bike on

www.bikepedia.com (http://www.bikepedia.com)

before you make a purchase. You can see what it REALLY sold for new. Good luck and enjoy a great form of transport and exeercise.

Wow yeah sorry guys thats a typo I'm 255. (155 I wish)

A nice commuter bike would be a good starting point. I would stay away from getting a mountain bike. The best thing to do is go to the local bike shop, tell them what you want to use the bike for and try some out. Biking is the best way to burn calories I have found. Last weekend I did about 50 miles and burned almost 5,000 calories.

Many "fitness" hybrids and cyclocross bikes will accept fenders and racks; a must for commuting. Buy a pannier for your rack to keep your books/laptop off of your back. Stay away from dept. store bikes and check out the LBS's in your area. Take a few test rides (don't be afraid to ask). You will soon learn which LBS's are helpful and friendly and which are not. If bike theft is a concern on your campus you may want to consider an older rigid (no suspension) MTB. Many of the older ones will accept fenders and racks and with a pair of slick tires will make a fine bike for your short commute. Here is one such example that I use to commute to school with:

141507

I disagree with the fender and rack requirement. They are certainly nice to have but let's look at the OP's requirements. He needs to ride 3 miles in each direction. For this kind of distance normal clothing and a backpack would work. I would get a used MTB, touring, or cyclocross bike with wide road tires. This will handle the jumps on/off the curbs and roll across grass w/o problems (typical campus riding). As Chuck's fitness improves he can consider bringing some cycling clothes and taking a longer ride home (30+ min rides for optimal fat loss, etc.).

I'd have to agree with irclean.

On a bike carrying books on my back, whenever a shift occurred in weight (like all my gigantic science books shifting to the right suddenly) it made me feel like I was about to fall. I would certainly recommend shopping panniers (just open the bag, put your backpack in one side, then ride away). The fender make sense so you don't get the wet stripe on your back from even a little ride over wet asphalt.

Not only that, if longer rides are desired (like Greg suggests and I could see as a natural transgression in better weather and to burn off some school steam), having weight on one's back is going to get annoying and tiring. Not to mention, you'd need something to hold your clothes that you changed from.

Photos of a bike I recently put together for carrying my items:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4434681036_6289e16b9a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spthealien/4434681036/)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4437500916_f62a3c7b1e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spthealien/4437500916/)

I'm 5'10 and 217 today. I started at 240-ish and my bike is a 56cm Trek 1000. I picked it up (off season) for $200. I had a couple people "fit" it to me, but until recently, I would become uncomfortable after 30 min or riding. The bike felt way too long & I had to reach. Now that my belly is much smaller, I suddenly discovered that it had been getting in the way. Now, I can get down on the lower bars and power up hills AND be comfortable doing it.
Had I known this from the start, I would have gone with a 55 or even 54cm (or set my bike up differently). Keep that in mind and maybe you'll enjoy your first couple months more than I did.