InnoxiousD

Hello Everyone

So I've been stalking this forum for quite a while now and finally decided to register. I'm searching for a good commuter bike. I haven't been much of a biker in recent years, but I enjoy it, like fitness and now I live somewhere without a car, so I plan to bike all over town daily. This will be a main form of transportation for me and I want to get from point A to B as quickly as possible. That being said, I'm looking for a hybrid because I don't have a lot of experience with road bikes and there may be some dirt and gravel paths I will be traversing. My budget is only $250, so used is all I have to work with.

Here are a few bikes I'm looking at:

Raleigh Hybrid - $170 Raleigh Hybrid - awesome condition

Trek 700 - TREK 700 Hybrid Bike

Specialized Globe Carmel (too slow?) - Specialized Globe Carmel comfort urban city bike bicycle

Any help you can give would be awesome!

10 Wheels

Go with the Trek

Darth Lefty 

All the bikes you link are small frames, is that what you're looking for?

The Trek used to be a 21 speed, didn't it? The modern equivalent is not terribly expensive brand new, this seems like a high price.

This is a later version of the Trek with its triple front still intact and at a lower price: Small Hybrid

Jamis are decent, here's one that's small though the seller thinks it's large: Jamis Hybrid

Remember to budget for fenders and lights, spare tube and pump, etc.

InnoxiousD

Thanks for finding these Darth Lefty! I'm only 5'5" so I am looking for a smaller frame. I think 15" for the Trek might be too small though. Am I wrong? The pics for the Trek are pretty bad, but it looks like it's in great shape. The Jamis does too.

Darth Lefty 

I looked up the Trek 700 and they revived the model in 2011 with the single front ring. So that one is not 20 years old like I guessed, nor is it altered. It's an inexpensive bike but it has not depreciated much yet. So mea culpa on that. 15 is size small, regardless of brand. You might find a 13 in ladies' models.

cyccommute 

The Trek or Raleigh would be the best choices. However, be aware that the size range for both of those bikes is overly optimistic. The range of fit on bicycles is much closer than 5'4" to 5'10". The Raleigh looks like it is bigger (it looks like a 17" mountain bike, not a hybrid) and would fit someone 5'6" to 5'9". The Trek is smaller and would fit someone from 5'3" to 5'8".

The main differences in the bikes are going to be in the reach from the saddle to the handlebars. The Raleigh is going to be proportionally longer because it is meant for someone who is taller with longer arms and longer torso. Mountain bikes are sized 2" to 3" smaller than road bikes so that you have bail-off clearance. Hybrids tend to be sized more like road bikes so a someone who rides a 17" mountain bike would ride a 20" road (or hybrid) frame. Someone small enough to ride the Trek would have to have a 12" to 13" mountain bike frame.

I would suggest that you ride both and take someone who is knowledgable about bikes and bike fit with you. As to the price, both are over priced. The Trek is likely a 2012 that sold new for $330. You can buy a new 7.0 FX for $380 (probably less at the end of the season) that would professionally assembled, tuned, they would size it properly for you and they will do tune ups on it for a year, at least. I suspect with end of the season sales, you could get for about $100 more than your budget.

$100 seems like a lot but only a rich man can afford to buy cheap tools...because he usually has to buy them twice. Same goes for bikes.

bluegoatwoods

I'll go against the prevailing current here and suggest that you get yourself a cheap big box store bike and use your money for accessories.

I've had 'good' bikes. One in particular would have impressed any but the ones who are never impressed. And, yes, they were nice bikes. But I've given up on them over the issue of standardized parts. The moment you want to make any changes you run into parts that don't match.

I'm riding a Roadmaster that I bought from the Beast of Bentonville for about $50 in 2008. I ride to work virtually every workday and I've done so since this bike was new. I ride a bit on the weekends as well. 12 miles, round trip to and from work. How many work days in a work year? Let's see.....365 divided by 7 equals....let's call it about 5.2 5.2 X 5 =251. Okay 251 X 12=3013 work miles per year. Add 10% to cover non-commute riding = 3314 miles per year. 3314 X 6= pretty close to 20,000 miles on this bike.

(Can that be right? I'm just doing it in my head. I should get up and get a pen and paper. But I think I've got it about right)

Spare parts are mostly free since I pick up junk bikes out of the trash. The parts and such that I do buy is never 'upscale'. 12 dollar headlights, 15 dollar tires, etc.

My bike has been a faithful and valiant companion and I love it the way a cowboy loves his horse.

Bicycling doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't even have to be cheap. It can be very nearly no cost.

jwarner

I'm going to suggest you search for your local bike kitchen (bicycle co-op, whatever other name it may go by). I volunteer as a mechanic in one, and have been involved with them for many years in a few different places. The concept of a bicycle kitchen is that we take in used bikes (by donation), build up the ones that are mostly complete but just need a little help, and strip ones that have substantial problems for usable bits and scrap. We also offer a work space, tools, and instruction for you to work on or build your own bike. This give you an opportunity to talk to someone who is passionate about cycling, who is also quite happy to help you figure out what is going to work best for you; it give you space and tools to learn to build-up and maintain a bike; and it may give you more options with less financial outlay. When I left the shop last sunday, we had some excellent classic vintage lugged steel Schwinns (not the cheep box store stuff), two mid-'80's Bianchi mountainy-type bikes, and two very cool mid-'80s/'90s Gary Fischer bikes (one called the Waahoo) waiting for someone to give them a little love. These are just the bikes I noticed or worked on. We probably have close to 100 to choose from depending on how much work one wants to put into a frame. We also keep boxes and boxes of used parts, a few new parts, and quite a few accessories. While there last Sunday, I helped a woman build up a frame from scratch with used parts, helped a guy solve shifting and brake problems on a road bike and a mountain bike, and offered tentative support to a guy building up a coaster brake hub for a French Galaxy bike (I don't care too much for trying to rebuild coaster brakes -- they can be a real pain the butt, and if they fail... no brakes). Our volunteers regularly build up almost every type of bike imaginable, most are 90-100% car free, and several have toured extensively in some fairly remote places. Oh yeah.... we generally price our bikes by what someone can afford to pay, and kid's bikes are free, and since we are all volunteers, our suggested shop rate is $5 an hour, which is exactly what you get returned to you in credit if you work around the shop doing what you can (grunt work, and working on your yet-to-be purchased bike included).. hard to beat that deal I think.

In short, if you can find a local bike kitchen, it might be worth your while to have a look, there is a lot of good vintage steel and reasonable aluminum out there that doesn't need to go to a landfill, and will last you for a very long time with a little work.

Good luck no matter what you decide.