What is the best bike for me?
 

Hey everyone this is my first post so I'm new here! I think I might want to get into bicycling, but I don't know what type of bike I want, can you guys help me?
Mainly the things I'll do on a bike are riding long distances, just cruising around the neighborhood, and going uphill occasionally. I'll definitely want to be able to go fast.
I'm trying to decide between a road bike and a mountain bike. Do you guys think a road bike is best for those things I'm mainly going to do?

Road bike.

Who are you? Age, height, weight, physical condition, other athletic activities if any? Ride alone or plan on riding in groups? What distances to you want to ride?

Maybe rent a road bike and mountain bike and ride them in their respective elements to get a feel for the type of riding you might like best initially.

Congrats on wanting to get into cycling. Your goals are great, but don't really point to a particular bike. Might be that a hybrid or cyclecross is best. Reason being--you want a comfortable posture and those bikes provide that. A road bike will be fastest, but if you only do that occassionally you won't be as comfortable on the saddle. I'd suggest an all around bike, like a hybrid, bought at a local bike shop.

Road bike. FYI, if you want to ride long distances, you'll be going uphill more than just occasionally, unless you live someplace that is pancake flat for about a 100 mile radius.

If you are not going off-road, and only plan on recreational riding on pavement, there is no reason to consider a mountain bike.

Sounds like a road bike. If you want a bit of versatility for trail riding or gravel, go with a cyclocross bike which is probably the most versatile sort of bike. Mountain bikes are great on mountains and pretty much nowhere else.

What do you consider long distances? How much do you want to spend? What kind of shape are you in?

the longest i'll go on a bike are maybe a couple of miles. i don't want to spend more than $200 and I'm in average shape.

A couple of miles? If you get into cycling at all, you'll ride more than a couple of miles. Even being fairly out of shape when I got back into it, I was riding 10+ miles within a couple of weeks, and 30+ miles within a month. Don't sell yourself short.

On the other hand, you've given a pretty low budget, and it's going to be hard to find a decent bike that fits it. I would suggest looking for something used in your area.

With a little practice, anyone can maintain 15 mph on a bike. At 15 mph, your "couple of miles" will take you a whopping 8 minutes. If you like bicycling, you will go much farther than 2 miles.

i know, but the reason why I said a couple of miles is because since I don't have a bicycle a couple of miles is the farthest i go walking :D. but yeah definitely if i got a bike I would go much farther but i'm saying as of now just walking I go a couple of miles and it takes like 20 minutes walking

i know, but the reason why I said a couple of miles is because since I don't have a bicycle a couple of miles is the farthest i go walking :D. but yeah definitely if i got a bike I would go much farther but i'm saying as of now just walking I go a couple of miles and it takes like 20 minutes walking

A couple of miles in 20 minutes is 6 mph. That's not walking; that's at least jogging. Whatever you can do afoot, you can do 3 or 4 times as much on a bike.