Cicerolover

Hello, my name is Rebecca, and I'm new to the wide world of cycling.

I rode bikes for fun as a kid but otherwise had no serious interest in it. Until I enrolled in college. A bike is optional, but I loathe walking long distances and see no reason to drive my car constantly around campus searching for a parking space in the vicinity of where I need to be. Since I'm new let me tell you about how I purchased my first bike.

I currently ride an Avalon Next hybrid. It's nothing fancy and by many standards I've already broken a cardinal rule of cycling. However, there is method to my madness.

1) I am exceptionally short. Very short, 5'1'' actually and after visiting my local bike shop I was measured for a 14 inch frame.

2) In my local area the bike community is very small, and many of the women are much taller than I. After answering many used listings, there was absolutely nothing used that was a proper fit. Seeing as how I am a poor college student with the coffers to match, I figured any bike was better than no bike so to big box retailer of soul eaters I went. To find something that fit my body type and my needs. My bike only just barely fits, but fits it does.
The other factors that led me to my decision was that my commute is very small only a few miles, if that, and the money I save can be put to use to invest in a nicer bike later. Plus, if this one gets stolen I can afford to replace it. Even if I did get lucky enough to find that Trek of my dreams, I doubt I'd get lucky again and could most certainly not afford to replace it. Being that my dad is an engineer and I can teach myself darn near anything, we ordered it online assembled and tuned it ourselves and I swear, other than the low quality parts it's as nice as the Novara I fell in love with at REI and the Treks I test rode at the local bike shop.

Right now I'm on a DIY path to making some snazzy fenders and since I sew, my own waterproof panniers. Biking on a college budget isn't all that feasible, but it's getting me somewhere. At the very least class, right?

Rapidray

I am sure there are a lot of people in the same boat as you. I would say you are on the right patch and I like your reasoning also. take care.

Badger6

FWIW, you probably made the best start you could based on the variety of factors you needed to balance. You can bike on a budget...just budget the spending up front, and then...ride, ride, and ride. Soon enough you'll be ready (and will have the money) to upgrade, until then, ride what you got! BTW, I used to live down the road, there is some great cycling in NC. When you are ready to ride longer distances and such, map your routes carefully, and watch out for the non-riders... Build the desire to ride, and soon the Trek will be in reach, you'll make other sacrifices in your life to make it happen.

Cicerolover

There are a lot of good biking trails in NC, I'll admit. In fact, my campus, UNCC has recently put in some bike trails. It's going to be nice, especially since there are many shops with in reasonable riding distance, so I may have to only use my car for work (and for lazy days). The only issue I see is that the area has some really steep hills, riding up isn't so bad. It's coming down that scares me.