Originally Posted by
RaiderInBlue47
Hi, I'm attending college this fall and I'm wanting to go car lite. I love the bike I have now (80s Ross 10-speed), but it's sadly falling apart and not cutting it. I'm gonna have to upgrade.
I got about $600 in graduation money and I have a part time job so I can come up with some more scratch. I'm looking to have it by late July or so (school starts late August). My budget is $1000 ABSOLUTE MAX, preferably ~$800.
I'm going to get a Timbuk2 bag for carrying books and stuff, but I'd like to have a rear rack. I plan on doing some touring and I'd like to do occasional clothes or grocery shopping by bike, so I'll need some storage.Nothing over the top, I probably won't even get front racks. I will, however, put some fenders on, a computer and lights.
I love riding with drop bars and a fairly aggressive posture. I like to go fast, but I know I'm not gonna be doing a whole bunch of that with 20 pounds on the back.
I guess my #1 request is reliability. I want a bike that will work all the time, every time. No flats, nothing breaking off, reliable brakes and an overall rock solid ride.
Oh, and I'd like it to not be a theft magnet, if possible. I'm gonna get a nice U-lock and a cable lock and lock it up as strongly as possible. But it is gonna be on a campus of almost 25,000 students.
With that said, what are your recommendations? I'm looking at the Surly Cross Check with the Long Haul Trucker being the absolute ceiling of my money (actually a little over). Any recommendations?
A lot depends on the campus and the university but most of them have big issues with bike theft. Learn how to lock it properly and you will give yourself a much better chance of having that bike at the end of the year.
We just sent my son off to the college this year at a major Big 10 university on an urban campus. For the winter, he rode his mountain bike and we added studded tires. For spring and fall, we used my old Motobecane race bike (10 speed) but with nice stuff like some hand built wheels and entry level campy (from mid '80s). It's a really nice bike but probably not worth more than about $200 or so right now. We added pinlocks for skewers to make the tires more theft resistant and then got an Evolution Kryptonite U lock with a 4' cable. He locks the it using the Sheldon Brown method and then uses the 4' cable to pull in the front tire. That makes it the best locked bike on campus and pretty much everything else is a better target.
For tires, we changed out the 23c's for 25's (biggest the frame would handle) in Conti Gatorskins. That makes it pretty bullet proof for flats etc... We lubed up the chain with Chain-L and he has lube and keeps the chain lubed well especially after a rain (he gets taking care of it, he's an engineering student). If it is going to be really wet and rainy he either brings it up to his dorm room or locks it by some buildings with overhangs.
I would not go and buy a bright and shiny new bike for college. You just make it a target and a $600 bike brand new is probably not going to hold up great in the weather. I'd go on Craig's list and find an old more classic bike and use that. It won't be as interesting to thieves and it will probably be a better ride. Put the widest tires on it that you can - if the frame is open enough to where you can put studded tires on it or even as large as 32c's that would work well. It's an easy matter to change it out to 23's if you want to go for a serious hammer ride.
What seems to work really well, and we're thinking about for next year is since the campus and city is pretty flat is to convert the bike to single speed. Just that much less to fool with.
That all said, if you buy the CL bike for campus, then you can probably get a nice bike for serious riding. You might even be able to hang it up in your dorm if you give it some thought. We made a deal that clamps to the end of my son's bunk bed that hooks the front wheel and holds the bike vertically in some unused space. Worked great!
Pinlocks:
http://www.pinheadcomponents.com/ind...mid=56&lang=en
4' cable:
http://www.rei.com/product/800078/kr...x-1004-cable-4
U-Lock
http://www.rei.com/product/800076/kr...on-mini-u-lock
Sheldon Brown method:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html
J.