It's not that I insist on new. It's that I must have transportation, not least because many of the jobs I'm qualified for, and the only decent homeless shelter, are in the next town over, and I'm getting tired of having to pass up good jobs without even trying because I can't reach them.
I don't know enough to tell a decent used bike from trash, and you can only waste money on cheap garbage so many times before repairing and/or replacing it adds up to more than the cost of doing it right the first time.