Originally Posted by
a1penguin
A bit more info about your riding situation will result in good bike suggestions.
I will be going 3 miles each way, all paved. There's one steep hill but the rest is flat. I weigh about 95 lbs and carry 15-20lbs of stuff. I'd really like it if I could ride in a skirt at least some of the time. So... I'm looking for a bike kinda similar to
this one in terms of the step through frame, chainguard and other skirt friendly features of a cruiser, but with the leaner build and wheels and slightly lower (but not butt in air low) handlebars. Unfortunately $830 is way out of my range... I'm hoping for something more in the $400 range. And about purchasing better features... I visited the LBS today and asked, and they said the extra stuff would cost $200 without the labor charge. Considering that's half the cost of the bike I was looking at, is this normal in the bike world?
Originally Posted by
treadtread
Do you have hills/bridges on your commute? If you don't need gears, then the giant via looks like a nice bike (with fenders) at that price point:
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/....w/9050/48941/
There are lots of other good bikes, but at that price, most will be without fenders and other such commuting niceties. Alternately, you can buy fenders later, like I plan to
Almost all the big names, Trek, Giant, Specialized, Raleigh, Jamis have step through bikes - and at that price, the difference between them isn't much. Try as many as you can, and choose the one that feels right.
Edited to add: the Via has gears in the higher models.
That looks like what I'm looking for! Gears aren't all that important since I don't usually use them anyway.
Thanks for the suggestions!