Originally Posted by limeshrimp

I'm 5'1, female, about 120 pounds; my budget is about 450 dollars max, this includes shipping and getting a rear rack. My riding experience is limited to a few crappy walmart/kmart mountain bikes, the last of which got slightly mangled in a car crash Anyway, I wanted to use the bike possibly for commuting, shopping trips -- not a lot of weight, like groceries -- and maybe riding around central park on the weekends. There's a lot of pavement and I figure there's absolutely no reason for me to have suspension on my bike, which is how I ruled out the Origami cricket.

I was considering:
-Origami crane
-Citizen Gotham II
-Downtube Nova

I read the thread comparing the citizen and the crane, but I'm interested in any other suggestions mostly. Especially if they're being sold somewhere in NYC (retail store, craigslist, etc). Thank you!