Hi AJ,

Welcome to BF and to MSU! I work at MSU and bike commute to campus almost year round. The previous posters have pretty much already said what I would say regarding bike theft and abandoned bikes on campus. MSU has a bike store (bikes.msu.edu) that sells both new and used bikes. The new bikes are primarily Fuji which in my mind are good value for the money although you may be able to get better prices on them elsewhere. The bike store just happens to be putting on a big used bike sale tomorrow (August 8th) if you happen to already be in the area you might want to see what they offer. Craiglist always has a good selection of bikes for sale in the Lansing/East Lansing area and as already mentioned the Ann Arbor area is a good place to look at on Craigslist. Lastly, if you want to buy new, there are half a dozen decent local bike stores around town and one very close to campus. I've bought several bikes from Denny's in Okemos and can highly recommend them for their knowledge and service but you'd be quite happy with any of them. I would avoid getting anything expensive or that stands out due to the risk of theft. My fat bike got stolen the very first day I rode it to work because, I suspect, it stood out from the sea of similar bikes it was parked with. The thief used a grinder to cut both my U lock and cable lock so the fact that there are always people moving around campus doesn't seem to be a deterrent. I am fortunate that I can keep my bike in my office and no longer leave it locked outside. The MSU campus is laced with bike paths and you can easily get anywhere on foot or by bike. The Lansing River Trail runs all the way across campus along the Red Cedar River and a separate bikes-only path is currently being constructed alongside the original path to make it even more useful. Good luck on your bike search and welcome to MSU.