Originally Posted by Taryelle

Hear me out...please: I want a good dependable smooth riding bike for small city life, that can take moderate paved city hills. I want to use my bike for a 2-3 mile commute each way on a daily basis. I don't particularly care about my speed or my personal 'performance' on it. I just need transportation, to get from home to campus and back. I haven't ridden much of anything since I was a kid and I'm in my 40s now.

I do not care what my bike looks like. I don't care if it's step through or step over. I'd rather have one with comfortable straight bar handles or that doesn't require me to bend in half to ride as this wouldn't suit my body type (at the moment)

BUT: I have a caveat. I have to carry my bike up two very narrow steep flights of stairs to store it each night, because my condo corp is lame and won't let us leave bikes secured outside the building in any way (despite living in a super safe low crime small city) .

So.. I need a bike that is both good for a heavy set woman for daily commutes on moderately hilly paved roads, and a bike that doesn't weigh 40+ pounds because I have to carry it up and down stairs regularly and I'm not that tall at 5'5".

However, looking around, the terms are confusing - I've seen hybrids that look like mountain bikes, cruisers that look like racing bikes (albeit with upright handles) and I still can't quite grasp what a 'commuter' bike is, other than that many pics I've seen suggest they have the 'old fashioned' triangle frame.

Given this, what kind of bike should I be looking for? Brands and models especially welcome. My pre-customization budget would be about $500.