Originally Posted by
Tape2012
Keep this in mind as well. My son went to Michigan State, a large school. At the end of every semester they had well over 100 abandoned bikes that they auctioned off. A good source for a replacement beater if his does get stolen.
This!!
Call the local campus police department. They'll tell you when the bike auction is.
(Mine is coming up in a few weeks. Great place to get bikes super super cheap (a few dollars-100 bucks)) Don't bother trying to go there to look for a road bike, they always command a premium. Your best bet is to find a beat up (but nice) old mountain bike. Bring it home, give it a tune up, and it'll be better than 95% of the bikes on campus. Actually, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Lots of kids ride brand spankin new mountain bikes worth thousands of dollars. (And they leave them out in the rain!)
I shudder when I see a rocky mountain sitting in the rain locked to a rack.