Urban Errand Bicycles
 

I'm looking for a bike to handle short runs around town and leave my gas hog in the garage. Fenders, rack/bags, chain guard, and enough gears to handle the hills. Craigslist is virtually void of anything suitable and the closest thing I have seen new are Schwinns. Almost every thing on the market is either speedy road bicycles or BSOs. Am I looking in the wrong places? Any suggestions on finding a decent "work" bike?

Hmmm... Which Craigslist are you using? Budget?

There are quite a few vintage Schwinn Varsity (or similar) bikes that show up around here. They'd likely fit your goals, although they might require a full tune-up.

Also used Hybrids.

Personally I like my "road bikes" for commuter bikes, but my quick jaunt to the store is usually 20 miles RT or so, and often more.

Something like this?

https://squareup.com/market/detroit-bikes-1216/item/a-type

Find a 1990's Trek Multitrack hybrid and fix it up your way. Widely available for $50-$150. The MT 700 below was a $25 find, completely overhauled and upgraded black components to silver. Room for fenders if you want.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ipsxxae4qgz...40.35.jpg?dl=0

Your requirement for chain guard + gears means IGH, which means you're very unlikely to find cheap options on CL, and new you'll have to go to an actual bike shop, so you're not going to get cheap.

Your best option is probably bikesdirect for $450. Hopefully a 3-speed is enough gearing for you. Or $550 for 8-speed. I'd consider that price well beyond errand/beater, but a good value if you want a nice bike of that style. (I like that greenish-gray color available on the 8-speed)

Keep looking and grab the first European 3 speed that appears on Craigslist or at garage sales; or any old Schwinn, Sears or Columbia with upright handlebars would be fine for urban errands.
I bought this 1984 Schwinn World Tourist for $15 at a local garage sale several years ago.
Added pictured while riding around Philadelphia with added inexpensive rack, basket and accessory bags.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Craigslist in Atlanta seems to be mostly overpriced road bikes and kid's BSOs. I think I'm liking the idea of building one up myself.

Gears plus a chain guard does not mean igh only. There are also conventional rear derailleurs with single cogs up front.

If the chainguard isn't a hard requirement, there are lots of cheap 80s/90s mountain bikes out there that would do the job, too. Upright-ish position, room to add inexpensive plastic fenders, eyelets for racks, etc. In a big market like Atlanta, you'll have lots of crap to wade through on Craigslist, but I saw a couple. :thumb:

They have chainguards that work with rear derailleur equipped bikes. They're not full chainguards, but the do protect your pants from the chainrings.

There should be TONS of bikes in atlanta that would fit your requirements...

I may have to drop the chain guard idea to get the gearing I want and just clip my pants legs instead.

Ideally, this would be a bike that wouldn't kill me if it gets stolen. Low price and not a lot of work to get street ready.

I'll revisit craigslist and see if I can find a reasonable project bike.

You can add a after market chainguard too! Each of them have different rules, but it may be doable with your gearing.

I built up a soma mixte, with an IGH, and added a velo orange chainguard. My bike is 100% modern parts.

I had my chain guard powder coated to match. :)

http://i.imgur.com/RvTVig7.jpg

Here are a few from VO:
VO Alloy Chainguard - Chainguards, Frame Protectors, Kickstands - Accessories

Grand Cru Plume Alaire Chainguard, Blank - Chainguards, Frame Protectors, Kickstands - Accessories

And Dutch Bike Bits:
Chainguards and Chaincases

I'd suggest looking for a 90s era rigid MTB like that Trek posted above. I have a Specialized Rock Hopper that I bought at a yard sale to pull my kids' trailer and have kept it just because it's bombproof.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18...ugust06048.jpg

Jade - that is really nice. Thanks for the link.

mtb_addict - The "Dutch" style is really close to what I think I want. Unfortunately, I don't think a 3 speed is enough gears for these old legs. Maybe a 2x5 drive train or at least 7 speeds.

Here is a list of bikes that I might look at. I wouldn't exclude the step-through bikes. They can be good bikes for anybody.
Vintage steel can be good. No doubt a slightly different list would catch the eyes of someone else.

Thrift stores can also be a good place to browse, especially if you're willing to do some work on your bike.

2010 GIANT SEEK 2 Lg REDUCED - $450
Giant Escape City commuter bike w/ accessories - $225
Schwinn city 7 - $100 (carrollton)
Cannondale Quick 3 Bicycle (Fitness, City, Commuter,) - $500 (Emory)
Huffy Main Street Lexington Mens 700c Cruiser Bike - $175 (Norcross)
Vintage Schwinn Suburban Bike - $125 (Gwinnett)
1973 Schwinn Suburban 10 speed - $60 (Woodstock)
Vintage schwinn world tourist men's bike - $200 (marietta)
REDUCED vintage 10-speed Schwinn bike - $75
RALEIGH SPORT (Vintage Bicycle) - $185 (McDonough) (3 speed)
Ted Williams Sears Bicycle - $55 (Peachtree City)

Cliffordk- Thanks for the leads. I'll definitely check them out.

Yes, steel is a plus. I am not into aluminum/carbon/titanium/bamboo. Just my preference. My vintage steel road bike has served me well for 40 years.

Maybe then get a dutch 3sp, and start shopping for a replacement wheel with an IGH with more (7? 8? 11?) speeds. Maybe by the time you figure out what you want, you might also have figured out that 3sp works for you. Or shop for just a replacement IG hub, and pay a shop to rebuild the wheel to your new hub (or do it yourself if you can, or want to learn)

RubeRad- that's an idea. I can do pretty much every thing on my bike except wheel building/repair. I just don't have the experience to play with rims and spokes.

CliffordK put together a good list there, I'd look more closely at these two old schwinns, esp. the one for $125. I don't know what you got against schwinn, if it's older it should be solid and make for a very good errand bike.

No problem with pre 1992 Schwinns. Yep, a great list. I already ran through the list an saw a couple I'm interested in. If the size is right I gonna take a look.

I just adopted this orphan, an early 1990s Univega Via Carisma, for just such a purpose -- errands and city hops. It already had front and rear racks and fenders, new tires, decent shape overall. Perfect.

I'd been using my Globe Carmel comfy hybrid with a rear rack for both joy rides and errands, but it's not fun when loaded down with 40+ lbs of groceries. The simple spring suspension fork feels like a pogo stick when overloaded.

I'm hoping the rigid fork Univega with evenly distributed loads front and rear will be more stable. We'll see. The original flat bar was hard on my wrists so I swapped riser bars with my Globe hybrid to see if it's more comfortable. If not I may try some albatross or similar bars.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qD...=w1200-h675-no

One thing about full length chainguards is that they are infrequently used with 2x or 3x front chainrings.

I think the only bike I listed above was a 5 speed (single front chainring).

We may start seeing a resurgence of multi-speed bikes with full chainguards with the new internal gear hubs (3x, 5x, 8x, 11x, 14x), and belt drives.

I haven't even considered internal geared hubs. I had a two speed installed on my newspaper delivery bicycle when I was a kid and it was a lifesaver. Bikes Direct offers an urban bicycle with an 8 speed hub.

Are they dependable/rugged or are they something to avoid? I have no idea,but it could be an option.

The comment I dropped early on in the thread linked to two BD options, a 3-speed and a 7-speed.

I've never had an IGH, but from everything I've read on here, they're generally very reliable and near maintenance-free. And you can shift them while stopped.