I'm sure CL has a nice old roadie on there for 100-200 bucks. Would be tons better then any walmart bike

another point to add to the excellent ones above re: spending a little extra for a dependable bike: you might enjoy it enough to continue to bike commute after graduation. It's not as if gas prices are likely to decrease appreciably. one of the benefits of cycling is the freedom of not being totally reliant on a car and,by extension, the whims of the oil industry. you didn't say what sort of career you're pursuing, but no one these ays should assume that they're in Fat City just cuz they have a degree.

food for thought.

Im not going to commute on bike after college, its going to be a 50+ mile commute to the place where I'm heading.

I like the bike idea because i used to be a tech at a car dealership.
I sold my Ducati 748 to pay for college, and i sold one of my cars i'd built when i was 17. was just a civic with k series engine in it. (old civic modern motor + parts +nitrous)

Im doing my best to live within my means and am doing a good job avoiding student loans and any debt what so ever.

the ninja 250R (2008+) will put me in the hole about $2500, but these ninjas retain their value abnormally well. at a level that is practically unheard of for motorcycles. i could sell it in a year and get most of my money back for it.

not true with a road race bike, road race gear or anything associated for that.

my local bike shop does not offer used bikes. the only place that offers used bikes is goodwill on occasion, i checked their on advice of someone who picked their bike up, bit the one that was there was a woman's bike with a $49.99 sticker on it with probably 90% of the components affected with cancer (rust).

I returned to the bike shop (only one around here) and it mostly specialized in BMX and mountain bikes that are thousands of dollars crafted to go down hills quickly.
when i asked for anything cheaper, the guy who was real pushy and snobby said that they offered frames where i could buy a frame (starting at $250) and order parts for it, but then mentioned "but you probably don't know how to do that"

as if assembling a bike was complicated....

im thinking it might be better to pick up a civic and a 250r and just manning up on the gas prices. **** there is a whole college of people doing it i should be able to.

You need a whizzer LINK

From my door step to work is sixty five miles. It is eight miles from home to a train station, with two fairly easy hills. Five miles of flat land from getting off the train to work. I can take the bike on the train.

I don't know if this will work where you are going, but it is defiantly worth looking into.

i know it sounds weird, but there are no trains in the area.
i know it doesn't sound believable but there is nothing i can take towards that area.

southern California is notorious for this, nobody takes public transit here. its cars or nothing

Well first of all, it seems like your decision is based around what others think. You need to let go of that and ride whatever the hell you want. Gas prices will hit $5 a gallon soon, so you might want to re-weigh your options. As far as a bike goes, you do not, I repeat, do NOT need to spend $2,000 on a bike. You could buy a high quality Trek Soho S for $599 brand new, or even a Trek Earl for $479. Both are high quality bikes that come with the Trek warranty, and free tune-ups if you buy it from a Trek dealer.

Welcome!

That does sound like you had a bad experience at that particular bike shop.

Since you are mechanically inclined it seems like ordering a bike online would not be a problem for you and you need a legit bike for a commute that far. Try gawking at the selection of bikes at Bikesdirect.com

Actually, I live in Southern CA and take a train (Metro Green Line) every day. I have a DaHon folder which I ride from home to the Norwalk station, then from the Harbor Fwy station I ride to work. Southern CA has an excellent system of Metro and Metro Link trains, in addition to Amtrak.

In addition the Metro busses all have bike racks on the front. And yes, lots of people take public transit here.

Rick / OCRR

Dear 951:

Buy a used bike from Craigslist or from a garage sale. My "good" commuter (Diamondback Impulse) cost $ 125. My backup bike I got for $ 5 at a yard sale! It is great to ride that bike when I don't want to worry about it getting stolen. Don't buy a Walmart bike. I bought one two years ago and a petal broke on my first commute. When I brought it back no one at the store seemed surprised that it broke on it's first ride.

If 951 is the area code, I believe that puts him in Southern Riverside County. In other words, public transit hell.

I ride the Metrolink from Oceanside to Santa Ana

They want us to build bullet trains from LA to nowhere, when a conventional commuter rail line connecting San Diego to Riverside would be money much better spent. It would give guy's like 951 that option.

I've done the ride from Norwalk Metrolink to the Green line. Lack of bike lane makes me nervous.

the snobby responses to this post are so predictable. most walmart bikes are perfectly serviceable. you may need to tighten some nuts, adjust cable tension, and tweak derailleur settings but any decent bike shop can do this for 30 bucks. in contrast to many rusty bucket vintage bikes, walmart bikes are warrantied. i've know several people who have had good experiences with walmart bikes.

A lot of interesting issues here.

Bike shop choices: SoCal is riddled with bike shops, unless you're closer to AZ than the ocean. Go to the nearest Performance Bike ( I reckon City Centre PKWY and Ronald Packard FWY) and get one of their $300 fuji Nevada 2011 models. Take good care of it and you can sell for at least $150, making your depreciation less than auto, probably even less than moto insurance for the next 6 months. It'll ride much better than a Walmart rig.

CL: If you're mechanically inclined hit craigslist for a $100, say a 1994-ish MTB with a rigid fork that's in good shape. You'll be able to resell at same price if you get the right one and keep it in good shape. STX components or better.

There are fancy pants bike shops here too, but there are plenty with rides starting @ $200 that blow Walmart rigs out of the water.

I'd rather buy and resell a bicycle after 6 months than car or moto.

My local Walmart only has one Thruster (sometimes none) on the floor at any given moment. If you take it back to customer service you'll be without a bike for a few days if you choose to trade for another or you can get your money back within 30-days (IIRC) if you keep the receipt, then you're still out a ride.

I just snapped a rear axle on one of my Walmart bike trash finds. Good thing it's just a beater bike so I can live without it while I source a free axle for it.

It's not pure snobbishness. Some of us are put off to the downward pressure Wally puts on American wages with their pushing to re institute 19th century labor practices. As for the bikes, they're mostly very cheap in their construction. The brakes are usually flexy stamped carbon steel. The brake cables are low grade carbon steel, and fail quite often. Friends don't let friends use twist grip shifters, and they are all, but some of the higher end bikes, not equipped with quick releases on the wheels, making for more bothersome tire changes.

Bolt on axles is a selling point for me on beater bikes. Put some Mr. Tuffies in there and you're rarely changing tires.

And some goofball can't steal your wheels unless they bring a tool.

I LOVE Gripshift twisters, too.

Stock brakes on my beater ARE awful, as are rear dropouts, so you got those parts right.

i live in temecula
Thanks guys, im starting to realize that a bike like a motorcycle is more of a toy than a tool. so i've decided to just sell the car i have and just buy a civic, then rip as much crap off of it, maintain tire pressure and possibly re-use and paint some of the carbon fiber components i have left over from my old car to get some real good MPG out of it.

i appreciate the responses guys, i'll just walk to the neighborhood stores rather than drive when gas DOES hit that $5.00 mark thats coming in june. and pray thay it actually does go down.

after summer, gas prices always go down anyways so i think i can live with not leaving the house for a few months until it comes down haha

That is really unfortunate. You are going to throw away $200+ a month on gas, when you could invest a few hundred dollars and use that $200 a month on more important things.

How much is a month or two of car insurance for you? I'm guessing you could buy a very decent bike for that.

go on craigslist, and get a decent used bike...

Look at it however you want. I've been car-free since 2004 when I moved from 20 miles from work to 4 miles from work. I have some bikes that are more like toys and some that are more like tools. My trailer is definitely a tool all the time.

My Pinarello I paid $400 for and could probably sell for about $600. I get a lot of thrift store and trash bikes, buy them for $5-20 and sell for $80-100. Only money loosing bike I have ATM is my Mongoose (bought for $600, could sell for about $120), but I've had it since 1997 so I got my money's worth out of it.

Auto insurance, gas, etc are stupid things to waste money on. Especially if you're under 25 years old and under-employed.

no argument from me about wally world. but then again you can buy the same bikes at target, sears, or k-mart.

besides you'd be surprised how many wallyworld bikes are made (at least in part) in taiwan. incidentally, this is where my two cf frames are made. and a genuine american made frame is pretty much a multi-thousand dollar proposition. and even then the wheels, stem, post, saddle, fork, and drive chain are typically made elsewhere.

i only have liability, and my record is clean since i've been driving (15 years old). less than 50 dollars a month. registration is $186 a year just because my car was cheap when new (just a honda). but i can't live car-less. The bike idea was to subsidize the use of the car with the money saved and hopefully save more money as i used it more.

but i had plugged in a $150 total cost for the bike.

not $800 + gear +a train ticket everyday.
the actual bicycle plan will run me well over $1000 + transit costs

but what i was hoping to do was reduce transit costs so the bike would be a waste of money.


with a motor cycle:
resale value is a huge plus, i mean really guys we're talking about a $200 new bike-used bike difference and if i had bought the bike used it's a possibly money making venture if i haggle well enough. a $3500 bike is like nothing to register, and insurance should be cheap since i'd own it outright vs financing it and having full coverage. i have all the gear needed including a dainese leather, and kevelar jeans (i just need a new lid).
and it will also work for the few years after college.

im going to think about the bike a little more, maybe wait until winter rolls around since everyone wants to ride in the spring/summer and see how that pans out.

i really appreciate the posts , you guys really walked me through all these hidden costs i didn't see. i thought i could just grab a cheap bike, cheap helmet and a cheap lock and ride it. but seeing as how i'd be lugging a 40lbs bike around its better to just walk if at all possible.

I put 1000 miles + on a "Wal-Mart" bike that was well-used when I bought it at a pawnshop. Other than getting a wheel trued and adjusting the brakes and shifters, I performed virtually no service on it during those 1000 trouble-free miles. SInce then, I had the frame powdercoated and pin-striped, and upgraded some components including the rear shock with the help of e-bay and swap meets. (Horror if horrors, its not only a "Wal-Mart bike" but a full suspension.) I have since built four CF bikes and have a total fleet of seven, but I rode the Wal-Mart Schwinn a few times during the last two weeks and was reminded of how much I like it for care-free comfortable urban riding through potholes, bad roads, over curbs etc.

My time on my 15 mile ride to work on this "Wal-Mart" FS bike the other day was only about 4% short of my best time on the CF road bike.

If you buy a non LBS bike it helps to be your own mechanic and you should go through all adjustments and check bolts when you take it home.

Don in Austin