Hi everyone! I'm helping my friend bike shop, and I thought you guys might be able to help. She's looking for a cheep ($100-200 range) used bike to ride around san francisco with, (so lots of hills). Ideally, she'd like it to be a hybrid so that she can take a stab at some trail riding as well. We've been checking craigslist, but is there anything specific we should be looking for? Like certain brands or parts? Thanks for your help!

Brands are painted on bike frames for various importers by a very few actual factories .

Taiwan has made most of the bike sold for a long time.

Various steel treks- 800,820,830,850 920,930 950 970 990- 26" "Mountain bikes" are really great urban,suburban light trail, grass, gravel roads
do ANYTHING bikes with 26" wheels/tires-so you can get any width from about 1"(25mm) to 2.4"-(60mm)
In NOLA- they go for $50-$225(900 series are DB CRMO steel)-

Or the Trek 700,720,730,750 MORE OR LESS the same as the above but with 700c wheels tires-you can usually get a 40mm tire on them-so great for potholed streets

On the 700 and 800 some are SEAT TUBE only Chrome MOLY STEEL with the rest of the frame being cheaper high tensile steel-
Functionally it hardly matters-but they are worth less(it was a Trek cheap out-they could badge them (CHROME MOLY STEEL seat tube)-all you saw was CRMO-
They all are decent bikes- 21 speeds-decent components-rugged potholed street worthy but certainly good for light trail work

Other manufacturers made the same sort of bikes-Specialized hard rock-and Diamond back
And Schwinn made some "Paramount" mountain bikes-all cromo steel-some with the splatter paint paint-nice bikes-
obviously not the same bikes as the Paramount road bikes the Vintage Nuts drool over-much cheaper-$75-$200 nice bikes

If possible avoid the bikes of this vintage with suspension folks-later ones frequently had cheapo suspension forks-they worked just fine-but the suspension forks are rarely needed with big high volume low pressure tires

The above bikes early 1990's thru about 2000 usually didn't have suspension folks-nothing wrong with them-but they are cheap heavy forks-not needed-"
But if you get a good deal on one-don't let it discourage you from buying
And many folks here will claim a 900 series isn't worth $100-BS they are full crmo double butted steel frames decent shimano components
A new bike-same same-would cost at least $600 similarly equipped-
and POS single speeds-$300 or more for DB chrome moly steel frame(assuming folks in hilly San Fran have avoided those poseur single bikes and the fixed gear death machines)

Luck
charlie
PS Yes I am just kidding the single speed fixed gear crowd-I can never resist a cheap shot!!
And aluminum frames great too-but the steel is more dent resistant-thinner tubing slightly more aesthetic-perhaps you don't have to be as careful when you mount a kickstand on steel-but you can certainly mount kickstands on aluminum frames-get a bike with a kickstand if possible-the greenfield ones cost $10 or so to buy-and a bike without a kickstand is a pain-until you put a kickstand on it
GOOD LOCK

PPS Fietsbob is right-those treks have Specialized and Diamondback cousins-
now some of the 920 930 950 ARE ACTUAL made in usa with made in USA tubing True Temper-

budgets are budgets. a used $200 bike will probably be a better buy than a new $200 bike.

keep in mind that a used bike should be fully inspected by someone who knows what they're looking at. this could cost money at a bike shop. if the important parts are in great shape, you still probably need to buy new tubes, tires and maybe cables. that's another $50 or more.

with a new bike, a $200 hybrid (if there is one) will probably come from a department store and not a bike shop. this means it was probably put together by a kid failing algebra. which means you should probably have that bike checked by a bike shop too.

so...what's my point? save your $200 and work toward adding another $200 to it. my LBS has layaway plans as well as account setups for same as cash loans.

I'm all for saving money, but your chances of finding a quality $200 hybrid are slim to none. especially in a big city like san francisco.

Save your $200 and go to the "Bike Kitchen" co-op, located at 650H Florida St. (between 18th and 19th). Get there before 11:30am on Saturday morning before anyone else, and volunteer for the entire day. Do that for four weekends in row, and then you'll be entitled to a "free" frame for building your own bike. That $200 will go a long way towards building your 'new' bicycle. Therefore, save that $200 and add about $100 more to it, just to be on the safe side!

Once you get your frame, you can start to build your bike right away, with the assistance of genuine bicycle mechanics.