Lots of (noob) questions, help would be awesome
 

Hi all,

I've been trying to read as much as I could here and other places after finding out I'd be moving to California and deciding that I'd like to start riding a bike to work once I get there. Ideally, I'd like to have a bike for both commuting and a bit of light trail riding, although the commuting would be the priority I think.

I've seen lots of people saying that for my budget (which is, just, dirt cheap. Preferably no more than $300 and that's kinda pushing it) I should be looking for older bikes on craigslist. Part of my problem is that I'm not even sure what I'm looking at to know if it's a good deal vs a $200 walmart bike. Here's my deets, if that helps inform what I should be looking for: 5'7" male, 170lbs, 30" (about, should measure) inseam. From what I understand I should be looking at a 54cm road bike or a 19" mountain bike.

Here's a couple that I was looking at on Craigslist:
https://annapolis.craigslist.org/bik/5001190870.html
https://baltimore.craigslist.org/bik/4999994058.html

Alternatively, I saw these at walmart:
GMC Denali 700c 19" Men's Road Bike - Walmart.com
26" Schwinn Sidewinder Men's Mountain Bike, Matte Black/Green - Walmart.com

Are any of those any good? I'm not against walmart bikes and have no particular brand loyalty or preferance, it's just I don't even know what I'm looking at. I also tried going in my local bike shop but it seemed like they were only interested in selling $1k+ racing bikes.

I'm sure you guys get tons of posts from new people looking for help, but I've quickly realized that I'm in over my head. Thanks.

- Cap

Look at a cross bike too. It might have attachment points for a rake.

Where will be living in California? Make sure the roads you will be commuting on are bike friendly.

By cross bike, do you mean cyclocross bikes? Sorry, still learning new words. I'll have a look at that.

It'll be in Orange County, specifically around Aliso Viejo and I'm told that's it's pretty bike friendly there. I have a trip scheduled for house hunting and I plan on double checking while I'm there. Thanks!

Unless your company is paying to transport the bike, you might be better off to wait until you get there to buy. Shipping a bike can cost about $100 or so, and that would easily offset whatever you think you are saving now.

While some are happy with Kmart bikes, you need to understand that the assumption is it will not be assembled properly, so you will need to adjust it (or have it adjusted). Also, as in many other parts of life, with bicycles, you get what you pay for.

In my mind, used bikes are a good deal, but they come cheaper in part because you have no warranty, and there is at least some minor wear.

Test ride a few bikes and figure out what you like.

If drop bar bikes are tempting, you should realize that you don't have to ride on the lower portion of the bar, and in fact, many of us spend most of our time riding on the brake hoods or bar tops. I only say this because you don't have to feel like you can spend all day in the drops to be able to ride a road bike... do whatever works for you.

Parts of Orange County are very bike friendly. I am from there. Irvine, Newport and Aliso Viejo are great places to ride. Check out Shady Canyon. I was a member of the Bicycle Club of Irvine. They have 500 members. Someone in that club will have a bike you can buy.

How long is your commute?

Just FYI, I am 5'7 and wear 30' long pants and ride a 52cm bike. In some models I test rode, the 50cm frames actually fit better. My recently stolen commuter bike is/was a 54cm and while I could ride it just fine, my current 52cm one fits me way better (then again, the shop fitted it for me). I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should ride different bikes of different sizes before buying one, make sure you're get the right one.

EDIT: Looking at your links, you basically have every type of bicycle represented there. First you should figure out which type of bike you want, best way to do it is to try a few of them.

My MIL lived in Irvine. OC has excellent weather, roads, and a nice MUP out to Newport Beach. You'll enjoy it. I agree that you'll probably be better off waiting until you get down there and then buy a bike.

Thanks for all the responses. Transport to CA is covered with the move, so I'm not too worried about that. My thinking was that since I had some spare time now it made sense to start getting familiar; especially since I haven't ridden a bike in about 15 years.

Yeah, I realized there are a few different types there. Mainly because I didn't know what would be best suited for my intended use. And I'm not really sure how I'd try some out without buying and returning a bunch. I guess I was kind of hoping someone would pick one of those and say, "this looks like the best of those options" or "forget those, here's what you should look for."

Thanks again everybody. And I'll definitely look up the Irvine Bike Club once I'm out there.

Get a bike that will accept fairly wide tires. The state has underfunded roads quite a lot. You may have tons of potholes due to slow repaving schedules. I haven't been to that part of the OC, but around here in the Bay there is no obvious association between road quality and community size. I live in Pothole central, the towns next store range from fairly free of potholes to somewhat better than where I live. All in my 5 mile radius.

I spent over 25 years commuting by bike. My daily commute was about a 35-40 mile round trip. One thing I learned from it is that commuting is very hard duty for a bike. If you want your bike to be reliable it needs to be good quality. The less you spend initially, the more you will spend long term. Depending on the length of your commute, mileage builds up quickly. I don't think that a new $300 bike of any type will last you very long in daily use. I used to figure on spending about $200 or more on upkeep every year. I regularly wore out tires,chains, cassettes and brake pads. Bicycle commuting is inexpensive, but it isn't free

I'm not too far from you and there are lots of places to ride in OC. The best spots I found are in and around the Irvine area if you ride the streets. There are also a good amount of dirt trails if you go north toward the canyons and Irvine lake area.

As far as a bike is concerned I have a road bike, commuter, and hybrid, but to be honest I ride the road bike 90% of the time. I sold the mtn bike because it was just too heavy and I really didn't plan on doing a lot of jumps and serious mountain riding.

I started off with the commuter because it was cheap, but found the road bike to be more comfortable so I never ride the commuter anymore. I would get either a dedicated road bike or a hybrid and just commute on that for the time being especially considering your budget is $300. I would lean more toward the road bike because it's a lot easier to commute on that and if you play your cards right you can get one that would allow you to put on some 28 tires which are more than enough to ride the local dirt trails on. I know it would be a hassle changing out tires, but this would give you the best of both worlds for very little money.

If and when you do make it out PM me if you want to see what it feels like riding a hybrid for a few hours or the road bike. This way you can try before you by so to speak.

IMHO, the most versatile commuter/trail bike you are going to find for <$300 is a 1990s rigid (no suspension) steel brand name MTB. If you watch for the chrome moly models you can get very durable frames that are still comfortable and not overly heavy. Here are a few possibilities:

Giant Boulder or Yukon
Specialized Hardrock or Stump Jumper
Trek 820 or 830 Antelope or Mountain Track (26") or 720 or 730 MultiTrack (700c)
Bridgestone MB series

Of course there are many others. These bikes were built tough and came with 36-spoke wheelsets, clearance for good size tires, and mounts for racks and fenders. The drivetrains are usually 3 x 7 (21 speed) but can easily be upgraded (for a price) but 7-speed parts are still readily available. The original seats and grips were atrocious but with a little hunting in the bargain bins at your LBS you should be able to find a decent modern seat for not too much money. For comfort and multiple grip positions, I'm a fan of Ergon grips but they'll run you about $40 a set. Regular MTB grips with bar ends work nearly as well at half the price. Replace the original knobby tires with some hybrid tires and you've got a commuting machine that is still at home on trails.

You should be able to pick one up in good working condition for <$200 which leaves you $100 for some creature comforts and accessories.

Stay away from the big box store bikes. I know some people seem to be happy with them, but the majority I've seen result in disappointment and end up sitting in a corner of the garage until they get sold at a yard sale or junked. I'll take my 1993 Trek 720 over anything that WalMart sells today.

Cross and hybrid are largely a dropped or straight bar choice , wheel type and tire selection options similar ..


Pick a Bike Shop you like first , then the bike brand.


FWIW, BoB trailers get used to haul Trail Maintenance tools along single track ..

I would say it depends on how long your commute is going to be, and what kind of trails you want to ride. You should post over in the commuter sub.

Definitely go with a used steel bike. For your budget, it will be much better than anything you can find new. Mountain bikes from the 80s and 90s with rigid forks make good commuters if you aren't going super long. They will work for long distances also, but my preference is a bike with drop bars (you could do a drop bar conversion). There are plenty of pretty good road bikes out there that sell in the 125-150 price range. Shoot, you can get 2 bikes for only a little over your budget, and sell one of them for easily 150-175 (the Volpe is a terrific commuter and all around bike). If those were my size I would have told family in the area to scoop them up for me.

https://baltimore.craigslist.org/bik/5012242852.html

Things you would want most if you go road bike (older ones tend to be able to take wider tires, FYI) are 700C wheels...27" wheels really limit tire choices, as do 650s and alloy rims.

And a shovel too! :lol: (sorry, I couldn't resist)

Thanks for the link!

And thanks again to everyone for the advice. I'll stick to scouring craigslist for now and see what comes up; since it's not like I'm in a very large hurry to get set up that seems to be the way to go.

You guys are all awesome, this seems like a really nice place. I've been other places where the ignorant are shouted down and pushed out for asking questions, so this is a nice change of pace.

That type of response is a bit on the stupid side... the idea is to get folks ON a bicycle, not run them off.

That does not alway happen. Some people will ask a question looking for an answer that agrees with their preconceived ideas and can get quite rude when they get answers they don't like. Those threads can become quite unpleasant. People who are genuinely looking for information and are willing to act on good advice have a different experience.

27" wheels do limit tire choices, but theres quite a few out there.

Im working on making a schwinn world tourer ridable again and it needs tubes, tires and rim strips. Theres quite a few good tires available in the 27 x 1" - 1-1/4". Most of them are under $25 each too. Im eyeballing some $18 Panaracer Paselas for mine.

The red and white specialized appears to be a youth or kids bike.

Some good info for buying used here.

MY "TEN SPEEDS - Home Page

A 19" MTB is far too big for you. You want a 16(ish).