somewhatcursive

Hello,

I am soon to be a brand new rider. Just looking for some advice on what type of bicycle I should start out with. I'm really not looking for anything too expensive. I'm just going to start out by commuting to work. It will be on a paved road, about 4.5 miles, a couple big hills. I am a male, in my early twenties and 5'5" (if that makes a difference at all.)


Thanks in advance!

joejack951

Probably better to post this in the commuting forum. But, if you really want an answer, for a ride that short and assuming no major hills (define 'big') anything will do so long as it fits. You are fairly short for a male so most used bikes will be too big and one-size-fits-all department store bikes may be too big as well. You didn't mention a budget so I am guessing you aren't looking to spend thousands or even a thousand on this first bike (and I recommend you don't).

If you have an active local Craigslist start there. Look for an older rigid mountain bike from Trek, Specialized, or Cannondale (typically popular bikes that aren't junk) in a small size (15" or so). Put some slick tires on it along with any commuting accessories you may need (fenders, rack, lights, etc.). Ride that for a while and you'll start to learn what you do and don't like. If you have the money and desire, then go about finding something better suited to you, and likely more expensive as tends to be the case.

I went from commuting on a Specialized MTB with slicks to a full custom built carbon fiber cyclocross bike. The former served me well for thousands of miles but the latter was much better suited to my needs (long hilly commute) and a lot more fun to ride.

Maelochs

I agree that if you know enough about bikes to not buy something completely broken, your best bet is to buy a cheap older rigid MTB (guaranteed to have low gears and rack/fender mounts) two or three beat-up bikes, figure out what you want and need on the cheap instead of buying a bike for several hundreds and then finding out that you wanted or needed something completely different.

I started with a small handful of crappy rigid MTBs and a couple crapped-out road bikes (some collected from the side of the road where people were discarding them) and put together a couple working bikes ... and I always had a spare part if I needed it ... four or five front and rear wheels with tires, bunch of chains, levers and seats and what not ... I not only learned a lot of bike maintenance, i got to work every day and was still able to ride to the store if I needed a new tube or something.

By the time I knew what i wanted I had enough money to buy it, and i ended up buying a Bridgestone MB4--a rigid mountain bike---because for urban commuting for distance less the 25 miles most of the time, the higher weight and flat bar wasn't a huge drawback, but i could ride absolutely anywhere and carry 100 pounds of gear easily--good thing when going to do laundry, packing the wet laundry home to hang on the line, and running out fr groceries including a 50-lb bag of rice while the laundry was washing.

After that I moved on to road bikes with racks ... easier to ride longer distances, easier to ride quickly, more fun in general for road riding, and the only real sacrifice was not being able to bash over curbs or ride off-road.

If I hadn't spent a lot of time (and very little money) riding whatever bikes I could find for cheap or free, I would have wasted a lot of money buying the wrong bikes.

DrRobert

I agree start out with a good name MTB that fits your budget then see what's next for you.