Good bike for < $250 to ride to Uni

[sjjordan]

I only live about 2 miles from school. It's a bit far to walk and with gas prices being what they are, I feel bad driving. Can you guys recommend a good bike for around $250? Wal-mart sells a $67 bike, but I'm sure it's basically "disposable". I don't want to shell out a ton of money, but maybe I need to.

Any ideas?

*Edit: Sorry, as soon as I hit the post button I realized this should have been in the Buying advise forum.

 

[Guitarius]

I was in the same spot as you a couple weeks ago. I went down yo my local K-Mart and got a Huffy mountain bike for about $90. Haven't had any problems yet.

 

[Lau]

I have this, was about £250, so I don't know how much in dollars. It's a Trek 7100 and is perfect for what I do, which is cycling up a big hill to college, and then back down it again . Their mountain bikes were cheaper, but I had heard that the thinner tyres on this hybrid job were better for roads, and tis indeed true. I imagine it would be even faster/easier on a road bike, but I have to go up a slightly muddy track thing for a bit of it, so chose this.

Oh, and I would advise seriously against any cheap supermarkety bikes. I have known a few people be suckered in - one guy ditched his after 5 rides because the gears were unusable and worse, unrepairable, and another friend of mine bought a £60 mountain bike from ASDA (Walmart) and a couple of months ago bought my 14 year old mountain bike off me for £35 because it was 100 times better than that piece of junk she bought from ASDA which was useless.

That's another point, 2nd hand is probably worth considering.

 

[XIII]

Do not buy the bike from Wal Mart. You will have no support with it, and all the components will be ****. Look for a second hand bike at that price, if you have a local bike shop, take a stroll down there and check it out. For a decentish bike, starting price I would say is £150. You may have to up your budget, but it is worth it. Get me on AIM if you want more suited for you advice, or just post here.