best bike?

[castler]

I wonder if buying a bike under $100 from walmart is worth it? I hate to spend anything more, but if I was only riding in the city and perhaps wanted to go to my neighboring state, I wonder if they would hold up. I am looking at a schwinn that is $150, steel frame, 21 speed and standard V brakes. But I dunno

 

[Gudj]

I wonder if buying a bike under $100 from walmart is worth it? I hate to spend anything more, but if I was only riding in the city and perhaps wanted to go to my neighboring state, I wonder if they would hold up. I am looking at a schwinn that is $150, steel frame, 21 speed and standard V brakes. But I dunno

No. Look on your local craigslist or other classified ads for something more reliable and then tune it up yourself.

 

[Deleted member 20]

I agree. I would stay away from wallmart & other store bought bikes. I would look for an older steel road bike from the 70,80s. If you look around you will find midhigh end bikes in their day that were made of quality tubing, with lugged & guseted welding that will also have useable components on them, preferably with horizontal dropouts. Then remember a bike is like a suit or a pair of shoes they come in sizes, so when building up an old bike find out about what size frame in cm or convert from inches if a cheaper american bike. I have a large framed shogun from the mid 80s for sale in Massachusetts in the black market that is still around, it was my older brothers & he is six foot 3. It is black & silver & would make an excellent fixie conversion if someone wanted to spend $200 or so. Hit me up in Pm if anyones interested.

 

[wartomods]

you can make it with a under 100 k-mart bike if you are keen on bicycle mechanics, not the most enjoyable or fast ride though, be sure to choose an all rigid model, and be prepared to spend more cash to replace parts.
This would be probably the best budget touring bike

 

[wartomods]

for 150 bucks on kmart

 

[castler]

thanks guys, I was able to get a Giant Cypress DX for $140 on ebay, A friend of mine allowed me to ship it to his address here in Indy, its a 24 speed, so I can do some next state traveling without a hitch - I didn't think I would be happy on a wal-kmart bike lol.

 

[Deleted member 20]

I would look on craigslist locally for a rack & set of paniers, that way you can lower the center of gravity bycarrying your geart there.

goodluck

 

[castler]

thanks highwayman!

Will look into that

 

[bicycle]

I would look for some kind of cyclocross bike.
or tranform an old touringbike( the kind like race bikes but more touring frame) int oa cyclocross bike myself.

 

[Matt Derrick]

you can build a touring bike for mad cheap, like people said just look around on craigstlist. your budget for a bike is should be about 200 dollars. walmart and kmart bikes are crap, and the gear system will crap out on you in a few hundered miles. my other recommendation is to find a used bike trailer, since it's way easier to bike with a trailer instead of panniers.

 

[wartomods]

Mongoose is a semi decent brand, wiki it, not a wall mart bike, and it shows in the specs.That mongoose bike would be much better than a used Giant Cypress DX , believe me, cant go wrong with full steel rigid frame and fork, v-brakes, just one gear in front, a simple mountain derailure system, 26' aluminium wheels, it is the kind of bike that you can take to a neighboor bike shop in the thirld world and get it fixed for cheap.
Besides it has fenders wich are a big plus, if you dont want to stop when the weather is moist.
Ebay/craiglist old bikes are fine if you have lots of spare parts, experience and some money to rebuild them how you like it, but it is just a bad idea to buy one and take it right away in tour
Besides any bike you take will crap on you after couple hundread miles if you arent willing to maintain it.

 

[Rocksteady]

I don't mind riding track geo for about 30-40 miles...

But if i was going lonnnnggg distances i would definetly jam on a cyclocross frame.

 

[apollo]

I just finished riding across Canada from Victoria to Halifax on an old Apollo from the early 80s with a bunch of new (used) parts... get an old lugged steel road frame and you're set. I cracked both my seat stays and got them welded for next to nothing and went on my way, still holding strong. Spend the money on good wheels and good tires... that's where your bike takes the most wear. Check if there are any bicycle co-operatives in your area to learn about bicycle mechanics, I paid $25 for three hours of shop time and went over the entire bike, plus refurbished parts that were hella cheap... good to know you can fix just about anything on your bike with a couple tools.
This is definitely not the cheapest way to travel, although dumpster diving along the way works pretty well where you can find it

 

[Kabukimono]

As long as it has two wheels a frame, saddle, handlebars, brakes and a chain - the rest is secondary. And no I'm not being sarcastic.
K.m

 

[Endy]

I'm broke as fuck, but would love to have a bike for getting around and general travel. Any recommendations on where to find something cheap but reliable / won't fall apart after 10 miles? I'm guessing just troll craigslist?

 

[briancray]

I'd go with Surly though any road bike will do. I have over 5,000 miles on my road bike and it's a no name Japan brand. Just take good care of it and it should last you a while.

 

[xpolx]

fer sure if youve got the money sherpa longhaul trucker or thorn sherpa thst said if youve got mates that are messengers ask them best place in the world to find expensive bikes for good 2nd hand prices is amongst messengers,but in truth anybike will do it if you get the skills to keep it on the road andd use the network of diy bike workshops,also in small towns often the small independent bike shopd will let you use tools and space too if you got some manners about it,seriously just buy/build the bike you can and roll.

 

[Matt Derrick]

i'd just like to throw in my .02 and say that ebay is fucking terrible for finding good bikes. everyone thinks their 200 dollar fuji from 1982 is worth 600 bucks. you're better off looking at craigslist.