I'm going to buy a bike this weekend. I'm a college student at Western Washington University who lives about a mile away from campus, and parking hours here are bonkers so I usually ride my bike to school and between the classes in my relatively large university.
We get quite a bit of rain and wind up here at WWU, and I also often find myself riding my bike home after dark, and often in wet and cold conditions.
My current bike is ok, but I purchased it for just $60 over 4 years ago and despite new treads on its 24" wheels and and several adjustments to the gears on the thing (it's a 5-speed) it still has a lot of trouble shifting in to top gear, the breaks just don't cut it anymore, and it's heavy.
I've never really purchased a bike before. When I bought my current one, it was just a necessity, but now I need a good bike. So what should I look for? What kinds of night lights and reflectors are good to choose or stay away from? Are there any particular makers and models I should be aware of? I'm looking to spend less than $500 if at all possible.
[b]TL;DR: Suggest bike models and makers and bike gear for a twice-a-day 1 mile commute over hills, asphalt, gravel, and sometimes in rain and sometimes at night.[/b]
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] xGHOST270x [url=http://www.besportier.com/joshherder/mongoose-deception-mountain-bike.jpg]Mongoose Deception[/url] I'm in the same position as you. I ride to school every day, as driving my massive truck in those tony parking garages isn't enjoyable at all. My commute is maybe a 1/2 mile, so I ride my longboard to school of good days. Until some -blam!- stole it a few weeks ago, I had the bike in the picture for about a year. It's an excellent bike for the money. $220 gets you an aluminum frame, disk brakes, decent front suspension, and big knobby 29" tires. I definitely recommend the bike for the kind of conditions you describe, as I endured the same on my daily routes to lecture and lab. Soon as I get enough funds together I'm going to buy the bike again. First time I only paid $50 for the bike brand new.[/quote]If your in the USA, get a Mongoose pro if any. Mongoose was bought out by a walmart brand. Same with Schwinn. Buy a Cannondale or Trek, they are usually the most reliable and have the best built frames. A good place to search for a used bike is [url=http://www.pinkbike.com]Pinkbike[/url]