<p>My D needs transportation around her college & her time & money were limited this summer and we never got out to look for a bike.</p>
<p>Serendipitously a " free" bike appeared across the street a week after she moved back to school & I took it up to her after she said she had friends who could help her with it. ( it had what appeared to be new brakes/tires- but didn’t shift, it is a 12 speed Fuji Gran Tourer Se), they got it to shift, but she doesn’t like the drop handlebars & while the tires are new, they look more like racing tires, than tires you would use around town in the rain and mud & she will need a new seat/lights/pedals etc.</p>
<p>We don’t have a lot of money to spend- about $200, is what we could comfortably spend on either a new bike ( I found a Diamondback wildwood citi @ the REI outlet), or fixing up the Fuji.</p>
<p>I really don’t know anything about bikes as I haven’t ridden for years, since I have no sense of balance anymore :(</p>
<p>College bikes, even at the best of campuses, tend to get stolen so don’t spend too much on a bike. It seems that you s/b able to get a decent mountain bike (if that’s what she wants) used on Craigslist or elsewhere.</p>
<p>many colleges have bike clubs, or outdoor clubs, or kids who are interested in bikes and love working on them. my son’s school has an outdoor club equipped with bike repair supplies and folks who help any with bike related issues. sending out inquiries on the school’s list serve may produce good results. college kids seem to love finding cheap answers and bikes are quite easy to fix, and learning a bit about them while trying to make them safe and workable is never a bad thing. i highly recommend fenders as well.</p>
<p>Personally, I think road bikes, especially the vintage ones, are a little “cooler” for commuting. I have a “nice” road bike for cycling and a “beater” bike for commuting - it’s a steel road bike from the 80s that isn’t worth much. However, if she wants something more like a hybrid/MTB, I would definitely check craigslist. I would think the repairs would be way less than $200, but you might be able to find a bike in good repair if you don’t want to bother with fixing the Fuji.</p>
<p>If she doesn’t like the drop handlebars, she could get bullhorn handlebars which would put her in a more upright riding position. Provided she just wants flat pedals, they’re pretty cheap. Wheels (if they’re really needed) are probably the biggest expense.</p>
<p>My son gets old bikes from campus security, does the basic repairs and sells them on campus for $20-$40. He does pretty good business and says he has had a number of repeat customers. He says no one should ever pay more than that for a bike to just tool around campus, cause bikes are campus WILL get stolen not matter what you do – if she wants a real bike for longer rides, etc. she should keep it in her room and only use it when she can be with the bike the whole time.</p>
<p>having done this, Approximate retail pricing:
flat handle bar $25
handle grips $10
new chain $10
comfort seat $15
new tires (1.5-2.0" tire) $20 ea
new intertubes $5 ea
wheel straightening $10 each
FENDERS if you ride in PNW wet streets $35
Lights, I use HarborFreight fee 9LED pocket lights. Then tape the light on the handle bar. </p>
<p>biketiresdirect.com has some very good pricing</p>
<p>COSTCO and Fred Meyers have Schwinn that fall in your price range, And with rear rack.</p>
<p>Look for a bike at a thrift store or garage sale. My brother saved up his money to buy a really nice ten-speed bike when he went to college. (1976) I think he had it a week before it was stolen. He went with really cheap bikes after that. My first bike had so-so brakes and I usually had to find an incline to stop it. It was exciting when I gave my roommate rides in the handlebars and we had to stop at the end of a hill. My next one was a beat-up ten speed. It was fine until I was in an accident with another bike. Even though the front wheel was a little bent I still rode it for a while until I absolutely had to replace it. I wouldn’t pay a lot of money for a new bike unless I seriously biked as a hobby.</p>
<p>If she’s at a big school, she should check local/campus bike shops. They often have inexpensive new and used bikes for sale.</p>
<p>I’d try to fix up the Fuji, if at all possible. Those old Fujis make great beater bikes. </p>
<p>LongPrime’s list looks reasonable; the prices may be somewhat low. LongPrime has the right idea about FENDERS. I do not recommend taping an LED flashlight to the handlebars and calling it a front light, however. A bike light is visible from the side, so that the car can see you as you are approaching on a side street. An LED flashlight might not be.</p>
<p>Fixing up the Fuji might come to more than $200, if one includes lights, a lock, fenders and a helmet. But of course, a new bike is not going to come with a lock and a helmet, and $200 bikes aren’t going to have fenders or lights either. So those necessities will have to be bought in any case.</p>
<p>I can’t remember where your D is at school but send me a PM if she wants to bring it to Portland. We do this kind of fix up all the time… My D’s cost $100.</p>
<p>I always, now, slow at blind intersections or where there is a vehicle . I have had near misses and been tapped by inattentive drivers, especially when I ride on the bike path but wrong side of road. </p>
<p>I use two head lights, with the right light pointed slightly pointed to the right. I recently added a little silicone caulk the edges of the LED so that I can tell if the LED is ON and adds some side visibility (thankyou CandinalFang). I ride during the daylight hours so I need a tell on the LED.</p>
<p>Tell you D to always wear bright tops, Never black or brown or muted colors.</p>
<p>My kids are in towns where everyone has an old beat up bike and there are “town bikes” in the racks that people can just borrow and use. But I agree, not to spend a ton of money. If she’s in a winter climate check what do the kids do with their bikes. My S2 toured one campus and asked where to store the bike in the winter and the told him he’d have to leave it outside in the snow. He was horrified. If the kids have to leave them outside in bad weather you again don’t want to spend a fortune. Check on campus if there is a bike repair place where the kids can borrow tools and help each other she might find a good guy that will help her, we found (bike repair) at almost all the colleges we toured both one 1 and with 2. Anyway, neither of mine brought their good bikes to college, they bought beaters for under $100 when they arrived on campus.</p>
<p>I took a long look at LongPrime’s list now that I have more time.</p>
<p>A lot depends on what kind of condition the Fuji is in and how well it fits your daughter. If it doesn’t fit her, that can create some pretty major safety issues, especially if the bike is too big and she can’t easily straddle the top tube. </p>
<p>Are the tires in good shape or cracked? (Racing tires actually do just fine in rain and wet, and it would be silly to replace the tires if they’re in good shape.)Does the frame appear bent or rusted or in any way damaged? How true are the wheels? Do they rub at all? What kind of condition are the brakes in? What about the shifter and the derailleur? Are the cables in good shape? </p>
<p>Your daughter probably knows someone who is a bit nutty about bikes (it is the PNW after all). That person can look at the bike and tell her how much needs to be done and what it would cost if she bought parts and did it herself. </p>
<p>Keep in mind she may be able to sell it for $50 or $75 and you can add that to the $200 you’re willing to spend. We bought my daughter’s school bicycle at this shop: [Recycled</a> Cycles | Seattle’s Used Bike Shop |](<a href=“http://www.recycledcycles.com/]Recycled”>http://www.recycledcycles.com/) many years ago. </p>
<p>And momofthreeboys: all the serious cyclists I know store their bikes in their dorm rooms.</p>
<p>The pricing that I gave are rock bottom pricing. </p>
<p>My cargo hybrid, cro-mo, bike was bought at a garage sale for $75. Serviceable but in the two years of ownership and 1500 miles, I’ve added or replaced $325 worth of parts. DS bought a new hybrid bike for a little bit more than what I’ve spent. </p>
<p>He bikes to UW but keeps bike inside his house at night. He’s staff.</p>
<p>We went to recycled cycles yesterday & REI, but she wouldn’t stay long enough to get fitted. :rolleyes: ( and the things they had were kinda expensive- but they did have lots of parts)</p>
<p>I think the Fuji is in good shape- or could be, but I believe her when she says it doesn’t fit, it sounds like the length of the top bar is maybe too short- but it is at a friends house who was trying to evaluate it. The outdoor center at WWU told her it would cost $250 to fix & would take 3-4 months, so she is going to keep looking for something. She mostly just needs it to ride to school ( she lives off campus) & to get around nearby.</p>
<p>She is in Bellingham, but I will probably try and get the bike down to Seattle or maybe even PDX cause maybe my other daughter can use it. Her roommate is a big biker ( I couldn’t even guess how much $$$ he has in bikes) & has helped her work on her garage sale bike.</p>
<p>I think there are a lot of used bikes in the area- the hard part is going to look at them because she doesn’t have a car. ;)</p>
<p>The $250 quote is not out of line, but 3-4 months is ridiculous for a job that would take a professional mechanic an hour. Google shows me eight bike shops in Bellingham. I guarantee you that all eight of them could fix the bike in less than 3 months. I’d check out the Hub, a bike shop specializing in utilitarian bikes and fixing up bikes. 360-255-2072.</p>
<p>Buying an old bike can be a little tricky since you can spend a lot on them getting them safe and comfortable. Fashion is an issue as well. I sent D#1 to school with a vintage Schwinn Suburban – which ended up being an embarassment to my hipster D. The fenders came off, the basket came off, the seat got replaced - and eventually it was hit by a car (D was okay). To fit in with her crowd she needed a lightweight, single-speed road bike. (The very hip had fixed-gears, but that was out of the question). She replaced it with another vintage road bike and converted it to a single speed. For D#2 (same school) I bought her a Draft single-speed, flat bar, brand new for under $200. She loves it, parks it in her room and we haven’t spent a dime on it since.</p>
<p>Well, I guess the fixies are considered a must-have by a certain group of skinny and foolish young people… Those of our employees who bike to work year-round–rain, sun, heat, cold–generally have a cheap mountain bike frame, with road tires and fenders and a generous rack in the back to carry panniers. And a ten-speed derailleur.</p>
<p>I have a vintage Japanese made Fuji 12-speed road bike and looked into do some conversions on it. I think you would very quickly exceed the price of a commodity cheapo hybrid, even a brand new one.</p>
<p>Changing the handlebars sounds simple, but the new straight handbars don’t fit the road racing stem and It’s also likely the old brake levers won’t work on the new straight bars. So, stem, plus bars, plus brake levers (at which point you’ll replace the cables), new handlebar tape. So, now you have just put more into new handlebars than the bike is worth and you still don’t have modern hybrid bike gearing (which is a real kettle of fish to think about changing).</p>
<p>I finally just decided to ride the very cool old Fuji. I’ll probably look into replacing the brake pads with a modern version. I’ve got a tube to take care of a tire with a slow leak. That’s a 15 minute home-repair, especially with an electric pump. </p>
<p>If your old Fuji isn’t the right deal, then just buy a beater used hybrid (like a Giant or whatever) at a used bike sale. I can’t imagine you couldn’t find a perfectly serviceable bike for under $100. Walmart has new ones starting at $149 which would work just fine as a campus beater that’s going to get trashed and abandoned anyway. These things are all made in the same two or three factories and they are all disposable until you get up into $600+ range. It’s not like the old Fujis where you got machined aluminum chainrings and stuff on a consumer priced bike.</p>