<p>My son will be in East Halls, and we saw tons of bikes there when we visited. Given the size of the campus, do current students recommend having a bike on campus ? It would seem to be a nice convenience. </p>
<p>Also, is theft an issue ? Should we look for a “beater” bike (relatively speaking) ?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>My D will be in Curtin Hall. She considered a bike, but decided against it because the bus (or her feet) will take her just about everywhere she needs to go. She didn’t need anything else to worry about.</p>
<p>We did hear that a “beater” is the way to go; lots of bike theft/vandalism.</p>
<p>We live in town and my DS has been biking around town and campus for years; I can’t imagine him not taking his when he moves into the dorm. With all the people we know who work at (including DH) or send their kids to Penn State I have not heard of a case of theft or vandalism.</p>
<p>My niece’s bike was brutalized outside of her East Halls dorm this past year; she ended up having to throw it in the dumpster. We also so a lot of vandalized bikes on our trip up there in February. Just something to consider.</p>
<p>I am sorry to hear that.
Penn State salvage has an annual auction of bikes that are abandoned or stolen/retrieved/unclaimed. I believe it’s in the spring, so if a student didn’t bring a bike and then wished s/he had one that might be a way to pick one up at a reasonable price. The range of quality and price was quite remarkable and there were scores available the year I went. (I came away with a nice Schwinn for under a hundred dollars.)</p>
<p>There really is no need for a bicycle. You can walk to classes or take the loop. Why bring something else to worry about? Besides, when it gets really cold outside, bicycles aren’t that useful.</p>
<p>^^My thoughts exactly</p>
<p>Oh, and I also want to add that Happy Valley is a very hilly area. If for some reason you decide to take your bicycle, you’ll be doing a lot of up-hill and down-hill riding. Not fun.</p>
<p>Some people think it’s a lot of fun–
<a href=“http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/bike/[/url]”>http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/bike/</a></p>
<p>This semester I will be using a bike and I think it is a great way to get to your classes at any large school. Because of my schedule, there are some days where I will only have ten minutes to get from one building to another, so I don’t really have a choice–it is the only way to make it without being late every time. One difficulty I see is that the campus is pretty uneven, so you will probably break a sweat if you are going uphill often, but this also makes it easier if you are going the other way. But most importantly, a lot of times there will only be small pathways leading to some buildings and with the constant human traffic at PSU, you’ll have to do a great deal of maneuvering through crowds or pedaling very slowly to avoid hitting someone. In some areas, I see no other way but to get off and carry the bike with you or ride on the grass–the front entrance to pattee, for example. And of course, during snow days, you will probably have to walk otherwise you run the risk of slipping or getting wet. I have actually seen people riding on heavy snow days, though, so it is possible.</p>
<p>So I think bikes are very convinient, especially if you don’t have a car and want to go to walmart or somewhere distant quickly. I wouldn’t rely on the bus system because sometimes the stops are loaded with people and it only goes around the perimeter of the campus. There is a funny essay about this on the penn state composition booklet for the fall of 06, which I was required to buy for some reason.</p>
<p>Hey, Frasi, We moved DS into West Halls today and his dorm had a bike storage room in the basement. There were quite a few racks, though I would imagine it would get pretty full during the winter. </p>
<p>I hope your move-in goes smoothly!</p>