Hello,
I'm thinking about getting into the bicycling game, since I live near the beach/friends/etc. and, although I don't mind walking/hitching a ride/etc., The allure of riding a bike in the So. Cal sun is proving to be too much for me to pass up...
I'd be using it for street riding, etc.... Any brand tips? Any tips on places to get a relatively inexpensive one? Anything?



Danka...

Get a cruiser. The Rat Rod is very cool, especially when you get the tires with the flaming tread!

danka, as in the copiers?



danke.

Although my ride is a battered old Trek 830, you typically can't go wrong with Gary Fisher bikes. I don't know about any sweet deals, but I recommend buying from a store rather than online - you can typically get cheap/free maintenance from the store you bought it at, at least for a while.

It also helps to have 2 friends who manage bike shops, so you may want to look into that. It has worked well for me in the past.

Edit: I'm not a fan of road bikes, so my recommendations are biased.

Motobecane, trick it out with as many Campy parts as you can afford.

Oh, and stay away from Huffy (obviously).

i would say go to a real bike shop. ive been in a few and the staff is always friendly and knowledgeable about what they sell. plus, if anything goes wrong, theyre usually just as helpful.

Damn...I didn't realize you live in LA. My friend Jeff the Bike Dude moved out there, and is possibly working in a shop RIGHT NOW. I'll see if I can find out for sure.

I highly recommend MTBR.com ...I've been going there for years. Post this question in the General forum ( http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=45 ) or they even have a SoCal forum. It's the most widely used bike review site out there. There are also reviews of everything, from parts to complete bikes. It's a wealth of info.

I have a mountain bike, with suspension front and rear (5" of cushy travel, baby). I not only use this to ride in the mountains, but to commute on as well. It's comfy, and great to hop curbs with.

I can't suggest a whole lot with the info in your post. When you say street riding, do you mean just going to the store, or do you mean riding long distances on the road? Do you really want to get into it, or do you just want to cruise up & down the boulevard in the sun, checking out the chicks? (If you want to pick one up, there are some nice tandems out there). Do you want to get together with friends and go out all day on a mountain bike ride on some sweet singletrack?

Please stay away from the big box stores (Target, Walmart, etc). Not only do the bikes suck in general, but they aren't set up properly, and this could cost you a few teeth, or even your life. It would be worth it to pay a little more, and have the bike fit you, as well.

Do you have a Performance shop near you? They are closing out the '04 models and they have some great deals on all types of bikes- from road bikes to mtb's to cruisers.

Mountain biking has been a great blessing for me- enriching my life by keeping me healthy and garnering lots of friends. I have MTBR.com to thank for that, too. Being in SoCal, you probably have some great trails nearby- you might want to consider a bike that would handle a little off-road action (with at least a front shock).

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

(This has been an unpaid advertisement)

fp

Oh, and pleeeeese wear a helmet. You may feel like a geek the first couple of times, but... also get a good lock.

My cheap Trek 820 is a great bike for how much I ride. Light to moderate trails are no problem, and it is nice and comfortable for streets and bike paths, too.

Yes, please be like Finch Platte and I. Catastrophic head injuries are way geekier than helmets.

[img][650:469]http://circlecitybicycles.com/lrp/jpg/lrbike.jpg[/img]

I'll 3rd the helmet comment! I was hit by a car a few years ago and I jumped right back up BECAUSE I had a helmet on. Will you look like an idiot? Probably to your friends, but who gives a fuck, right?

i just bought this one a few months ago:

I should really get one of those.

I really want this bike.

and this helmet

Sweet - I don't want to spend all that much money, and anything would help... I spent an hour looking at bikes on craigslist today, but I'm not 100% sold on their services/reliability as of yet...

If you rode a bike around here they'd throw bricks at you for fun, but I'd like a mountain bike for heading out to the hills. Alas, I have no money, room to store one.

This is why your bike needs to be tricked out with flamethrowers.

Pshhh, I thought this was a Queen thread.

I work in the bicycle industry. My reccomendation is you go with a entry level MTB. Something in the $300-$500. Probably closer to the $500 (pretty much all mtb's now come with at least front suspension). I would steer you away from full suspension b/c anything decent of that ilk will probably start at around $2000. I woudl then purchase an additional pair of 26" slick tires for commuting. Thus you will have some knobby tires if you want to ride trails and slicks for the road. Also do yourself a favor and learn the basics of maintenance as it will save you some headaches.

what are "the basics of maintenance"? my bike came in pieces and i got pretty good with an allen wrench pretty quick, but i'm still not too certain about the job i did with the gears and i still don't know what the names of the pieces are.

Haha, I did too.

Mersh it really depends on what exactly you want to do. If you plan on never going off road you may want to think about a road bike because it's designed to perform on the road.

I would probably go with a Mountain Bike because tire companies make street tires to go on mtbikes and if you ever decide to get into the off road stuff you have the bike for it.

But if you're just going to be cruising on mostly flat streets up and down the beach I would suggest just getting a single speed mtbike. There is no changing of gears, very simple but serves that purpose and much cheaper.

Also, keep in mind that most bike frames are created equal and that it's the bikes components that make them pricey.

Mountain Bike Action is also a good magazine to check out when looking for a bike. Lots of reviews and prices. I'll second mtbr.com as well.