I've been thinking for a few semesters now of buying a bike to get around campus, but I've held off because it's a relatively small campus, and I just can't justify the purchase. Recently, though, I've been volunteering downtown once a week and the walk to and from the train station is a huge waste of time.
If and when I do buy a bike, I want to use it both on campus and downtown. I go to a small school with a very pedestrian campus, so the terrain here is more like a park than anything, but the city in question is a typical urban setting, and I would be riding almost exclusively on busy roads. Is there a bike anyone can recommend that can do both setting well, but that fits into a college student budget?
Doesn't sound like you'll be riding much, go to a bike shop and tell them you want the cheapest bike in your size, buy used. Also find out if anyone on your campus has a bike that they are getting rid of, many campuses have end of semester bike swaps. Id tell you to get anything with 2 wheels, but you don't want to be riding downtown and have your bike malfunction. If you get a bike from some place other than a shop, at least get a tune up from one.
