Getting a used bicycle for commuting?

[squirrelitude]

I recently moved to the Arlington Center area, and I plan to start commuting to work (at Alewife) by bike. This would involve either a straight shot on the Minuteman Bikeway, or Mass Ave/Broadway and then the parkway if the bikeway is in bad shape, snow-wise. I'd like to get a used bike, but I'm new to the area as well to bike commuting. So, does anybody have recommendations on...

* What type of bike to get?
* Where to look for bikes? (Here, Craigslist, specific bike shops, other venues...)
* Carry bags that I can both strap to the bike and wear on my back?

I'm planning on getting a card so I can lock up in the Alewife bike cage, but I'm also going to look into bringing my bike into the office. :-)

Comments

Oh no, you just missed the big city auction!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

...

[obie119.livejournal.com]

You are absolutely not going to want to ride on the Alewife Brook Parkway. That is straight from the factory of Bad Ideas. (I'm a 11+ year commuter and will ride on the busiest of roads, but that's just rude and dumb.)

Re: bikes - craigslist if you know what you're looking for. Wheelworks Too is a used shop over in Waverly. Or, there are plenty of good new bikes to be had if you look for last year's model. I bought my current commuter from JRA in Medford for $350 (Kona Smoke, works great).

[squirrelitude]

Well, not *on* Alewife Brook Parkway... there is a set of side streets to the east that I use for walking from the #77 stop.

[ron_newman]

I've ridden on Alewife Brook Parkway at times, usually from Powderhouse Blvd. to Mystic Valley Parkway. I don't see anything "rude" about doing so, especially not the short distance from Mass. Ave. to Route 2. BIkes are allowed there just as they are on any other non-freeway.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

By "Waverly" you mean Waverly Square in Belmont, yes?

[ron_newman]

Yes - see WheelWorks web site for the locations of all three stores.

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

What do you want to do with the bike? If you are just going to go back and forth from Arlington to Alewife, pretty much any bike that is decently put together will work. Put on some moderately wide tires (32+ mm) and you should be ok pretty much year-round.

If you want to go for longer rides on nice days, look into getting a low-end road bike. Aluminum frames don't corrode in the winter.

If you want to do light off-roading, look into a low-end hybrid.

If you want to do serious bike communting, or ride in pretty nasty slush, look into a cyclocross bike.

If you want a bike that will let you ride in 4in of fresh snow, over an inch of ice, get a mountain bike with studded tires.

Whatever you end up with, get the biggest, baddest lock you can stand. Common rule of thumb is $10 of lock for every $100 of bike. _Always_ lock your bike if its outside a locked door (and inside if you share living space, or the bike lives on an exterior porch)

[fredrickegerman.livejournal.com]

Wide tires are a good idea, and not all bikes will accomodate them. Road bikes in particular are infamous for not having enough frame width for wide tires, and even my cyclocross bike doesn't go much wider than 35mm.

Note that the big, bad lock will weigh as much as your frame, and optimize (= don't bother optimizing) accordingly. Be prepared to lock both the front wheel and the rear triangle so that your frame and wheels are all safe.

You'll probably want to consider replacing the stock tires of any bike you buy with something sturdier after the first few flats [I say after mostly because you could get lucky and get decent tires off the bat, especially if you get a used bike]. Look for messenger tires, and check out online reviews. Pricier, but at say $10 per flat I haven't had to fix, more than paid for.

For ice, studs are a must. Most people just skip it; studded bike tires are pricey and not that comfortable to ride on when it isn't icy. You sound like you're sticking to cleared roads, and are willing to walk short stretches if it looks bad, which is probably the easiest for the distance you're going.

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

Studded tires are extremely useful, but only for ice. That is the only surface they significantly help with. Unless the studs reach hard ice, they don't provide any benefit, so in new snow they're not helping (or hindering). There may be an exception with a light dusting of snow when studs can penetrate to the blacktop.

That's not to put down studs. I wouldn't be commuting the minuteman right now without mine. Black ice has on studless tires has resulted in many a broken collarbone or worse. You hit the ground before you work out what's happening.

[soong.livejournal.com]

I like Ace Wheel Works on elm st north of Porter sq. I recently bought a new belt-drive bicycle there (no chain to clean/lube/rust). It was $1000 new and I've been riding it regularly this winter since I got it about 4 months ago.

If you're going to bike in bad weather i'd reccommend Ortlieb waterpoof paneers. I've had a pair for a year and a half and they're great and I carry my laptop and everything around in them in all weather. They're pretty solidly built too. No backpack style straps but they do come with shoulder straps cross slung messenger bag style.

[serious-noir.livejournal.com]

Belt drive? Huh. Never heard of that for bikes. Is it enclosed so it doesn't get road dirt on it? Tension must be very high to avoid slipping - or is it toothed like a timing belt?

(not that this is relevant to the OP's question... ;-)

[soong.livejournal.com]

Trek "Soho" (http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/urban/soho/soho/), toothed belt in place of chain, 8 speed shifter in rear hub.

I should add that all weather biking is aided by rain pants, which kept the splatter off my regular pants while biking around in the slush today.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Honestly, for that simple a commute anything is going to be a-ok, so I would think about what else you might use it for.

Bikes not Bombs in JP is a good org and they usually have a decent selection of used bikes. Most of them are refurbished with all new low-end parts, but the frame itself is usually something of decent quality. Most of them seemed to be in the 200-300 range last time I was there, but I wasn't looking carefully.

[jodi.livejournal.com]

i second both of these recommendations.

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

Good advice. If you're riding <4 miles or so, anything works. Single speed, mountain, hybrid, utility, road, touring, whatever, though fenders are a great idea, and difficult on some mountain bikes road bikes.

There's minimal effort in that sort of short journey, unless your up some big hills (Arlington heights), so ignore advice on getting the most efficient bike possible. That said, something very inefficient will get old quickly.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Couple things I'll also add to this discussion as a regular bike commuter:

-Get a road bike, you'll spend a lot less energy pedaling and thus go faster than you would on a hybrid or mountain bike
-Get snow tires and summer tires. You can get snow tires for road bike wheels and they make a huge difference on slippery surfaces.
-GET A U-LOCK. If I had a dollar for every time I heard (especially on this community) about someone's bike being stolen when they were using a cable lock, I would not need to work.
-I would suggest getting a single speed bike. This is a bit of a religious discussion among bicyclists, but there are a few real advantages such as lower maintenance, less pedaling resistance (because of fewer moving parts), and better durability. Oh, and it's quieter. There are almost no hills in the greater Arlington/Somerville/Cambridge/Boston area so there isn't really much advantage to having multiple speeds around here. They're just a gimmick to raise profits for bike dealers.

One thing you should know, by the way, about the Red Line (and the T in general, really): IT IS VERY SLOW. No matter how far you are going, it would probably be faster to bike directly there than to take the train.

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

I can second the single-speed comment. I've got 20+ (27 I think) speeds on my bike, but I tend to use just the one.

Don't get a fixed gear if you're just starting out. learn to ride in traffic comfortably, then get a fixed.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Don't get a fixed gear if you're just starting out. learn to ride in traffic comfortably, then get a fixed.

As a fixed-gear rider, I second this comment.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

actually, the red line imo is one of the better lines.

i actually moved from brighton to quincy because it took me HALF the time to commute to my job in cambridge that way. ah, the wonders of public transportation.

however, i do agree the alewife end seems to have many more issues than the quincy end, and also i'm probably biased after having to spend so many years on the green line which is a joke.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

The thing is, even when the line is functioning perfectly (rare), it still isn't any faster than biking, especially if you arrive right after a train is leaving and you have to transfer somewhere.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

oh sure, i agree with that, that's why i was just comparing it to other public transport - should the op ever have to deal with it, it could be worse :)

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

The Red Line has been particularly full of fail this winter, and I don't know when I've ever seen it as bad as it has been for the last month. The big question is whether this is a temporary aberration or the new normal.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

yeah, since moving to arlington in august i either walk or drive, so i can't say (fortunately) i've had to experience this :x

[ron_newman]

There are almost no hills in the greater Arlington/Somerville/Cambridge/Boston area so there isn't really much advantage to having multiple speeds around here.

Before making such a statement again I suggest that you try to ride up Eastern Avenue to Robbins Farm Park in Arlington. I think I'm a pretty strong rider, and I can't make it up that hill without getting off to walk.

No hill in Somerville is as steep as that, but I still wouldn't want to ride a single-speed bike regularly up Spring Hill or Winter Hill or Prospect Hill.

A single-speed bike is fine for riding from Arlington Center to Alewife (whether via the bike path or via Mass. Ave. and Route 16), but someday you may want to ride somewhere less flat.

[concrete.livejournal.com]

Bikes not bombs is great, they are in Jamaica plain right by the T. Paramount bicycle is on ball square and Tyler, the owner beat bikes not bombs prices several times for me.

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

I used to do that commute for several years before I moved to Somerville.

The Minuteman is good for commuting -- even great, if your commuting hours are non-standard so that you miss the crowds. Come the snowy season, sometimes Arlington plows it, sometimes not, so you have to do a bit of reconnaissance. If it is snowed under, many alternate routes into Alewife will be bad as well (the path from Lafayette street, the parking lot cut-through off of Whittimore, cutting across Magnolia Park, etc.). I frequently found that it was better to park my bike away from Alewife and walk the last quarter-mile.

On the worst of snowy days, it can be worth it to bike Mass Ave all the way to Cedar Street in Cambridge and catch the Linear Path there; it's out of your way, but much more likely to be plowed all the way through to Alewife.

If you park anywhere near Alewife but not in the cage, remove everything movable from your bike -- lights especially, I had at least five stolen, but wheels and seats too. It is (or at least was) an absolute crime magnet there.

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

Oh, and flooding. Worse than snow in Arlington is the street flooding near Varnum Street from summer rains. Varnum is a very useful place to get off of the path and onto the roads (past there, the path is unlit after dark), but catch it after a rain and you'll have a foot underwater even while biking.

[serious-noir.livejournal.com]

Get a junker if you have to park it outside.

Detachable pannier's (sp) are great. Backpack while on bike is not so great, at least I don't like it.

[ron_newman]

Broadway Bicycle School in Cambridge, between Central and Inman squares, is a good place to look for used bikes.

[charlwoo.livejournal.com]

Cambridge Used Bicycles, in the basement of the Cambridge Antiques Market, is your best bet for used bicycles that you won't be overcharged for. I would not patronize Wheelworks; I and several of my friends have had poor experiences with them recently.
Bikes Not Bombs and Broadway Bicycle School are also great places to find used bikes.
The bicycle shops can help fit you to the properly sized bicycle, and also make specific recommendations on what type of bicycle to suit your needs, as well as accessories.