Looking for an ideal bike for Uni

[TobyM]

I'm off to University at the end of the month (providing my exams went as well as they needed to!) and I'd very much like to take a bike with me. However, I'm not sure about the idea of leaving my Allez sitting outside a lecture theatre where it could get stolen. I also don't like the idea of riding it about when the roads are covered in grit come winter!

So, ideally what I want is a bike that looks un-nickable, that I can afford to throw about a bit yet still rides well.

I'd quite like to do longer rides (100 miles or so) in my spare time, but I can't take both my Allez and a cheap run around for town so ideally I'm looking for the best of both worlds. What do you all suggest would be a good choice? Budget is probably somewhere up to the £300 mark but ideally a fair bit cheaper!

Thanks in advance!

 

[slowmotion]

I would get a clunker for riding to lectures etc. I'm pretty sure than anything half decent will get nicked. Can't you sneak your good bike into your room? If not, there's probably a cycling club who will advise you what the best thing to do is.

Good luck.

 

[ColinJ]

A friend's son had the new MTB that his mum bought for him to take to uni stolen in the first couple of weeks.

I saw evidence of the scale of the problem at some bike stands at Sheffield uni - trashed locks, locked frames with wheels and parts missing, locked wheels with rest of bike missing, and one or two securely locked bikes which had been jumped on!

So, I would definitely recommend that you get something that looks not worth nicking. Either that or buy a folding bike and take it indoors with you!

(Maybe I am overcautious, having had my own bike nicked from school!)

 

[Kies]

My niece had 3 bikes stolen at Cambridge. Thieves target uni's every October/November for the fresher's bikes.
I would buy a second hand hybrid that has crap paintwork.
Leave the long rides for when you go home (with all your dirty laundry)

 

[Brandane]

Buy a decent second hand bike in good working order, then set about it with a paint brush and tin of Hammerite to give it that unloved look. No guarantees of course, but hopefully the thieving scrotes might look elsewhere.

 

[biggs682]

@TobyM i would spend wisely and try and get a bike that doesnt stand out from the crowd , and as others have said just be careful .

what uni you going to ?

it always surprises me as i have sold numerous very decent 2nd hand bikes into both Cambridge & Oxford to Foreign students to use whilst there studying .

 

[summerdays]

I would get a clunker for riding to lectures etc. I'm pretty sure than anything half decent will get nicked. Can't you sneak your good bike into your room? If not, there's probably a cycling club who will advise you what the best thing to do is.

Good luck.

Have you seen the size of some of the rooms now - they have definitely shrunk since I went to Uni! Mind you we didn't have ensuites etc!

 

[Hip Priest]

I'm not sure you can reconcile your two requirements to have a bike that won't get nicked, and a bike you can do 100 mile rides on! My advice would be to seek out a nearly-new Carrera Virtuoso or B-Twin around the £250 mark, then spend the remains £50 on a hack bike for Uni.

Fingers crossed for your exam results!

 

[Cyclopathic]

Buy a decent second hand bike in good working order, then set about it with a paint brush and tin of Hammerite to give it that unloved look. No guarantees of course, but hopefully the thieving scrotes might look elsewhere.

I'd second this. It's a good excuse to get creative in a way that doesn't matter about finish or durability. Make sure that all the basics are sound and then set to with brush and spray can. It doesnt matter if paint goes on the mechanical stuff as it will just wear off where it needs to although probably best to try not to get it into the cables.
It is very much the look I have gone for with my everyday commuting/towing/getting about town bike which is a fairly old Scott hybrid type, budget level bike but sound for all that. Every time Ive got some paint left on a brush or I'm testing a spray can I go for the bike and add some colour.
Combine this tactic with always using a decent lock and you should be ok. It's not got to be totally theft proof because nothing is. It's just got to be a less attractive option than another bike near by.
My bike is ok and if it was tarted up and clean and shiny would probably fetch enough in a second hand shop to buy someone a bag of drugs but as it is there is no way cash generator would want it. In fact I might test my theory and go and ask cash generator (misery merchants) how much they'd give me for it.

 

[TobyM]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm (hopefully) going to York, so it's not as bad for bike theft as some universities but nonetheless it's still a concern!

I think I'll probably buy a reasonable bike - around the £100 mark - and rough it up as was suggested so I end up with something rideable which doesn't look like it's worth nicking

 

[James10]

When I go to town I ride my dads 5-speed claude butler bike from the 70's. It's a nimble, speedy little bugger, and yet, on a few occasions, cycling past young lads, typical of the sort that would steal bikes, I have been laughed at for riding a "granny" bike, as I whiz past them at 20mph. So something like this is ideal for leaving around, as thieves like bikes that look new and are covered with lots of gears/stickers. You'd wouldn't need to spend much more than £100 to get something like this and if it's not in the best of shape, there's a good summer project for you to get it ready for uni.

 

[TobyM]

That sounds ideal, I'll have to keep an eye out and see what I can find!

 

[summerdays]

I look up my bike near the university area on a regular basis (near a shop I like), and I've never had a problem. What I do notice is that many of the bikes are just locked with a cable lock, use a D-lock then even if your bike is nicer it is harder to pinch. Don't leave the bike overnight in these areas as you also see bikes with buckled wheels etc. What it is like in the halls of residence I'm not sure, as I wasn't a cyclist then.