The Cheap Bike Thread!

[philoneist]

I was recently looking for a bike for myself and a good friend.

We found a couple great places to purchase bikes online, if you want to purchase new.

They purchased a neat bike off amazon for $194
http://www.amazon.com/Takara-Kabuto-Single-Speed-Frame/dp/B004GWP6CK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362885597&sr=8-1&keywords=bike

I think it's ugly as sin, but if you pull off the decals, it's not that bad.

I found my bike on bikesdirect.com
I picked up the Gravity Swift2 for $309 out the door.

It's a pretty good site for cheap new bikes of all sorts.

We figured, whenever something breaks, we can upgrade the part with something better.
So far, after a year of riding almost every day in Chicago, I've only needed to replace the tubes.
My friend hasn't even had to change a tube yet! Although, their bike has thicker tires.

Chicago has one of the most robust biking communities in the country (I'm being totally serious, bikers here are HARD CORE.)

There are a couple great places to get refurbished bikes here:
The Recyclery & Working Bikes Cooperatives have some INCREDIBLE deals.

Feel free to share any awesome bike deal secrets you may have!

I would love to hear some suggestions for Silicon Valley, as I am here without a bike for the next few months...

[girly mustache]

A good place for bikes in silicon valley is Craigslist - you're in the heart of the craigslist mothership....

[philoneist]

Surprisingly, there have been very few good bikes on CL - I checked it out a bit and couldn't find anything...  Besides, you don't really know what you're getting. I'm looking around for a store that refurbishes bikes - I figure I can pick one up and sell it on CL when I leave.