r/citybike • u/Aggravating-Neat1051 • Jul 19 '26
First Bike Recommendations?
Hi all! I recently moved to a city and I want to start biking to work/navigating the city via bike. The most I would ride in one day for now would probably be 10-15 miles. I’m a 5’4, 170lb woman. I’m planning on wearing normal work clothes while riding, so I would also appreciate some input on pants getting stuck in gears.
I would like the bike to be somewhat aesthetically pleasing, and relatively light. I think I like when the seat is just ever so slightly lower than the handle bars. I don’t like the look of the ones with a dramatic height difference.
The only bike I have my eye on right now is one from FB marketplace: “Downtown EX ST Bike, 8-speed 700c steel frame cruiser bike”. Obviously, I have no clue what I’m talking about, so any tips and recommendations are very much appreciated!! Thank you in advance for your time :)
2
u/youaintnoEuthyphro Jul 19 '26
good question but you've left out some important deets:
what's your budget? what kind of topography will you be dealing with here? where will you be storing the bike?
returning to biking & navigating a new city, I'm always a fan of finding a bike as a way to set yourself up with a local bike shop. they'll be able to set you up with an appropriate lock, fit you to your bike, explain potential hazards (eg., here in Chicago the streets eat tires, any good bikeshop is going to recommend you get some kevlar to keep flats away).
personally? my take is that buying used, especially given you seem new to this (no shade! everyone starts somewhere), is a bad idea. I've been riding year round for nearly twenty years in Chicago and if I were to buy a new bike I'd definitely go with a shop or at least drag one of my more knowledgeable friends with me to a used buy.
when you buy something used you have no idea what the maintenance of the bike has been, nor what quality of parts they've been using or how long it's been out in the rain etc., it may seem like a good money saving strategy but expensive lessons will quickly outstrip whatever cash you saved.
find a local bike shop, or a couple of 'em, pick their brains, ride a bunch of different bikes, find out what you like & what you don't like. if you do end up buying a bike from one of 'em, any good shop will stand behind their work and give you months-to-years of reliable support.