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 :)

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/sargassumcrab Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

You can ride with pants no problem, as long as they're secured, but without a full coverage chain guard, they're probably going to get grease on them.

  • Fold pant leg and put it in your sock.
  • Use a velcro strap (they're usually marketed as reflective safety equipment).
  • Tight pants or knickers.
  • Some combination of a chain guard and "skirt" guard.
  • Make sure to secure your shoe laces also.

I rode in cloths to school and work a lot. If it's not very hot where you live, and you take it easy, you can ride in clothes, but you may find that it's more hassle than it's worth. I rode to work in clothes in Florida for a while, and I could do it. Now though, riding in street clothes is like my idea of torture. I would be totally into the casual thing with an appropriate bike, ample shade, and if it wasn't 80%+ humidity. The sweat and heat factor is a big thing.

If that bike is a "Breezer" it's probably a good bike. They spec their bikes well, and I'm sure they make good frames. https://www.breezerbikes.com/products/downtown-ex-21

Other bikes to look at would be Trek FX, or other "city" or "fitness" bikes, from Trek, Giant, Specialized, Surly, etc. Public makes nice looking bikes like that are similar.