I have too many bikes in my life between my 2.5 and the other 6 the rest of the family has. (my garage is full)

According to REI, the farther the seat is below the handlebars, generally, the more comfortable the ride. But higher handlebars let you apply more power to the pedals.

I would recommend first time buyers not use Craigslist / Ebay. There are a couple reasons for this, first is a lot of sellers don’t really know what they’re selling and can’t answer your questions about fit and wear and the like. The second reason is that “carbon fiber road bike with the fancy shifters” for $300 is…

With bicycles, very little parts can matter a great deal. The less you want to know about parts and the less you want to do maintenance yourself, the more important it is that you purchase from a real bike shop (not Target/Wal-Mart/similar). These typically will service your bike if you buy it from them and will of…

Buy a bike at a bike store. You will pay more. However, you’ll get a decent bike, put together by a trained mechanic. Bike at big box stores or department stores are assembled by untrained people who are simply following the printed instructions provided; and it’s not that simple.

I got ‘last year’s model’ of bike at a local cycle and sports shop. It’s an excellent little machine. It came at about $400, after tax. It was a clear-out model. No way I was going to Wally World for my wheels.

And if the new mid priced bikes are out of your price range, you should be looking for a used bike that used to be in that range but is now falling into the low price range. There are nearly always older models on craigslist or similar sites that can be had at a fraction of the price new.

Yeah, I would second the comment about avoiding Target or Wal-Mart. Those are less expensive, but the quality isn’t as good, and damn those things are heavy. And really, they aren’t that much cheaper.