Maybe y'all can help a feller out...
My daughter is a freshman at college and it is pretty clear that she is gonna need a bike, maybe not immediately but next semester for sure when she lives further from her classes. Starting to think about it now.
- Bike will be outside all the time.
- She will carry lots of books.
- She doesn't know how to spin a wrench. I will teach her the basics like how to take a wheel off, fix a flat, etc. I live 1.5 hours away and am really not into traveling from the burbs to ATL to maintain a bike.
- She likes to speed and wants gears. I mentioned single speed for ease of maintenance. She frowned but gears kinda make sense as the campus is hilly.
- Obviously don't want to spend a lot of money and thinking about a craigslist fixer but not if it is going to cost me more in the long run. I can do any work with the exception of pressing a headset and building wheels.
- Expected lifespan of this bike is 3 to 4 years.
Guys in the SSFG seem to be very realistic about commuter/utility/townies and I would appreciate any thoughts.