I'm fairly new to this, and want to make the most out of my budget

[mark20]

Your better off going to garage sales/flea markets for used bikes, as people usually want to get rid of them ASAP for pretty cheap. All the bikes I've used i bought for less than 20$ (most were free)

Really any bike is a good starting one, its the maintenance that's the most important part IMHO, as the main reason the cheaper kits get bad reviews is that people never tighten up loose nuts/bolts and then things vibrate more and break, rinse and repeat. Yes there cheap, but you can improve upon them for very little $ invested (quality bolts are like 15$ For everything)

 

[berdomb]

Garage sales are great places for deals....if not in hurry.

People do want to get rid of cheap box store bikes.... cheap.

Good bikes.....$500+ , are a bit different. Much harder to find. May sell for substantial portion of new value, or get traded in at bike shops.

all you want to do is strap a motor on it and ride around a little bit that's one thing. If you want to use it for your actual transportation and actually pedal it too that's another.

Not a lot of even mid tier bikes from giant, specialized, trek, etc show up used. Used frames of good bikes can go for a couple of hundred dollars.

A friend of mine has bikes costing $5000-$9,000. I asked him one time( 25 yrs ago!) if he really needed a $5,000 mountain bike...... His answer was definitely. Anything less and he'd break it. He didn't start there, he worked his way up to it.

I saw a photo of a motorized bike for sale on Craigslist the other day.
It was a mountain bike a cheap box store $150 bike. ..... The forks were bent back under the bike towards the frame noticeably........ What could go wrong..... operating that and hitting a pothole at 40 mph......or having inadequate brakes and not being able to stop before running into something.......

 

[mark20]

I mean, it depends on where you look.
My diamondback was 20$ used. The gaint i got for 15.
Huffys were both free.

I get what your saying, as a MTB guy myself. Ive got a 1800$ mtb I ride the hell out of, and i wouldn't ride anything less on the trails I go to (black diamonds, couple of double blacks, lots of jumps and bumps)

But for the average kit, a walmart bike should be fine, IF you make sure to tune it up properly (ie true the wheels, grease everything, fix what the 10/HR guy screwed up) my buddy rides a cheapo schwinn and its held up great.

Well, for transport, i used my huffy every day to school and back and around town (still use it for collage, but now i have a car) and it held up fine for me. I still think proper maintaince is key compared to a good bike.

But opinions are opinions

 

[DAMIEN1307]

still use it for collage,

Hi Mark20,

I went to schools of higher learning as well but back when i went, (Thats when dirt was still clean),...lol...we spelled "collage", as "college"...lol...DAMIEN

 

[mark20]

Ah damn it, every time!

Its probably cause i cant speel it

 

[Chainlube]

Your typical collage.

 

[Axl Myk]

I always thought it was colledge.
How did I ever get through it?