Have no idea what sort of bike I need, please help

Curlyhatescurls

Hi, I'm moving to Dublin for college in September, I'll be living in Ranelagh and I will need to cycle to UCD. I think it's supposed to be like a 40 minute walk or something. I want to get a cheap second hand bike, can anyone help me as to what sort of a bike I should get. I don't know anything about gears, is it okay to get a bike with just one gear for the cycle I will be doing?

Also, I will need to get a very good lock so my bike doesn't get stolen, any suggestions?

Col Man

I'm not much of a bike expert, but I'd say you should probably not go for a single speed (one gear) bike. If you had a gear that you'd consider "high", then your acceleration from a stop would be rather slow. And you'd probably be stopping a few times on your journey. But if your gear is too low, your top speed would be reduced. And you'd want different gears for uphill/downhill/flat cycling.

Lumen

40 minute walk = 4km at most, about 10-15 mins on a bike.

Almost anything will do for that distance, if that's all you're using it for. Are there any hills? If not, and you don't need the bike for anything else, and you can find a cheap decent one, get a fixie/singlespeed.

Otherwise just get something that works well but preferably looks like junk.

Idleater

Surely college is bso territory unless you have somewhere secure-ish to park.