Best Bikes for College Students

Choosing a Bike

April 02, 2019

Hey guys, Dustin here, CEO of sixthreezero. I want to talk to you today about the best bikes for college students. So lots of bikes on the market, lots of different campuses, college terrains, things of that nature. What bike is right for what? So first recommendation. Now, most times I would assume college students are going short range distances. If you're living on campus, you know, typically a campus ... a ride wouldn't be more than say a couple of miles. Less than five miles. So with that said, my suggestion would be you don't necessarily need a speed bike, a road bike, something like that. You're probably going to want to ride to class comfortably because it's a short range and you don't want to get to class sweating or in pain or uncomfortable, things like that. So my recommendation for college campuses would be three categories of bikes. Comfort, cruiser or a city bike.

I would potentially recommend hybrid bikes as well. But I'll tell you why. I don't think it's as necessary as cruiser, comfort or city. And I'm really not going to recommend mountain bikes or road bikes for college campuses. The reason I'm going to eliminate road bikes and mountain bikes for college riders, because one, you're not going to be riding through the mountains to get to class. Now, if you are, definitely go with a mountain bike, but I'm generalizing about most college campuses. You're not going to be going off-road to get to class. So I would eliminate mountain bikes. Now looking at road bikes, why no road bike to get to class? To me, it just feels like too much bike.
Again, if we're talking about rides that are under five miles, you really don't need to get onto a road bike and get into this aggressive riding position. Plus if you're carrying a backpack and you have to lean forward, you're going to have all sorts of weight compressing down on your back while you're riding. It's not going to be comfortable. It's not going to be fun and you really don't want to get to class with your armpit stains showing, and also a big sweat mark on your back where that backpack was pressing against your shirt. We've all been there so we know what that's like. So with that said, and then getting into hybrid bikes, I left them off the list initially. Again, there are hybrid bikes out there. I mean we have the EVRYjourney which we classify as a hybrid bike, which is a little bit different. It's touring hybrid. I'm talking more about straight-bar, hybrid triangle frame bikes that are geared towards exercise with smaller saddles. I don't think that's necessary for college campuses.
Again, I think it's just too much bike for the type of riding. Also, it puts the rider in a little bit more of a lean forward position. So I think it's too much bike for what's necessary. Now if you have a ride that's over five miles, I'd say look at some of the more triangle frame hybrid bikes that are aggressive riding positions, but under five miles, I'd say cruiser, comfort or ... Sorry, cruiser, comfort or city. The reason I say those, those bikes are going to keep you in an upright riding position. So again, if you're wearing your backpack, it's going to be easier on your back to ride. Also, those three types of bikes are going to be more conducive to being accessorized, so it's going to be easier to attach a basket or a back rack. So if you want to put your books or your bag in the basket in the front or the rear, really, city bikes, cruiser bikes, comfort bikes are more conducive to that customization, things of that nature.
Not to say on hybrid bikes, again, you can't do that. But again, it's a lot of bike for the type of riding you'll be doing on campus. So other thing is you don't want to get to camp ... You don't want to get to class sweating if you don't have to. So you want to be in a relaxed position, you want it to be leisurely so you can enjoy the ride and not be having your body over-work just to get you to where you're going. So with that said, recommending those bikes, what type of speed option is right? Well, it does depend on your campus and your riding. I know lots of college campuses in California, single speed cruisers are like the number one go-to bike, but if you're on a campus with some hills, I would really recommend seven speeds or above.
You can even get cruiser, comfort, city bikes with 21 speeds. If you're tackling a lot of hills, it might be helpful to have 21 speeds, but I would say ideally you're probably looking at seven speeds. It's enough gears to get you going, get up hills, do things like that. Also, they're relatively inexpensive, which transitions me into my other suggestion around what's the best bike for a college campus. I would say something relatively inexpensive, and when I say an inexpensive, I would say under $500. The reason I say that because I do know the theft of bicycles on college campuses are very, very common. It's an unfortunate thing in California in particular, it's a common reason why people come back to us to buy new bikes is that their bike was stolen. So definitely get a good lock and make sure you lock it up all the time.
But these bikes are also going to get beat up. Now if you think you have a place to keep it inside, maybe you can spend more money, but if that bike's going to be sitting outside for days on end, you know you don't want to beat up a $500 plus bike. So something $500 and below I think will suit you just fine and it'll get you to where you need to go. The other thing I'll say is if you are going to leave your bike outside just to make sure you cover it, if it's raining, snowing, you don't want it to rust, things of that nature, you want to protect it. So if you're looking at sixthreezero, what bikes do I recommend for our lineup from college campuses? Again, it's a wide variety, but I would say the EVRYjourney, the RideInTheParks, and the AroundtheBlock bikes are great options and all three of those come in different speeds. One speed, three speed, 7 speed and 21 speed across all of those.
So that really depends on the terrain of your campus. If it's a real flat campus, look at the ones and threes. If there are some hills or you're riding a little bit farther, look at the sevens and the 21s. But again, I believe those are enough bike and if you're looking just in the general marketplace, you can look at bikes like ours, like those three. The RideinthePark, the EVRYjourney, and the AroundTheBlock, things like that from other companies. Electra has a good lineup. Jamis has some good options as well. Trek has some, but their starting price points are going to tend to be a little bit more above $500 so I would say look at Electra, look at Jamis to have a lot of good recreational bikes and Raleigh is also a good option. And don't forget, buy a really, really good lock for your campus because that's very important.
If you have any additional questions, please reach out, the team@sixthreezero.com or call us (310) 982-2874 ... sorry, 2877 and check out our bikes. We actually have a category in the lifestyle category that says bikes for college campuses and please enter your height and weight in our body fit tool. It's going to tell you which bikes will fit your body. Thumbs up, thumbs down. If you do get a thumbs down, please reach out to us because we can customize a bike to fit you. We want to make sure everyone can find a bike that's right for their body, and we offer the best guarantee in the bike industry. It's a 365-day return policy. So if you buy that bike and you hate it or it doesn't fit or something's wrong, you have 365 days to send it back to us. No questions asked, no return fees, nothing. We just want to make sure that you find a bike that you love.