Bikes

I recently picked up a cheap-ass bicycle at first it was just for fun and exercise, then it became something of a necessity as I no longer have a car. It's actually a little more complex than that but thats the part that matters. It's starting to get really nice out so right now I really don't mind at all. Actually I'm enjoying it. To the point that I kind of want to pick up a decent bike now. The one I got is this P.O.S. as you can see it's an $80 bike a wally world, I later read a review that said as cheap as it is, it's such a pile it's still not worth it. I only paid 50 from a pawn shop so I don't mind. Then again it's practically brand new and I've already had to tear it apart a bit. Was making gnarly noises. I love the old school cruiser style, so I thought maybe something like this would be cool.But then I started reading about some other bikes and realized that if I'm actually going to use this as transportation I should probably worry more about practicality and less about style. Bikes are more specialized than I realized. I don't want like a full on racing style bike, or a ten speed as we called them when I was a kid, not really sure why ten was the common number of gears on those bikes. I'm not ready to rock the spandex just yet, plus they're fucking expensive. I also kind of want to stick with a single speed. They're cheaper and a much better workout. Read something from an old school guy saying how great fixed gear bikes are (I'm not that hardcore) and one thing he mentioned was how gears are like cheating. If you hit a hill with a geared bike it makes it possible to get up the hill easier, and slower. With a single speed you just have to stand up and take it. I realized what he meant as I came up to one of our bridges, which are steeper than I ever noticed before, and there was a guy on a bike ahead of me. He clicked down a few gears and just kept pedaling along, I had to stand up and get up as quick as I could before I run out of wind at the top of the hill at which point my heart is racing and I'm nearly sweating no matter what the temperature is. If I could afford it I think this would be quite perfect, ok so its got gears, but it also has a belt instead of a chain which seems like a really good idea to me. Unfortunately the MSRP is damn near a grand so thats out. They do also make a single speed and it is a shit load cheaper, but still outta my range. They have this one at the local bike shop, and I thought there was a way lower price on it. I might go take it for a test ride this afternoon. They only deal with Giant and Trek so I'm looking at the cheapest bikes from those two companies... I'm reading a lot of reviews but I guess what I really need to do is just pedal my ass down to the bike shop in a few minutes and try a few out.