Need inexpensive road bike - ie, no shifting, no handbrakes

"Mike"

Quoted message said:

I've given up on rebuilding the old Murray that I talked about in an
earlier post.

I should like to buy an NEW but old fashioned bike..no gear shifting,
no handbrakes - (coaster brakes preferred). Can someone recommend one
for about $100. Just a reputable maker with a fairly decent product. I
know I can't expect more for $100. but I will not be touring on paved
roads....use it for local trips around our dirt road neighborhood.

Last year, a friend of mine wanted just such a bike. She lives out in the
country in southeast Oklahoma (okay, so maybe the entire state is out in
the country!). She gave the same reasons you listed and then went down to
Wal-Mart and bought a bike. She rode it once and gave up. Why? The thing
weighed as much as her Chrysler and bogged down in a major way in the
dirt/sand roads. She just got too discouraged and the whole point of her
getting one was to lose weight. I suppose she could go out to the garage and
lift it a few times a day, but ride it? No way!

Pat in TX

Quoted message said:

Mike said:

I've given up on rebuilding the old Murray that I talked about in an
earlier post.

I should like to buy an NEW but old fashioned bike..no gear shifting,
no handbrakes - (coaster brakes preferred). Can someone recommend one
for about $100. Just a reputable maker with a fairly decent product. I
know I can't expect more for $100. but I will not be touring on paved
roads....use it for local trips around our dirt road neighborhood.

I hate to be dismissive of your requirements, but I think you're coming
at this from the wrong direction. A price limit of $100 for new limits
you to a Walmart 'bike' that looks like a mountain bike, but isn't.
It's going to be about 50 pounds, and have unnecessary suspension that
will break easily and work poorly. Oh, they generally only come in one
size, which sucks if you're too tall or too short.

I can understand wanting a single speed, but unless there is something
you're not telling us about the rider (some medical problem) hand brakes
are easy to use and many many times better at stopping you. Adult
coaster brake bikes are not terribly common and you'd probably have to
special order the rear wheel.

Here's a link with all sorts of information about singlespeeds,
especially about converting geared bikes to singlespeed.

http://sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html

My suggestion to you:

Buy a used decent older mountain bike. You can probably find someone
local who has an old 18 speed (3x6) MTB that they'd be happy to part
with cheaply. Put fat tires with minimal knobs on it. Find a
comfortable gear to cycle in and simply don't shift. Just because the
shifters are there, doesn't mean you have to use them.

If the shifters really bother you, have a bike shop take them off and
setup the derailleurs as a singlespeed.

Oh, and as the group mantra goes, make sure it fits. A bike that's
uncomfortable is no fun, and you won't ride it.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
"...and the fully armed nuclear warheads, are, of course, merely a courtesy detail."

If you're not in a hurry, just keep looking in places that have old used
bikes: flea markets, thrift shops, junk stores, trash cans. Consider
3-speeds. They're said to be very reliable, and a little choice of gearing
never hurts.

"Mike" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've given up on rebuilding the old Murray that I talked about in an
earlier post.

I should like to buy an NEW but old fashioned bike..no gear shifting,
no handbrakes - (coaster brakes preferred). Can someone recommend one
for about $100. Just a reputable maker with a fairly decent product. I
know I can't expect more for $100. but I will not be touring on paved
roads....use it for local trips around our dirt road neighborhood.

Well, Walmart has some inexpensive crusier bikes.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3596788
or
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1121300
or
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3596787 with a three
speed internal gear shifter.

Target has some more upscale cruisers too, but they are more expensive.
http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_fe_l_1_12941841_8/601-2916529-0669726?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=14916861

In the cheap crusier bike market, that is about it. Except for the bikes
being a bit on the heavy side, which was what the old crusiers from my
childhood were anyway, except for maybe cheap tires they aren't all that
bad. If you are in a thorn infested area, maybe some thorn proof tubes or
better kevlar lined tires would be in order.
Now you could also check out the garage sales and see what pops up, you
never know what you mught find.

But I very much prefer the http://www.electrabike.com Crusiers, or even the
Townies which are much much better bikes.
A number of LBS's carry these bikes too.

Mike said:

I've given up on rebuilding the old Murray that I talked about in an
earlier post.

I should like to buy an NEW but old fashioned bike..no gear shifting,
no handbrakes - (coaster brakes preferred). Can someone recommend one
for about $100. Just a reputable maker with a fairly decent product. I
know I can't expect more for $100. but I will not be touring on paved
roads....use it for local trips around our dirt road neighborhood.

Don't know what your main objective is, no gears or handbrakes or price,
but either way, you ought to be able to find a decent ride for $100.
Some charities take in old bikes and fix them up, you can find
inexpensive bikes in garage sales, some towns have used bike shops, etc.
Around my area, some new bike shops take in trades, fix them up and
sell/rent them. Beware, most everything has gears and handbrakes these
days, though. You'll need the brakes, but as for the gears, you don't
have to use them till you are comfortable with them.

About a year ago, I bought a very used mountain bike for my wife who
rides once every couple of months for $125. She never uses the gears,
but pretty quickly figured out that she was going to have to learn to
use the brakes.