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I've recently bought a Viva Pista 3 single speed bicycle, after getting my previous bike stolen. It's a really nice ride and very good for road rides. It's my pride and joy.

However, it's not something I want to lock up outside a shop; it's probably going to get stolen if I leave it out of my sight. I have a pretty decent lock (Kryptonite D-lock with cable flex) and the bicycle is properly insured. However, I still wouldn't like to lose it.

Really, what I want is a very cheap, mechanically simple bike under £100/$150. Ideally it'd be single speed, have MTB tires and have a pretty upright posture. Basically, a bike that if it disappeared would be cheap to replace and I have no emotional attachment to.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

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  • I'm parking mine (whose cost was similar to your Viva's) outside my office every week-day, on the street. It's locked with a D-lock (which weighs a bit), and the wheels are locked on too, separately. I hope it will be alright. I expect somebody could damage the bike, but I think/hope it would be difficult to steal it without the key.
    – ChrisW
    Apr 9, 2011 at 17:24
  • @Simon - Can you narrow this down more? There are many bikes that fit these requirements, and there's really no single, correct answer. Apr 9, 2011 at 20:07
  • @Simon - I've closed this question as too vague. Please feel free to narrow this down a little so it can be clearly answered, and we'll consider re-opening. Apr 11, 2011 at 0:01
  • @Neil: the question had two upvoted answers and zero close votes...
    – darkcanuck
    Apr 11, 2011 at 15:05
  • @darkcanuck - Despite that, this is a vague forum-style question, and hasn't been clarified; in fact, the user who posted it hasn't been back here in two days. Apr 11, 2011 at 21:16

2 Answers 2

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Just buy something old and used - don't buy a 100quid BSO from Asda

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I used to have an beater bike for the same purpose. It was old (80's era), pretty beat up and a road bike -- all qualities that it made it less desirable. Still fun to ride though. But lock it up at any bike rack and it was guaranteed to be the last bike to be stolen.

Go for a used bike and try to pick something unpopular (i.e. not a fixie). There are lots of non-profits out there which salvage old bikes, fix them up and sell them at a low cost. You can keep the bike well maintained, just don't bother keeping it clean.

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    +1 never thought that fixies are popular but perhaps they are, not sure why. Do you know any statistics about this issue or is it just an empirical finding/feeling/test? It would be cool to find out the most unpopular bike to find it cheaply ;) I have noticed that certain adult-sized bikes attract a lot of demand and hence price is higher while some "junior" bikes (looking similar) gets much less D, price much lower. Friends from China told me that they used there a lot of fixies because they were cheap, bike for about 10-30eur, while geared bikes were more uncommon.
    – user652
    Apr 12, 2011 at 13:53

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