What do people think would be a good choice of bike to use for the short last leg of a commute? 1 mile each way, city centre, railway station to workplace, it will live locked up at railway station and will never be used for anything else.

So the moon I’d like on my stick is: On the one hand cheap and unappealing to thieves; on the other nice & simple, not a miserable experience to ride, and reliable with little maintenance.

Elephant Bike:

Elephant Bike – Royal Mail Postal Bike

I have something similar (a Kona Bike – which is a stupid name for a bike). Lives outside and gets used for utlity cycling to school, shops etc. About 10 years old now – purchased new for £170 and I added a dynamo.

The cheapest, shittest lump of scrap that fits (ish) and works (ish). It’s a mile, not the tour divide.

For 1 mile I’d look for a dirt cheap singlespeed from GumTree / Facebook Marketplace.

A scooter you don’t leave at the station?

Yep, the cheapest lump of scrap that works and fits.
Anything that’s better will be stolen pretty sharpish I’d imagine, regardless of which train station it’s outside of.

1 mile? Walk?

For that distance it doesn’t really matter what you buy. Just make sure it looks like dog sh*t so no-one wants to steal it. Stick an OnGuard D lock on it so it’s not expensive to buy but enough of a deterrent that no one can be bothered to try and steal it.

My station bike is one of these.

Comfy, works in all weathers. Decent d-lock through front wheel/frame/solid object and no one’s going to take a second look!

A quick browse through Facebook classifieds revealed a few old trek / giant bikes in 26” wheels for below £150.

Also a few snotters for about £50 and a carrera road bike for £150.

If it weren’t for Covid you’d probably find a Carrera Subway with v brakes for about £100 which would be perfect.

I rode this across London from Paddington & Waterloo for a couple of years – this is when it was ‘new’. Ended up covered in reflective tape with some tinsel wrapped around the downtube. It never came close to being stolen. If I was doing it again I think I’d be tempted to go for 26″ with bigger slick tyres though. Full guards is essential, fixed is great for the lack of maintenance.

That said, for a mile could you not just walk (or scoot)? By the time you’ve messed around with locking it up not sure a bike would be much faster.

1 mile? Walk?

This

Buy one of those dockless bikes that were littering the towns last year.
There must be a few around.
Solid tires, basic gears and built in lights on some.

I think I’d walk or get one of those adult scooters from somewhere like Decathlon that you could take on the train with you.

Was going to say for a mile just walk. But that being said it will take you 5 minutes on the bike and 15-20 minutes walking so I can see how the time saving adds up over time.

Buy one of those dockless bikes that were littering the towns last year.
There must be a few around.
Solid tires, basic gears and built in lights on some.

The problem with that is that people might think it’s actually a dockless bike and take it. Even locked, someone might think it’s just a punter being selfish and decide to break it loose or Mobike (or equivalent) might try to reclaim it.

However, if you can find one that’s had all the locking and tracking stuff disabled / removed / broken and spraypaint it some vile shade of brown, it’d be worth a shot!

A guy in the same office block I used to work in had much same dilemma – IIRC he commuted from Stirling to Edinburgh by train. He had two burner bikes – one at either end – and sourced something very low level for each. Decent locks. I guess if it got stolen or trashed, he’d just get another.

Depends on faff and cost of locks, kit when its manky weather. Time taken to lock and delock. TBH I’d be in the just walk category for < 1 mile.

Second the Elephant Bike suggestion, I love mine. Probably buy two though, because you’ll want one at home.

For a ride that short, the time it takes to sort out waterproofs, etc will be a decent proportion of the time. Something with good full mudguards, like an Elephant Bike, means you’ll barely ever need waterproof trousers and your normal clothes will be fine.

the mankiest rustiest but underneath fully working rat bike is required. either that or just walk, which i have to say in winter would probably be my default.

sadly its probably going to end up with a stamped on wheel or flat tyres, so you’ll end up walking till you fixed it anyway

Pre-covid I had a 2 mile ish commute to the train station. I bought a steel rigid 20yr old MTB off eBay with a chipped frame for £25, stuck a crud catcher on front and back and tried to make it look as ugly as possible. Im sure no-one noticed <span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>that actually the gear and brake cables were new and the drivetrain worked fine. I never washed it. If it did get stolen, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. </span>

When you’re catching a train at 7 in the morning, I’d rather cycle for 8mins than walk for 20.

Cheap bikes are in short supply at the mo though.

I also planned to have a second burner bike (as someone else called it) at the other end, but took the bus instead.

I’ve got a tatty old muddy fox hybrid from about 1993 for just such journeys.
Reclaimed from mum and dad’s excess bikes that they should have sold or scrapped a decade (or 3) ago.

It’s a bit sit up and beg but it will clatter along at a fair pace, I occasionally use it for a longer ride of 10-15 miles and it’s very civilised in a popping to the shops / cake stop sort of way.