My Bianchi got stolen, help me find a replacement please. (brands, Walmart)

[chiroptera]

Last fall I loaned my ten-year-old Bianchi mountain bike to a friend who stupidly left it on his porch overnight and it got stolen.


So it is springtime in Michigan and I am looking for a solid used mountain bike on craigslist. I am not a serious biker, just a putz-alonger and casual cyclist, but I often bike with a dog and like having something rugged enough to bounce off a trail onto a dirt path, into woods or Michigan prairie grassland.


However, I'm only seeing extremes on craigslist. Really cheap WalMart $149.97 brands like Huffy and Roadmaster for $100 or less, or insanely expensive newer Gary Fishers and Bianchis and esoteric brands I cannot pronounce and surely cannot afford.


I do not mind an older bike. I just want a solid, rugged, high quality bicycle for $500 or under; not a cheap KMart or WalMart type brand.


I'm not that knowledgeable. If any of you can give me brands, keywords, features and so on to either look for or avoid, that would be great!

[Grandpa Pipes]

To find a bike the same quality as the one that was stolen is going to take time and much patient searching but WILL be worth the effort when one is found.

Start learning from the net what older steel bikes ,like the one you lost, are as well as what years they were made so that when you stumble onto one for sale you'll be read to buy it.

[PanTerra]

Go to your LBS and if they have a consignment area, you might be able to find what you are looking for. There are plenty of them at my LBS.