Originally Posted by smoore

Try to stay away from department store bikes. They are inexpensive but they never work as well as a "real" bike and the maintenance issues are horrendous. If you're just using it for short trips with few hills, seriously consider a single speed bike, like a beach cruiser. I had one beach cruiser from schwinn that I rode through three sets of tires and all I ever had to do was lube the chain and adjust the coaster brake. I have no idea how my coaster brake made it through all that but it did. The front brake needed only one replacement of pads, IIRC.