Not sure which bike to buy for my needs

circulating

Hi guys, I've never really commuted on bike, or ridden bikes since I was a kid, but I really want to get into riding more often.

I"ll be using it to sometimes ride to the gym (5 miles one way) to the store (3 miles one way).

I'm going back and forth between fixed gear/road/hybrid style, and hardtail front suspension only mtb.

I know the mtb would be more heavy usually, and slower due to thicker tires. But you'd be able to through fields and other stuff for shortcuts. For a road/hybrid, you'd obviously be faster, but less options. I was wondering if you guys could help me choose!

Here are two local bikes i believe are good value I'm looking at. They are both asking only $100

http://imgur.com/a/K2s08

dj58

Either would do the job based on the distances quoted, if you are not going to be doing any longer distance road rides and you want to take shortcuts across country, the GT MTB may be the better option.

If you are not planning any radical off road MTB rides, you could lighten the bike by swapping the suspension fork for a ridged fork and change the tyres to a faster rolling slightly narrower type and still be able to ride on/off road. Depends on the type of off road terrain you would be riding the bike on and your bike handling skills.

If however you plan to do longer or predominantly road rides, then the Specialized hybrid bike may be better suited, although you could ride it on non technical farm type tracks with suitable tyres. The important thing is that you buy a bike that is the correct size and fits you, so don't rush into things.