General Cycling Discussion - Wal-Mart Schwinns

I saw Schwinns at Wally World the other day. How the mighty have fallen!

Gone are the days of "Schwinn Approved" parts. Gone are the days when a Schwinn bike could only be bought in a Schwinn shop. Gone are the days when you could be assured that a Schwinn was built by a trained mechanic and not a minimum wage earning discount store stock boy. Gone are the days when the name Schwinn stood for a certain level of quality and value.

One hundred thirty eight U.S. dollars will now buy you a heavy-framed "comfort" bike with cheap Shimano and SRAM components and Schwinn decals. The Schwinn name now means no more than Huffy, Murray, Roadmaster or (worst of all) Mongoose.

It is sad. :(

How sad. I still remember the day I picked out my Schwinn Sting Ray - gold metalflake, sparkle seat and 2-speed Bendix rear hub. The perfect paper-boy bike. Purchased at a REAL Schwinn dealer for $89.00. I loved to go check out the latest bikes at the Schwinn shop as a kid. All that sparkle and chrome. A different time and place from now that's for sure.

Mass merchandising is killing the bike shops! Tell all your friends not to buy that stuff. Just because it says Schwinn it is still no better than your typical Big Box Store Huffy. Branding as they say in the advertising business is everything. They are selling to the 30 and 40-Somethings that still remember the Real Schwinns of the past. I can imagine the thought process of the guy.

"Hey kids look at this cool bike. Just like I used to ride as a kid. Let's get it. I know Schwinn quality and it is better than a Huffy and it is only $30 bucks more."

Another sucker pulled in by branding. Don't you just hate it?:(

I think that is really sad. :(
The first bike I owned as an adult was a Schwinn LeTour. Bought it in 1985 and got LOTS of great miles out of it before I gave it to my son. He has since sold it.

Another sad thing is LeMond bike accesories I've seen in Target. Most of them look really cheap. It is hard to believe anything with his name on it is sold in a lowly discount store and not a bike shop. :(

Originally posted by RegularGuy
One hundred thirty eight U.S. dollars will now buy you a heavy-framed "comfort" bike with cheap Shimano and SRAM components and Schwinn decals. The Schwinn name now means no more than Huffy, Murray, Roadmaster or (worst of all) Mongoose.

It is sad. :(
What's just as sad is that when I see people scooting around on a bike, too often it's one of these.

Forget that they're heavy. Forget that they rust quickly. Forget that they may throw you on your hinderparts for any number of assembly errors (like, "brakes.")

The main problem is they way they are destroying names that once meant something. This is beyond forgiveness.

I have to stop now. I'm talking myself into a depressive state.

This development is worst of all for the shops who actually have the word "Schwinn" in their store's name, like the first shop I worked at: Al's Schwinn Cyclery (no longer in existence as such, it was bought by Wheelsport).

I was working at a Schwinn store when the deal went down and Pacific bought Schwinn. I'd already been through the whole deal before when Mongoose began selling to Costco and then changed the bike-shop bikes to Mongoose Pro and selling standard Mongoose in the mass-merchant stores. The double-speak flew very thick from the lips of the new Mongoose rep :rolleyes:

Anyway, it's a sad thing for many of us. :(

WalMart is an evil, evil company in so many ways. Before they started to metastasize nationally there was a little bike dealers' mag called "bicycle journal" or something like that, editor/publisher's name was Quinn. Every other issue had a long diatribe against Wal Mart before many of us West Coast folks had ever even heard of them--and after the way they lied, sued, and bullied their way into my town, it could be said that Mr. Quinn was too easy on them! I will jack off into my dead mother's ashes before I spend one red cent at Wal Mart.

Sad...sad...sad... The first bike I remember having was a bright yellow Schwinn Sting Ray, banana seat, fat rear tire, 20 inch wheels...beats any of the BMX stuff kids ride today (IMHO :D )...now they have fallen to this...Schwinn used to be the standard...now they apparently have no standards left... :cry:

I bought a brand new beautiful Schwinn Mesa GSX model last fall and I love it. I was saddened to hear that I will have to switch to another manufacturer when I get a new one. I tested so many and it was the only one that made me happy! Now what????

In our small town, Walmart is the only grocery store and department store unless you want to drive 50 miles or more to the city. I try to buy as little as possible from them, but it is hard. When Walmart came into town all the little stores had to close their doors leaving consumers no options. Pretty soon we will have a Lowes home store and all the small hardware stores will not be able to compete and they will have to close too. It is an outrage and there is not much we can do about it.
:mad: :mad: :irritated :irritated :irritated :irritated

If you want to see how it all got there, read a great book called "No Hands, the Rise and Fall of Schwinn Bicycle Company." Two authors, one's name is "Crowne," I think, and they both write for a Chicago business newspaper. Soap opera, history, and cycling in one--fantastic read.

Originally posted by LittleBigMan

The main problem is they way they are destroying names that once meant something. This is beyond forgiveness.


I suppose the truth is that some good names have been sold or gone dormant and been resuracted in another form.

My LBS says they do a good business setting up and repairing Xmart bikes. Eventually, many buy a real bike rahter than pour money into repairs on the Xmart machines.

Maybe there is some good in the fact that the Xmarts are getting people on to their first bike, weeding out those who really don't care to ride and graduating the serious ones to "college" at the LBS.

Hasn't the name Raleigh done a bit of a turn around in the past few years?


Carl

Seriously, I don't mind people selling lower-quality bikes, especially when they are priced that way. What I do mind is:
1) Using a brandname that used to mean quality to sell a low-quality bike for a higher price (how does $400 sound?);
2) Selling any bike that is not properly adjusted which can pose a hazard to the cyclist (especially kids.)

Other than that, I've ridden a Huffy on my route. It's do-able.

Wal-Mart is not the only one who needs to take a look at the danger they pose to unwitting customers. How about K-Mart and Toys-R-Us?

You could never sell a new car that had poor brakes (well, you could, but you might get sued.) Heck, even if you consider bikes as toys, the way they pull stuff off the market for causing some children to choke on small parts leads me to wonder how anyone can sell a bike (vehicle) that is not properly assembled or out of adjustment.

ah, the evils of multinational big box stores :(

I've seen many documentaries where these stores force their way into small towns driving smaller "neighbourhood" companies to shut down. Sometimes they find the business unprofitable and close the store down - leaving towns with NOTHING and eventually killing them.

Might be the reason why I never (with the exception of my first one when I was 5) buy bikes from xmart (*Canadian tire anyone? :rolleyes: )

In our town they only have the schwinn accessories now, but they're all labeled with the logo Schwinn Quality. I guess a label that said 'low quaility' wouldn't sell. The average XMart customer is their to save money. So it just makes sense to park a $99 bike in your garage. The only people who are going to ride these things are kids who leave them in the driveway or on the lawn. It only hurts because we care.

Originally posted by LittleBigMan
Wal-Mart is not the only one who needs to take a look at the danger they pose to unwitting customers. How about K-Mart and Toys-R-Us? .

I used to work at a TRU, and we actually had a very good set of mechanics assembling the bikes. (Of course, they were the first ones to explain to me that all the bikes we sold were junk.) Don't know whether that's unusual or not.

As for Kmart, it seems to be dying out, slowly being strangled by Walmart.

About a year ago, when Schwinn 'bit the big one', I made a comment about them appearing next in Wal-Mart, with all the other cr@p bikes. somebody took offence to my comments. How ironic.

WHen i saw it sunday after a ride of mine, i almost fell to the ground! so lady was there with her husband. they wanted "nice" bikes and the lady said told her husband that he could only get it from wal-mart, not the lbs! :(

Jared

As the proud owner of a top-of-the-line, made-in-Greenville, destined-to-be-a-classic 1988 Schwinn mountain bike, I am offended and somewhat saddened by this final chapter in the demise of a once-great company.

I will jack off into my dead mother's ashes before I spend one red cent at Wal Mart.

:lol: :roflmao: :lol:

Thanks for the laugh, I nearly choked on my lunch.

CHEERS.

Mark

The selling off of the value of American way of life didn't start at Wal-Mart -- and unfortunately there isn't any ending of this "descent into global-trade hell".

The Captains of American business in conjunction with a corrupted government have been selling out the values and dreams of Americans for years.

Why, innovate and compete for manufacturing superiority when you can farm-out the process to dicatorial regimes that enslave their populations for personal economic enrichment.

These businessmen who are so richly rewarded for "enhancing shareholder value" are the same people who couldn't trouble themselves to look into the results of their actions on the "little people" who used to make their products.

Walmart's the sympton and result of these peoples actions -- not the cause............

By the way, you should see what the GT execs did for themselves
befrore running GT into the ground ........

I am reading a lot of "I'm sad to see them go, sad, sad, sad"

Well, I am sad too. I am sad that Schwinn went from making over 1,000,000 bikes per year in the 1970's to shutting down their USA factories and shipping all the work to Taiwan and China. I am sad for every American manufacturing job that is lost every day.

I know that there are forum members from other countries besides the USA, and I say to everyone' "protect your country's manufacturing jobs. Buy locally made products".

Let me tell you people, I am on the front line and can assure you that manufacturing jobs are making a mass-exodus like no other time in USA history. USA based manufacturing has been slowely trickling overseas, but it is a river now.

Manufacturing is the base of a nation's true wealth. Once the manufacturing jobs are gone, the economy will be based solely on consumerism - and that is frightening.

Don't worry, though, the economists tell us that the USA economy can be service based. Get yer burger flippers ready for your new career, folks. Sell bugers to the unemployed.

Originally posted by Richard Cranium

These businessmen who are so richly rewarded for "enhancing shareholder value" are the same people who couldn't trouble themselves to look into the results of their actions on the "little people" who used to make their products.


It isn't always that easy, Richard. Often, the choice is to send the work overseas or go out of business. More often, it starts out slow like a bad addiction. A company starts buying parts overseas which then get assembled at the home factory. Then, it is sub-assemblies. Next thing you know, the decision is made to have the whole thing made overseas.

That is what happened to Schwinn. They started buying Shimano parts - wow, what a deal! Good AND cheap. Then, in the mid-late 1970's, they had some bikes like the Le Tour made completely in Japan. It was an excellent bike at an excellent cost.

Japanese made costs got too high, but Schwinn had the "build it overseas" fever and went to Taiwan. Of course, by that time, Schwinn was losing a lot of business to cheap imports and felt desperate to find a way to stop the hemorrage.

Copy that example and paste it to your choice of other USA manufacturers. The story is the same. Only the faces of the unemployed change.

Mike, I worked at a Schwinn shop at the time when they closed their last US plant, which I believe was the one in Greenville, MI. The workmanship of the bikes from Schwinn's US plants was haphazard, and my understanding was that this was costing Schwinn quite a bit to support, judging by what the shop owner had to say about the whole affair.

The Schwinn-funded Giant factory made better quality product, and made a success of themselves, eventually buying out Schwinn's stake in them. I have to give them credit for that.

Originally posted by D*Alex
somebody took offence to my comments.


Suprise! Suprise!!


:beer:

you guys crack me up. let's see if i get this straight now. are you saying that Wal*Mart went to these manufacturers and said "you need to make cheaper, low quality stuff so we can sell it to unsuspecting people" or that it is the big box guys fault that you can hear a mom say to her son 'what color do you want?'

cause and effect. cause and effect.

obviously there is a market for this stuff.....remember-the Yugo was sold in the usa for a while.

A common scenario:
Person buys shoddy bike from big-box discounter because "the price is right."
Person finds riding the shoddy bike to be uncomfortable and/or unpleasant.
Person ends up not cycling much at all, thinking "cycling is not for them."

Eight years ago, before I find my adult passion for cyling, a family member gave me a shoddy bicycle that they had won from a big-box retailer. The seat was so uncomfortable that it was worse than a hemmroids. The frame wasn't sized for me, so my knees ached when I rode it. The bike was assembled badly and I knew nothing then about bicycle maintenance, so things like the chain slipping off at inopportune moments made the thing seem like more trouble than it was worth. When the bike was stolen, I didn't find it worth replacing.

I agree with RiphRaph,
this isn't walmarts fault, they are NOT the
bad guys here. The fact that they are marketing
junk schwinns, and probably have P**s poor mechanics
is a different issue.
IMHO walmart is ok, they provide inexpensive
(albeit sometimes cheap) product usually to a
market where there is most often no other
large retailer. Try living out in the "boonies"
(no offense to rural members) and have to
drive 50 miles plus to find something that any
of us could get at the local walmart.
better yet, try living in a 3rd world country
where you have a hard time finding basic
necessities. C'mon people grow up,
it ain't the retailers fault.
ok, rant over.

Marty

All bikes are GOOD. Anyway we can get people on bikes is a positive.Sure a Mercedes is better than a Ford Fiesta but both will get the job done on your level.I started my 'return to cycling' on a Huffy.Its was heavy so it was a better workout.It was cheaper quality sure (I still remember the tone in the voice of the bike dept clerk when he said "I never saw anyone bend the chainrings before.") but it lead me to be the cycle nut I am today.Something to be proud of right?:D

My very first bike was a Huffy, it was yellow and had a huge seat shaped like a big yellow loaf of bread. It was great! Years later, my dad bought me a Huffy mountain bike so that I could ride with him. It was great also, because I enjoyed riding it and spending the time with my dad.

Fast Forward, I wrecked the hell out of the Huffy mountain so many times (doing crazy stuff) that the last wreck finally caused the whole frame to bend. (A hell of a feat for such strong, heavy, metal)

My then boyfriend decided to buy me a new Huffy from K-Mart. I was estatic, I was going to marry this one, then I rode it for a week and the chains would grind, it wouldn't shift properly, ect. So I took it back and exchanged each bike about 2 times. I went through three separate bikes, until finally I asked for all the money back. In the same plaza as the K-Mart, was a Schwinn store, I had never been in a real bike shop before. I was stunned by the prices.

But I was a young redhed with a lot of cleavage and got the owner to come down quite a bit on the price of a beautiful Schwinn bike. It was cro-moly and a cool shade of green that complemented my hair color. (red & green-can't go wrong).
I had to put quite a bit of my own money combined with what I got back from K-Mart, but it was the beginning of a new era for me.

The rest is history, I dumped the guy, (who said I didn't appreciate the gift of the Huffy, he was very offended), I was forever in love with Schwinn bikes. I just bought a brand new one last year. So now a new dilemma, I will have to find a new love when I purchase my next bike....:(

since Schwinn was built in Chicago there remains a Schwinn museum in the downtown area. There is one in the Museum of Science & Industry and i believe there is one on Navy Pier as part of a bike shop....

Since Schwinn was made in Chicago, every garage had one.

I think that "branding" as it is called, is total crap. Schwinn, Mongoose and apparently LeMonde at Target have all sold out! It's worse than a cyclist going to a team that will give him the most money as opposed to the one he/she wants to ride for. I own a Trek which I may be selling soon because I am growing out of it. But I am afraid that because Lance keeps winning the Tour that Walmart might make a new line of crappy treks with USPS stick on decals, I mean let's be realistic, he's more than a hero, he's a legend. I just don't want to see any more "sellouts" in the biking industry, especially with such big names.:mad:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RiPHRaPH
[B]you guys crack me up. let's see if i get this straight now. are you saying that Wal*Mart went to these manufacturers and said "you need to make cheaper, low quality stuff so we can sell it to unsuspecting people" or that it is the big box guys fault that you can hear a mom say to her son 'what color do you want?'

cause and effect. cause and effect.


Actually it comes down to $$$ for most people...how many of us want to pay several dollars more for products? Not many, which leads for manufacturers to have to find other ways to cut costs. One way is to ship manufacturing to cheap labor countries, which in turn causes job loss. It should be obvious that most people buy the least expensive product in several cases without caring who made it or where, or what the final results of these purchases may be.

Wal*Mart, at least for several years, attempted to carry as many US made products and goods as they could...don't know if they still do... But can you really complain about economies of scale? Would you rather pay double for a product from a Mom & Pop business? I bet not. I am sorry these folks are losing family businesses, and I really don't like Wal*Mart, but I can't afford to spend more $$$ than I have to for most products... Some times reality sucks...:(

Originally posted by LegalIce
Would you rather pay double for a product from a Mom & Pop business? I bet not. I am sorry these folks are losing family businesses, and I really don't like Wal*Mart, but I can't afford to spend more $$$ than I have to for most products... Some times reality sucks...:( [/B]

I dunno, I find that I try to support local businesses as much as I can. It often costs a bit more, but hey, it's helping people and I like that.

LegalIce you do have a point about everyone wants to spend less (I enjoy bargains myself and do comparison shopping), but if everyone keeps losing their job because production is shipped overseas, then it seems that that many more people will be collecting unemployment, which we will have to pay for in taxes. There goes your savings for stuff made overseas, and not to mention added stress in the lives of those who are out of work who don't like to just sit around collecting a check that they didn't work for. It's all a vicious circle. Who wants to invest in my research for growing money trees? :p

I kept wondering at what point would unemployment cause this cycle to reverse itself, but I don't see any real signs of it. Of course, wages aren't really going up much either...

For the record, I try to do my part to support those of this country I can, but I can't always afford to do it. Which is one reason I got the Specialized over the Trek or Cannondale...

My only point in my last post is that most people care more about how much they save then whether someone a state away will have a job...sad but true...

Originally posted by LegalIce
[QUOTE]Originally posted by RiPHRaPH
[B]Would you rather pay double for a product from a Mom & Pop business? I bet not.

In small communities, Wal-Mart may sell below cost until the local businesses fold. And then Wal-Marts prices will rise significantly (even as they continue to hype how much money you are saving.) So you end up shelling out too much money for inferior products at Wal-Mart. And since Wal-Mart does not pay its employees a living wage, having Wal-Mart be the largest business in your town is depressing. It means that next time you are unemployed, you may have no future other than wearing a blue smock. (The book Nickel and Dimed described how Wal-Mart employees are paid so badly that full-time Wal-Mart employees in the Twin Cities were eligible for public assistance.)

When Wal-Mart takes over a small town, one might as well kiss the middle-class good-bye.....

Mmm, i've got a good friend who will say exactly the same thing. They don't pay him squat, and he does more than his fair share of work there. He sometimes puts in 70+ hour weeks and still isn't really making enough to live on. On top of that, they treat the staff there horribly. For a while, he was putting in 14 hour days and later in the period being told to go home at 8 o clock because he had put too much time in for the pay period.

But I was a young redhed with a lot of cleavage

Can we see a photo.......of the bike of course.:D
:roflmao:

Originally posted by transient


I dunno, I find that I try to support local businesses as much as I can. It often costs a bit more, but hey, it's helping people and I like that.

Amen! You'll find me in that corner.

America is obsessed with low price at all costs!

It doesn't help that the LBS I work for has to pay more for a Dura Ace crank from our supplier than I can get it mail order from Excel!

Do not beat your LBS down on prices! More shops failed last year than in any one previous year. Pro bike shops are increasingly barraged by parts junkies that want it yesterday at the cheapest possible price no matter what that means.

So what does this have to do with Wal Mart?

Lots.

Any time you buy at a "big box" store like Wal Mart, when a smaller, perhaps locally owned alternative is present, you have cast a vote against the ability to choose. You see, if the little guy goes away, you'll be forced to do it Sam's way. This goes for bicycle mail order as well. I can understand mail order if you live in the boonies without a nearby alternative. But to not support a local shop that's trying to do its' best for its' customers is short sighted at best.

At least there's a little silver lining to this cloud...

In a recent poll, American consumers indicated a frustration with the giant retailers due to poor service and lack of product knowledge! A large percentage said they would be willing to pay more for superior service and expertise.

We'll see.........

i have read that Walgreens has put more mom & pop stores out than WalMart has in the last 10 years. (walgreens is found in cities with 3-4 mom and pops around a city block to be effected) but stereotyping is hard to live down.

i know that many states (minnesota and wisconsin for two) have laws that prohibit stores from selling items below cost. this is the walmart law.

i'd like to know of specific products that have been sold below cost then jacked way up. i want to know not to defend walmart - but i have a distrust and dislike for anyone who rails against a practice or becomes an activist for something without specifics. i don't want to hear from parrotts who repeat things they hear other people say. i want to know of products or personal rants.

this is media bashing now. when i know about a subject and see it on the air and they mis-represent it it makes me wonder how many other things i am fed i am being misled on.

all this goes back to the selling out (by the bicycle companies) that brand or market to these big box stores. there are any number of stores that try to do the same damn thing. i'd like to talk to the rep's for the bicycle products. Brunswick owns huffy now i think. or used to.

i have just talked my brother into buying from an LBS for his bike - he only wanted to spend $300-$400 - and is waiting for the end of the season clearances. how do you coach someone to spend $50 more for a hobby he may not take to?!

COMFORT IS EVERYTHING. it doesn't matter what type of rider you are - you deserve comfort.

Everybody loves to talk about how bad Walmart is and how they put all these mom and pop companies out of business. Yet most people do little to really support the local mom and pop stores, I can't think of a single thing used in normal life that can't be bought at a mom and pop, but how many people only shop at mom and pop stores? Did you buy your washer and dryer or kitchen appliances at a small appliance store? How about your last TV, did you go to a real electronics store....or did you go to a big retailer like Best Buy or Circuit City, etc. Do you shop at a chain grocery store, or do you go to a local store?

The price difference between these types of stores is so great that most people won't support the local business, and that has nothing to do with being "bargain hunters", it has to do with the 20-30-40 percent more money you spend at these local owned business's. And for everyday items, why spend that extra money? Do you think the people who work in the local stores shop only at locally owned business's? Or do they go to Walmart and the big grocery store, etc?

On the subject of bikes specifically though, it's a little different though. The bikes sold at Walmart and such aren't the same as what you buy in your LBS, the Walmart bikes are there for those who want to own a bike, but never actually ride it (those people who ride say 20 miles a month total..if that), or for a kid who is going to outgrow a bike in a year and in that year beat it to death. But this isn't the same type of situation as buying something at Walmart or buying the exact same thing at a local store.

Andrew

Originally posted by Dutchy


Can we see a photo.......of the bike of course.:D
:roflmao:

I'll work on that for you!:D

As to the comment about price vs. cost...the company I work for, which shall remain nameless, sells a lot ofour product to Wal*Mart, which in turn sells it as a loss leader to get people into the store... I must say I am skeptical about this price law claim in Minnesota and Wisconsin...can you give me more specifics like statute or source? I am not saying you are wrong, just want more specifics...

One more thing, Wal*Mart isn't just killing Ma & Pa, K-Mart is dead as a result of them as well. Home Depot, Lowes, CVS, Walgreens, Best Buy...the list of "super centers" is endless...for better or worse...

Finally, back to bikes, I will do all I can to support my local bike shop, including touting them up under the Rants & Raves sections of the forum. However, I must admit for my 4 year old I am not going to spend $150.00 for a 16" Trek that he will out grow in a year with little return on my dough...if he gets into it when he is older, then I will spend the dough...

Where I shop often depends on why i'm shopping. If i'm going to the store specifically to buy one thing, i'm more inclined to go to a Mom & Pop store. If i'm just going to the store cuz I'm bored or something, then I usually go to a bigger store because there's a lot more to just walk around and look at. Not neccessarily Wal-Mart so much, but places like Home Depot which have 10 times as much to look at than a small hardware store.

I live less than two miles from a Wal-Mart Supercenter. I like having a 24 hour convenience store that has almost anything. I have a much less negative viewpoint towards Wally World than many of you.

Wal-Mart got it's start by placing stores in towns that were just too small for K-Mart. I have lived in rural towns in Mississippi and Pennsylvania with very limited grocery and general store choices. For the consumer, life was much better after Wal-Mart showed up. The local grocery stores no longer had a captive market and Kroger was forced also to upgrade from a "B" store. You could actually buy a Kiwi. I currently live in suburban Atlanta and the interesting thing is that when I compare prices in the Atlanta stores to those in the "rural" Supercenters, I just don't see the difference.

I personally think that Wally World has done much more good than harm. I can't speak for it's treatment of it's associates, although my brother could provide some better information. As to the alleged damage to the middle class, I just don't see it that way. And what are the real stores that WM has really stolen market share from? Sears, K-Mart, and Montgomery Wards, in my opinion, and more power to the Waltons for it.

As to Wal-Mart Bicycles, once again, I am less critical than many of you. I have purchased two LBS bicycles in my life. My Lotus in 1980, and my wife's Schwinn Sport Tourer in 1983. My wife and I purchased two Wally World hybrids for each other this year and they are the reason that I am back into bicycling. Both are actually Huffy's by name, have aluminum rims, handlebars, stems, and cranks. They have 18 speed gearing with index shifters that work, braze on bosses (which neither the Lotus nor the 83 Schwinn have), and cantilever brakes that are not nearly as scary as the Lotus and the Shwinn on these suburban Georgia hills.

They were both under $100 each. Now I wouldn't take either one on a century. And very quickly, they will be probably be relegated to camping duty, but they serve their purpose pretty well.

Mine is literally equiped as a grocery getter, with a Schwinn rack and some old panniers, for that 2 mile ride to the supercenter.

Bicycle manufactures might want to look at the Harley Davidson example to gain market share. Why can't I go to the CANNONDALE(or any bike brand) store and get Cannondale t-shirts, Cannondale keychains and everything else Cannondale it takes to make a profit.

My bike is a diamondback, my seat is another brand, my lock is a different brand, my wheels are a different brand, etc.. Vertical marketing and building brand is the only way to compete to discount supercenters.

couple of comments...

Back when I was in high school I had a sun-yellow Schwinn Varsity 10 speed. I rode it everywhere and felt so cool doing it. When it got stolen out of our garage I cried... But things change. I know that I hate to see the brand tank, but a lot of my saddness is nostalgia.

About WalMart and the like... I live in a town of 12,000 people. The nearest "big" city (100,000 people) is 45 miles away. Most of the stores I shop in, except for the supermarkets, are mom and pop. But there are just some things you can't get in those little stores. So two or three times a month I go to the "big city" and load up on those things. I admit I go to Home Depot, and Costco, and rarely Wal Mart (although I prefer Target). Sometimes the you don't have the alternatives so you can avoid those places.

And lastly, in answer to:
"Will roadie gal be at the 35th Hilly Hundred Weekend October 4,5 and 6, 2002 http://www.hillyhundred.org/ Indiana's Biking Adventure "

Thanks Hillyman. I'd love to be there, but I have a date with Uncle Sam on the first weekend of every month.

Originally posted by diamondback
Why can't I go to the CANNONDALE(or any bike brand) store and get Cannondale t-shirts, Cannondale keychains and everything else Cannondale it takes to make a profit.


That's not a bad idea, honestly I think I'd definately buy some Giant merchandise if it was readily available.

I shop mainly at local businesses, but I dislike the term "ma and pop" to refer to local businesses. It sounds too patronizing.

Big chain stores self-congratulate themselves on their wide selection. But in practice, I often find the selection rather limited. If I want to buy truly fresh produce, the big chain stores can't provide it for me the way that a local produce stand or farmer's market can. I trust my local pet store to board my pets overnight, but I would not trust the chain stores, even if they were to offer such a service. I use a lot of services from local businesses -- bike wheel truing, shoe repair, the selling of second-hand goods, etc. that are not provided by the chains.

I also choose not to support chain stores that pretend to offer great deals but force customers to bear the high costs of automobile culture. Many of the suburban Wal-Marts are surrounded by vast parking lots and found on collector roads, making the Wal-Mart readily accessible only by automobile. All of my routine shopping (groceries, sundries, clothing, etc.) are done by walking or bicycling. The thought of throwing away vast sums of money on gasoline, car maintenance, car depreciation, etc. to go "bargain hunting" at one of these chain stores is very wasteful and cost-ineffective for me.

this is media bashing now. when i know about a subject and see it on the air and they mis-represent it it makes me wonder how many other things i am fed i am being misled on.

When people complain about television, the first think I ask them is if they've considered getting rid of their television. I haven't owned a TV in years, and I'm glad for it. I don't like having my thinking directly influenced either by the corporations that own networks or the corporate sponsors that advertise on them.



i'd like to know of specific products that have been sold below cost then jacked way up. i want to know not to defend walmart - but i have a distrust and dislike for anyone who rails against a practice or becomes an activist for something without specifics. i don't want to hear from parrotts who repeat things they hear other people say. i want to know of products or personal rants.

To site a recent example, at a local bike shop, the mechanic was repairing a bike that a customer had recently bought at Sam's Club or Wal-Mart. The cost that the customer paid for the bike was less than the wholesale cost of the bike.

Wal-Mart is certainly not the only problematic chain store, but it's considered a Wall Street darling -- a chain that other chains aspire to be like.

Oh Yes, Riding down the street on my new Schwinn Sierra 15 speed Yes, 15 speed bike. The envy of all the kids on the block! I left the store looking and thinking one day I will have that $175.00 Campy / Paramount.
Well, that day came a year later and I raced that bike in every crit in NJ there was. The Schwinn bike shops were the best. Good service and the guy behind the counter knew you by name when you called.
Well about 25 years later I pulled that Paramount out of the cellar and decided it was time to enjoy it again. I had it overhaul and repainted. Call Schwinn to get new old decals.
THE SERVICE WAS THE WORST! If I handled a customer the way they did me I would have been riding to the unemployment office.
When I told the rep about the poor service she laughed. Her manager never called back. SERVICE SELLS! And I hate to say it but some of LBS are on the same road. I know service isn't always good at the discount stores but customers are buying price there not service.
Well, I guess that Schwinn rep is laughing now that she and the manger are unemployed.
Business's have to start becoming more concerned about thier customers. They pay the bills.
Yes, I still enjoy the Paramount and the 2 Litespeeds (GREAT SERVICE) I have.