just spent $50 on the huffy
 

When I started saving for my road bike, I said to myself, don't spend any money that you don't need to spend. So I stopped buying junk food from the mall, played pool or ping-pong at my friend's houses instead of going to movies, and I have managed to save a fair amount.

My saving ethic was killed today! I went out to ride my huffy, becaues it is so darn fun in the snow. I went over a minor drop, and braked hard, and I heard a horrible snap. The frayed, rusted cable on the back brake had snapped! rats. I tried dialing in the barrel adjuster on the lever, so that maybe I could free up enough cable, but no luck. new cable needed. -$16.00 (w/ shipping)

While inspecting my bike after the cable snap, I noticed that the chain was really worn. That was why my chain kept skipping and doing obnoxious things! -$ 24.00 for a chain (w. shipping)

Another thing I noticed in my after-snap inpection was the fact that my brake pads were about 2mm thick. new brake pads. -$10.00

Man, I need to buy the new bike quick before I spend any more on the huffy! Who'd have thought that a $150 bike could be so expensive!

16 bucks for a brake cable? No wall mart handy? They also sell huffy type chains for cheap too. If the new chain skips you'll need to spring for a new cassette or freewheel too. Seems like NEW huffys are only about $79 or less now.Hardly pays to spend money on an old one.

16 dollars for a brake cable? Next time, stop by the LBS and pick up a single cable for a few bucks. Sounds like it doesn't have to be anything special, as the Huffy is only holding you over until you get the bike you are saving for. If I were on a tight budget till the new bike, I wouldn't even go for a new cassette unless the Huffy is your only bike for now. As Pokey said, try the local Wal-Mart next time something snaps. They have a good selection of cheapo-but-it-works-kinda stuff there that will hold over the Huffey until the bike you want comes in. Good Luck!

-Moab

I needed new housing also, and shipping is a really annoying fact of life. I wonder why performance charges $6.00 for shipping. A bit of a rip for cheap things, heck shipping cost almost as much as the cable stuff!

$6 is not bad.. figure probably send it UPS or USPS priority.. which will cost them $4-5.. so they are not trying to make much their.. I agree with the others just go to wally wart.. since just using the huffy to get by with, why spend money on good stuff :)

I'm with Pokey on this one. If you are riding a Huffy in the snow because it is a low-cost machine, then use low-cost parts you can get at X-mart. They have parts appropriate for Huffy bikes.

If you went to K-mart or Fleet-Farm for parts you would have paid:

Brake cable with housing: $1.99
Chain: $6.99
Brake pads: $4.00

:rolleyes:

he he

What're you? The Troll Police?

Interesting thing about Huffys. They may not fair well out on the trail, but I hardly have done any maintanence to the one that I got when I was 12. It was an absolute piece of crap when I got. It's been left out in the weather, lubed with motor oil, crashed, suffered 12 year old tinkering, and been disrespected, but it still rides and shifts just as well as it did 8 years ago. Guess you can't go down anymore when your at the bottom! :D Oh yeah, and it weighs 37 pounds.

Huffys cost $150? I see them at the thrift store all the time for under fifteen bucks. At that cost, you can buy another one every time it snows.

Wow. You should have gone to your local bike shop. I work at a shop, parts to fix your bike:
cable and housing: $9.99
brake pads: $3.99
chain: $11.99

Total: $25.97 plus just a little bit of tax.

hey, man this is the top of the line huffy! :D

In fairness, not all Huffys are made alike. Sure, they are all lower-end bikes, but I was just given a Huffy by the Salvation Army.

I take nice bikes, repair them, and give them to the local schools in this city's "distressed" neighborhood. The schools then give the bikes to kids-in-need.

The Huffy "Alumina" I received last week was not too bad. It had an aluminum frame (that didn't look too bad), SRAM grip shifters, SRAM derailures, lighterweight aluminum wheels, quick-release wheels, three-piece crank (instead of the typical cheap-o single-piece ashtabula crank), quick release seat-post, cantilevered V-brakes, and other nice features.

I don't know what it's original price was, but it was sure worth $150.00. It will sure make some kid proud - and for good reason.

well, the huffy has a QR front wheel. It has a QR seatpost, steel rims (after I hopelessly flatspotted the stock alloy rims, so I bought some cheapo but heavy-duty wheels) shimano SIS components, three-piece cranks. Its a hardtail, so theres not whole lot to screw up in the frame, and the welds are not of the spot-weld type. (there is a bit of rust) Theres no shock fork, so no problems with a cheap shock. I haven't noticed any BB flex either, and believe me I have pushed this bike hard, mostly becuase it only cost me (my parents) $150, and I'm not real afraid of breaking it.

Also, I am just now paying for this stuff becuase I got the bike about 7 years ago, and I never put a drop of oil on it, never changed cables, left it out in the rain, and abused it to no end. I am actually quite pleased that it lasted that long.

As for the ever-crucial fit, it actually fits me perfectly. It didn't fit 7 years ago, but its actually perfectly fit now.

My parents knew exactly what they were getting me when they bought me the bike, and it has worked well to that end. Hey, i can brag that I got one of those "sweet steel hardtails" :D

What? $10 for cable and housing? I own a shop, cable and housing $1.75 brake pads $4 chain $6.