PatrickR400

Read this on Bicycling.com; so true!

6 Reasons to Avoid Department Store Bikes | Bicycling

RISKDR1

you might spend more time in the hospital.

Wanderer

Do you believe anything from the spin doctors of the bicycle manufacturers**********?

OneLessFixie

I agree to a point. For anything that's going to be used with any degree of seriousness, yes. But for a kid's bike that's only going to be ridden up and down the block (do they let kids do that anymore?), why not buy a department store bike? This is doubly true given that kids are going to outgrow them very quickly. Despite what the bike snobs think, a seven-year-old doesn't need a Colnago!

Here's what the late, great Sheldon Brown said about department store bikes: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Glossary Da - Do

TrojanHorse

"The average department-store bicycle is ridden about 75 miles in its lifespan from showroom floor to landfill. The manufacturers know this, and build them accordingly."

There you go - horses for courses.

PatrickR400

I don't believe that the article targets kid's bikes. Up here we would make your argument but using hockey skates instead of bikes.

If you read this forum, you notice that many people ask a lot about department store bikes. Wanting a Clyde-proof bike, new, and at a low cost doesn't strike me as possible. I the bike is not reliable, or sturdy, you risk injury, time in the shop, and worse of all discouragement.

As we used to say in the Artillery, "target round"!

jimmie65

My brother and I used to argue about department store bikes. He bought his first one about the same time I bought a used Trek. He went through 4 department store bikes, all at least twice as expensive as my used Trek, during the time I had the Trek. I sold the Trek for a profit about the same time he finally found a used Specialized off Craigslist. Net = I was up $75, he was out somewhere around $650 bucks.

dr_lha

Most department store bikes (Target/Walmart) I've seen are laughably terrible looking. For this reason my 5-year old boy has a Trek, which I bought used at an LBS for cheaper than the equivalent Mongoose at Walmart. The benefit: It weighed about 1/2 as much for one!

indyfabz

A few years ago in Italy I had horse as a main course during one lunch. Don't think I will every try it again.

DMC707

No, -- but most of the major manufacturers make cheap kids bikes too that will at the very least be assembled with a bit more QC than the bike guy at Target

dagray

I got a better deal on a used Giant 20 inch BMX bike for my youngest son at the LBS.... slapped some training wheels on it and slammed the seat to the frame and he was good to go (the boy is five). I deal with the LBS as I know they will fix issues, and I can buy a good used bike and add some upgraded components and be into a better bike than what a department store bike would be.

Now if I could just get my wife out riding.

Pamestique 

I am not going to complain about buying from a department store... I tell people get something and start riding and then if the activity strikes them as something fun, buy a better bike. I do caution people, however, to pay attention to the fact that store bikes are generally put together sloppily (a friend bought one with the fork on backwards - I kid you not!), and the bikes are made with flimsy materials.

A friend of mine purchased a "full-suspension" Wally World mountain bike. It got him out riding and having fun. He started to lose alot of weight. Unfortunately he fell in with the wrong crowd; they took him on harder rides, including jumps etc. One day, before a ride, he comes up to me and says "should my bike do this???" As he lifted up the handlebars, the pistons on the fork came up out of the sleeves. In otherwords, he was a jump away from being badly hurt.

Store bikes are good for exercise; just not so good for "sport"... just beware and know that...

dr_lha

FS bikes from department stores are just a bad idea for everything. There's a reason why proper FS mountain bikes cost many thousands of dollars!

Pamestique 

I don't disagree (had I known I would have told my friend to get a rigid or hardtail)... had I known my friend was going to do some actual "mountain biking" and not bike paths, I would have advised him to buy something different. Have since gotten him to purchase a real mountain bike (which yes cost thousands of dollars).

JamesRL

I've been involved in a couple of those types of purchases recently.

When I got back into cycling after a long period off, I had not much money, due to support payments. But I did have a CC from a store that sold bikes, and $100 in points. Then they had a 50% off sale on a $250 hybrid, I went for it. No issues on assembly, but after 500 kms or so, the BB seized. A cheap repair at the LBS and I was on my way. The mechanic told me he sees that problem on that bike frequently. Otherwise the bike is ok, they just spec'd a bad BB. My son uses that bike periodically, and it still works fine. I've moved back to drop bar vintage bikes.

My girlfriend wanted to get an inexpensive bike for her daughter. She looked at one super cheap bike, and then a more expensive one at Costco. I suggested the Costco one was probably better components given the price. Used was not in her head. The bike was assembled ok, except that she couldn't get the FD to shift. A couple turns of the screw driver and you would have thought I was a genius. But what was disconcerting was that the adjusting screw was mounted in plastic, so I'm not confident that it will stay that way.

Erwin8r

...plus they SUCK to work on. Flimsy, sharp parts, ungreased bearings, poorly finished wheels that eat up tubes, etc. I know, I always try to get away with buying cute, cheap Walmart bikes for the kiddo's, and always regret doing so (my kids are far enough apart in years that I forget the lessons learned...). Myself? My first "new" bike was a Team Murray department store BMX bike. Even as an 11/12 year old, I knew enough that I promptly traded it for a used Redline frame and built my bike slowly but surely with parts that I read about in BMX Plus! magazine... (CW Bars/Laid back post, Flite saddle, Tange cranks, Landing Gear forks, Z-Rims, etc...). Those were the days... Thank Goodness I grew out of that phase... LOL!!!

Dave Cutter

So-called “big-box” or mass-merchant stores... sell 75 percent of all bikes in the US, according to the National Bicycle Dealers Association.

I wonder how accurate that "75 percent of bike sales" actually is.

A woman just recently mention to me that she had just realized that her 9 year old son had never owned or ridden a bicycle. Her plan is to buy him one for Christmas. I'd guess... by then she will have realized he would much rather receive some "tech toy-device".

ColaJacket

If you're talking about # of bikes, I can believe that 75% number.

If you're talking about total sales in $, then no.

GH

GTIMKIV

8 out of ten people I see on bikes near me are on Big Box Bikes. The seem to be doing just fine, enjoying the ride. People don't buy those bikes to be cheap most of the time, they buy them becuase that's what they can afford. I have been there myself so I know the feeling. 99% of the people on here that talk sh*t about those bikes never rode one and only relay stories form some mysterious "Friend" who had one that exploded the minute they tried to ride it. LOL

RPK79

My first year of cycling as an adult I put just shy of 1,000 miles on a Schwinn Varsity from Wal-Mart. Other than burning through a chain and a cassette in this relatively short time I had no major mechanical issues. I am not a clydesdale though and I expect the wheels it came with wouldn't do for someone who was.

I bought a used road bike and sold the Schwinn the next year.

dr_lha

The 75% number is "units" not total dollars:

Industry Overview 2014 - National Bicycle Dealers Association

Darth Lefty 

When you can buy 95 Walmart bikes for the same price as a pencil-lead-colored wonderbike...

RPK79

See the link in post 21. It is units.

Dave Cutter

You're right! I hadn't seen the link before I had posted. After I saw and read the link I deleted the post (apparently after you replied).

I would guess then... of the roughly 6 billion dollars in annual sales... the LBS get the bears share in dollars.

squirtdad

I advise people to not get a BSO and iIf anyone I know insists on getting a BSO I advise them get the simplest bike the place sells, like a single speed coaster brake. Anything else, especially the psuedo suspension set ups just add weight and things to break.

I have worked on a lot of these bikes (friends, neighbors and relatives) as as noted by a previous poster they are a pain to work on.

That said, my son's first bike was a Target Next.....16 inch wheels, coaster brake, training wheels (never had a trike) for his use, of riding up and down the sidewalk as a little guy it was sufficient.

but after that it was a hand me down trek, a new haro bmx, a rebuilt univega (into a fixie) and a Soma rush fixie all of which will work for years which is not the case with any box store bike of any complexity that i have worked on.