How many here would ride a.....
 

Walmart Mongoose, Next, Roadmaster, Schwinn?

If it's what I had, I'd pimp the hell out of it.

I would ride one if you payed me.

Huffy? Murray? Roadmaster? Been there... done that. I rode them when that's all I had because that's what my parents would buy for me. But I can tell you that the first purchase I made with my first paycheck from my summer job when I was 15 years old was a Specialized HardRock Sport. That was over 16 years ago and I haven't ridden one of those dept. store bikes since.

We just got into riding so a good bike seemed to be a large amount of money to see if it stuck. Bought the wife a walmart roadmaster and put street slicks on it. (believe it or not shes 37 and its her first bike) but after we did our first organized 25 mile ride we are checking out a couple of "TREKS". Seemed the next sensible step. (oh, my 9 year old has a roadmaster too.)

Yeah, I know what you mean. I bought a Giant Boulder, because I didn't want to waste too much money if I stopped riding it. Well, I haven't stopped riding it and I've been tweaking the dang thing to fit me better. New saddles, new stems, new seatpost, new road slicks--and tubes for the slicks. Plus I've just broken 1000 miles on the odometer and I have already (a couple of months ago) had to have the crank rebuilt; the cups the crank bearings run in were plastic and I had them replaced with metal ones. What a pain in the a$$. So instead of spending money on a nice bike, I've dumped money into the pit of the bike I own. But, believe me, I have had fun dumping the money into it.

If you are looking at buying new bikes, do it soon, because who knows how the ones you have now are built--you might just start wearing things out soon. You might want to ask about the crank bearings. . . ;)

Dont worry, Ive been keeping an eye on those bearings. Im hoping money issues dictate the ability to buy some "good" bikes for next year. but until then I gotta baby em along. Thanks for the advice. (yeah Im havin alot of fun dressing them too.)

Ill admit I ride a RoadMaster also. I just put a new Padded seat and plan on adding slicks soon. I have been looking at a Trek Navigator 100 on sale for $199 in my area. I am also looking at the Schwinn Sidewinder and Mongoose EFX. They have the same, if not better equipment gears, etc that most higher end bikes have.

Quite possibly the funniest thing I have read on this forum... I didn't realize Walmart was selling XTR stuff these days ;)

I would if I had to. Why not! That is where I started. Mongoose MGX. As soon as I began out-riding it and became unhappy with its prerformance I upgraded to a Specialized Hardrock UNO. Any bike is better than NO bike! IMHO

I meant they have "Shimino" and "Sram" parts. Kevlar tires, etc. I didnt mean they were as good as a $1000+ bike. :rolleyes: I wouldnt pay that for a bike in the first place. :p

Shimano and SRAM make components at all levels. Just because the label says Shimano doesn't mean it's the same quality across the board. As an example, let's take a look at the Mongoose XR200. Its specs says it has a Shimano TX50 rear derailleur. Let's compare that to say a midrange full-suspension bike like the Specialized FSR XC that sports a Shimano M510 Deore rear derailleur. So what does this prove? Well, Shimano's parts designation belays its intended use. The RD-TX50 is part of the Tourney group that's intended for casual street and comfort bikes. The M in the RD-M510 denotes an actual MTB component intended for offroad usage. The MTB components are built to much higher standards and are much more durable than the Tourney components which may not have sealed bearings and use cheap plastic parts instead of metal.

Nevermind!

Nope.

UMM how can you have "howtobuyamerican.com" in your signature, and ask people here then admit you ride "muffy's". Besides Next all of the other bikes you mentioned are owned by the same company. They are all Chinese made by the way.

I actually do ride a Schwinn... Granted it's one of the pre-Walmart Schwinns, but I do. I (heart) Homegrown.

I would, and do ride a Schwinn. And I've spent many many minutes coasting on my Schwinn, while waiting for my riding buddies (on carbon framed Treks) to catch up.

I rode one until it broke (taco'd the rear wheel) then I went and got a Specialized Hard Rock from the late 80's. No regrets! Learned alot on the wally world bike.

Call me crazy, but I plan on painting my LeMond frame and putting Murray decals on it.

Should be fun, don't you think?

-murray

interesting ...

i rode an 18 mile loops with my pals bill and mona last night. bill is a 6'3" aussie, he rides an ancient peugeot, it weighs about 40lb and is way outta tune, and is a, ummm, girly style, with the skirt cut top tubes, it has dual tubes. anyway, about 15 miles into the ride, mona and i'd been poking fun at bill for his girley bike, we came to the conclusion that it was for the best. if bill had a nice bike, that fit him well, he'd smoked are @$$es good.

-- michael

Why not? My wife rides a mid-80's Schwinn Traveller 12 speed that I bought for her off a guy for $35 and this bike looked like it just came off the showroom floor - I don't think it had ever been ridden.

I also got a Schwinn Caliente 10 speed from the same guy for $30 for my son. Tires & tubes cost that much - both bikes were great deals and my wife and son enjoy riding them.

Mark

That's about a buck a pound on both. Great deal!

("Old fart" quiz: remember when VW used to advertize their orig. Beetles as being "87 cents a pound"?)

Oh, about the Mall-wart, Next, Huffer, etc. (don't forget Maggot ...er... Magna). If you itemize on your taxes, there's probably some "earn-a-bike" kids program in your town which would love it as a donation.

I'm riding a Pacific Toy Store bike right NOW! The bike survived the past year in New York City on the streets 24/7. Any other bike would have been stolen long ago. That bike takes me a total of 16 blocks each day without fail.

What bike would have the best chance of living in the streets of Manhattan every day of the year?

1. Trek 5900
2. Cannondale R1000
3. LightSpeed Classic
4. Beat up Roadmaster

Answer: Beat up Roadmaster.

Also: old-looking, very unfashionable road bike with lots of rust and body primer on parts of the frame, unpainted homemade fork, old grocery-basket pannier permanently bolted to rear rack. I'll take my chances that any potential thief won't know the name "Helyett," and will think I made the Honjo fenders in my garage with a hammer. Camouflage bikes come in many forms!

That reminds me of the old SNL skit about the Chameleon XJ9000 or something like that. It was a car with rusted body panels from various random mid-70s cars, a wire coat-hanger retractable antenna, cracked front grille and missing hubcaps. On the inside however were finely appointed full power leather seats, luxury interior and a high-end audio system. The skit also did a spoof of the old Acura or Lexus commercial that had Jonathan Price rolling the ball bearing down the hood to illustrate the fit and finish... only this time, the ball bearing fell through a rusted out hole, clanked around the engine compartment and rolled out the opposite fender.