Schwinn Suburban from Walmart.....
 

Not long after I met the woman I'm now married to, we started into bike riding. At that time, she didn't want to spend a lot of money on a bike. I suggested that she buy a Schwinn Suburban [ladies frame] from Walmart. $130 for it. In the store, I rode it around while hearing the derailer clicking and clacking. I managed to adjust it to where it shifted smoothly. It's worked good since then, been about a year or so, give or take. Having read posts about the follies [and sometimes horrors] of department store bikes, I'm wondering if I should have her bike given a look over by a bike store. It seems fine to me, and she rides and likes it well enough.

Any opinions?

If it is not broke, don't fix it! :D If it is shifting through all the gears, brakes work ok, and she can ride for 30 minutes or so without pain, maybe you should leave it alone. If you want to do some of your own maintenance on the bike, try the either Sheldon Brown's site Sheldon Brown or look in this forum under Bicycle Mechanics, near the top of the list: Sticky: Barnett's manuals--they are a great resource.

If you want to upgrade to a better bike, try a few of the LBS. You will get a better quality bike=more enjoyable ride. If money is a issue (when if it not? :eek: ), ask if they have any used bikes. Good luck and happy trails!

The repair book by Bicycling Magazine is well illustrated, so with something like this at hand it is fairly easy for a non-tech person to make sure everything is adjusted right. Keep riding and enjoying it - you will know when you want a better bike and you will also know what you want.

About the Walmart thing....please don't shop there anymore. They are a very evil empire. Check out these sites for more info on why they are are so nasty:

www.walmartsucks.com
walmart-blows.com/
www.anti-walmart.com/badwalmart/
www.walmartswaronworkers.com/index.php
http://www.elevendayempire.com/movab...es/006342.html
http://www.intellectualpoison.com/Wa...sPureEvil.html
www.indyweek.com/durham/2002-05-08/news.html

well looks like thats the place to post your views about Wal-mart, not here

as for the bike bought there, if it held together for a year then I wouldnt worrie too much
get it a tuneup and have it checked if you feel it needs it

well sorry I though this was the Recreational & Family Forum not slam this store or that

and then maybe I joined the wrong forum

well I would say more but this dont seem like the right forum for this

guess I joined the wrong forum

Just remove my nick and eamil from this forum

Maybe I should have prefaced my Sprawlmart comments by saying they were OT. But my contempt for them grows the more I know about them, and whenever I get the chance to spread the word, I do. And I'll continue to do so regardless of how and when the topic comes up. Thanks Raiyn for your input and support.

More on topic - cheap bikes from evil big box stores aren't that repairable or very long lasting, and to me are disposable, like disposable razors. Work on an old Raleigh or Schwinn, and then try working on a piece of #$@^ bike. The difference is amazing.

Everything has a price. So while one may think they are getting a bargain when they pay $79 or whatever for that new mountain bike, there are other costs involved, some of which are hidden, including the cost to dispose of that piece of crap bike when it falls apart in a couple of years, and the cost of the lost revenue for the LBS.
Here's a good read on some more of the costs involved: http://www.sprawl-busters.com/caseagainstsprawl.html

You've got to be kidding me...what does his "Walmart is evil, don't shop there anymore" reply have to do with the original post. This is a bike forum, if you want to tell us about the empire of Walmart, send an email so it can be filtered out into my junk folder where it belongs...

ok you want a reason
I'm disabled and my wife bring in the income for the family
she was out of work for a while then got a job with no benies at all
and barely over mimun wage for over a year,
till she got hired at Wal-Mart
now we have a few extra $$ and some insurance
shes been there for over a year and makin better than mimun wage
they let her basic pick her own shift to accmadate us so she could be home in time
to get the kids up for school

now if billwatson58 had said dont buy from any department stroes cause they dont have speicalest to fit the bike for ya or to make sure everything it put together right, that I wouldnt have minded

I read some of the post from one of the sites billwatson58 posted
and they were complaining cause they didnt get to watch what they wanted on TV while at work

some complaints might be legit but most seem to be petty
not sayin they are the best employers but they are far from the worse
they are about the largest and you cant make everyone happy

ok I said my peice
sorry this got carried this far and off topic
but it just struck me the wrong way

I hate Walmart for several reasons, but I must add to the chorus of folk that say that bashing it is too far off topic. Start a new thread dedicated to explaining the questionable business practices of this megaretailer, Bill Watson, and I'll join right in.

People need to get over the fact that even the cheapest LBS prices are just out of reach for some. The walmart bikes are fine - as long as you check them over before you ride.

Of course for the hard core folks out here with tons of disposable income they will heckle you because you aren't as well of as them.

Wow. I leave for the weekend, and come back to a 'way off topic' thread I started. :(

Well, I just purchased [yesterday 7/25/04] a TREK 7100, and afterwards, while talking to my wife, she said that at some point she'd like to get a better bike, but the one she has is totally fine. In fact, I'm embarrassed to say that after we left the bike shop . . . [we left the new one there to have some upgraded equipment put on], we went on a bike ride [my last one on the old SEARS, 45 lb., POJ] and she pretty much smoked me as she went up hills, and got WAY ahead of me. So her bike works well. I think I should just buy some chain lubricants [the dry kind] and keep her equipment running well until the day she can get something of higher quality.

But as of now, she likes her bike, mainly the way it looks. And when it comes down to getting another LBS bike, she'll go less on make and more on what color she can get it in.

The LBS where I got the TREK said they could do a tune up for $40, but her bike isn't in THAT much of need yet. Perhaps later down the road.