I'm sure that Lance could win the tour on a GMC Denali! Yeah. We're all not in the tour, but we also need something that will work well and not fail or need constant tweeking and repair.

You have to admit that the quality is not there on these dept store things, but they cost less than a good saddle, so its to be expected. I don't flip bikes but would hate to have to eye up a good candidate. How can you justify giving even $10 for some bike that was once $100 new? Would you/could you get anything on it flipping it? How soon before you've spent more that it was worth new? So avoid them I guess, and try to identify them so you can. [I thought thats what the OP was about]