Originally Posted by
BassNotBass
I'm not going to say that Wally World bikes are high quality but they are what they are and that is decent and inexpensive means of transportation. Their high failure rate can be attributed more to improper assembly and non-existent setup/adjustments at the store compounded by user error... many people keep their tires under-inflated because they think the tires will otherwise blow out... the chain only gets lubed in the rain when it's splashed by road-grime... the owner is so clueless that he/she realizes something is wrong with the bike only at the point of catastrophic failure... anything that breaks or loosens up gets 'fixed' with tape, string or JBWeld.
You are probably correct in many cases, however, per my post above some of the bikes are such terrible cheap garbage that even if they are adjusted and maintained properly they will still not last very long. I have all the proper tools and necessary experience building and maintaining bicycles, however, the two XMart bikes I assembled for my friend's kids were beyond hope. The frames were badly out of alignment, some of the spoke nipples were already stripped and the brakes could not be adjusted to provide adaquate stopping power. The difference between XMart and a proper bike store is that the former does not have an acceptable minimum threshold of quality, whereas the latter does.