Assembly at discount stores is far more a problem than the quality of components. I've heard stories of pedals barely threaded onto the cranks. The front fork installed backwards.

Factory assembly isn't good either. Every discount-store bike I've worked with had the bearings overtightened, and too little grease in the bearing areas. The bottom brackets also had significant metal shavings in them.

But, this is a good-news, bad-news story. If someone spends the time to learn bike assembly/maintenance at www.bicycletutor.com, and they disassemble/reassemble a new bike (overhauling the axles, BB and headset) they can not only have a fairly reliable bike, but also avoid costs by being versed in their own maintenance.

To me, it's really about motivation. If someone's motivated to save money and *put the time into it*, they can save some serious money with a department store bike. But, if they're one of those people distracted every 20 seconds by text messages (too busy to focus on the topic at hand), and thinks you can get something for nothing... there's a strong chance they'll be disappointed. Bearings will fail early. They'll get inner-rim flats because they didn't spend $8 on Velox tape. Etc.

I even disassembled my pedals, cleaned and lubed the bearings. That might be a little obsessive. It might be cheaper to let pedals fail and buy a new pair for $10. But, now that I know how to overhaul my pedals, and bought some 1/8" ball bearings for $3, I may never have to buy pedals again.

I think this is one of those topics where "it all depends." Not all discount-store bikes are good value (quality v. price). Not all individuals are good candidates for the better-value bikes because they're not willing to put some sweat equity into it. They expect a bike-store bike they can just start riding. Like you get something for nothing. Like, the high-school dropout working at Walmart is going to assemble a bike like a bike shop.