That was a great thing your father did and in your situation I would do my best to use the bike too even if it wasn't my first choice.

There's a guy in my building who has a Denali and from an appearance standpoint they look a lot like other modern road bikes. I did notice that the brakes had the telltale signs of Walmart cheapness. I'm not surprised they don't work so well.

The weight thing doesn't really matter that much for a commuter. I mean there's a lot of reasons why having a lighter bike is nice but it's not the end of the world if your road bike is tipping the scales at closer to 30 than to 20.

As you know the shifter arrangement on the Denali is um... unique. That's where they saved a lot of the cost over a typical road bike. Most modern road bikes have integrated shift and brake levers which can be used either from the "hoods" position or the "drops". What Walmart did is clever but it's not quite as good. The other downside is that you're pretty much stuck with those particular handlebars. For example, I couldn't adjust the stock bars on my road bike so that I was both comfortable in the drops and on the hoods. However, I was able to get some bars that fit me and the way I ride better. That's not an option on the Denali unless you wanted flat bars.

Anyway, good luck with the bike and the weight loss process. It sounds like both are working out well for you.