I had a pretty busy day yesterday dealing with a new cruiser bike.
First I'd ordered a Schwinn Point Beach from Walmart and find out they have one in stock locally , still in the box . I figure I got lucky this one . They said I could pick it up after 10 am , I was there around 9:45 looking on the floor to see if they had one together I could size up. No deal . So I go back to the pickup area and picked up my new bike . When they brought it out , I was surprised to see an almost perfect box . With all the bad things you read about buying a bike online I expected to see a crushed corner at least .
Took it home , assembled it in about two hours , greasing the front steering tube bearings which actually had some grease , another surprise . When I got to the rear wheel , while adjusting the derailleur , I noticed a grinding noise when I rotated the wheel. I'm thinking a bad freewheel , so I pulled it and it seemed ok , so I spin the wheel without the freewheel and it's the wheel bearing making the noise . I greased them and adjusted the tension and then they were quite like they should be . Then I adjusted the brakes and pumped up the tires .
She's ready to ride . I took off down the driveway and this is when it hits me how small the bike is . It feels smaller than my old HD .
So, I took it back to Walmart and returned it . Somebody's going to get a nicely assembled Point Beach .
I couldn't help but to notice the quality of the bike , definitely not up to what a Schwinn used to be . I also noticed the frame dropouts were modern , built for the 7 speed freewheel and derailleur. Couldn't convert to a single by just changing wheels .
Left Walmart , checked out Target , looking for a single speed cruiser. They had one for $130 , but I wasn't impressed with it .
After Target I stopped off at a Trek store and tried out a Trek Pure . Smooth bike , definitely better quality ,and its a full size bike, but I'm not ready to drop $500 bucks on one .
I get home , start searching around the net , and I find out I can get an Electra Cruise One from REI for $249. WOW ! Sounds like what I'm looking for . I had trouble ordering directly online , I had to order by phone , but I have one on the way . Should be here next week. Kirby