Originally Posted by
nfmisso
Repair the front brake, put some street tires on it, ride it and call it a lesson learned: you can't grow a good bike from a piece of crap.
That's pretty harsh but, unfortunately, very true. Trying to upgrade a basically very low quality bike is a waste of time and money. Try to get the current front brake working adequately by adjusting the pad clearances and/or replacing the pads, replace the knobby tires with smooth ones and save the money you were going to spend on it toward the purchase of a better quality bike. Also, in the future, stay away from department store bikes.