Originally Posted by BookFinder

"A Wal-Mart bike will self-destruct under a 300 lb guy."

Oh Lord - please deliver me from the elitists and bike-pharisees who doth protest loudly on the street corners of their rightness. They have their reward in full...

It is a continual source of fascination to me how every "what bike should I buy" question denigrates into a rant against any bike other than something found at an LBS.

How did any of us make it to adulthood without an LBS bike? Ye gads - we guys went to the local Western Auto or Sears and did the "standover" test to make sure it the family jewels were not in imminent danger, and then Dad forked over the cash. The girls ritual was of course different. They had to be able to step through the frame, get a foot on a pedal, and then take off while hopping up to land on the seat. Then we blissfully and joyfully rode all over town, bumping up onto and off of sidewalks on those cheap rims and tires. We pumped up the tires at the local gas station and when it felt tight enough to the squeeze, off we went.

Fast forward with me five decades, and all over the college town where I live one can spot college kids on budget conscious bikes. Somehow they get to school everyday, day after day, on those despicable department store bikes. And then they ride home in the evenings. It just defies the imagination.

And then there are the homeless people and transients - they also somehow make it all over town on those junk bikes that never seem to break. Some have plastic grocery bags hanging off of the handlebars for transport purposes. The affluent homeless put funky looking baskets on their bikes to haul their stuff from Aldi to their tent-site, or to their $25 a month storage unit where they live behind the firehouse on a certain road. The firefighters feed them their holiday meals and help them stay in warm clothes. The cheapo bikes don't know the difference either way.

And then there is my old WalMart MTB that is the least expensive to maintain, most reliable ride I own. According to the LBS guy who fitted me for my Giant road bike, and later set me up with pedals on the Wal-Mart MTB, the frame on the WalMart bike is excellent construction that "should last me many years." Yes, the components on the thing are not Ultegra quality, but they work and rarely need adjustment. When (if) they give up I'll put something better on the frame. Granted, I'm a recreational and fitness rider and not a competitive cyclist, but I get what I need out of it. And it's the bike I take on vacations so I don't have to worry about the $700 Giant (I bought it used for half its new cost) getting vandalized or outright stolen.

To the OP - find something comfortable and that meets your budget, then ride it until it breaks or needs adjustment, all while "going to school" on the experience and the equipment. Get yourself a copy of the Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair for Road & Mountain Bikes (ISBN 978-1-60529-487-2). Get fit, lose weight, learn the sport, and learn the equipment. Then after you've got your head around the past-time and are sure you want to keep it as part of your lifestyle, invest in a more upscale ride.

Naturally, all of this is just my humble opinion.

And it's daylight so I think I'm going to head out for a morning ride.