Maelochs

I spent many, many years commuting on trash bikes, and many years commuting on better bikes. I actually have the experiences some of you say i should get before commenting. Most of you simply do not.

I know how far different bikes went before needing maintenance, how far they went before needing parts replacements, how many crapped out on the road and left me walking (and pushing or even carrying a broken bike.) I know how the different bikes stood up to the abuse of daily urban/suburban commuting .... because I did it.

The better bikes last a lot longer, the wheels stay round and straight, the bearings keep spinning .... none of the quality bikes I have owned have ever left me walking except after serious accidents. The same cannot be said for the bargain bikes. Fasteners, brackets, bearings, wheels, drive trains .... all have failed on the cheap bikes while similar treatment never broke the better bikes.

The guy who did the cross-Florida tour? Yeah, ride 15-30 or 40 miles every day, in all weather, without time to do maintenance more than once a week, and see how things go. Sure the bike was good---with proper set-up and regular maintenance---for a month maybe. And also, most people looking for cheap bikes don't have the know-how or tools to swap a bottom bracket---so when the BB seizes, they trash the bike (and I would pick it up from the trash, swap in a BB from another trash bike, and limp along another few months on it.) I have had new and used cheap bikes ... given daily use and minimal maintenance (about the same maintenance a quality bike requires) the cheap bikes always failed.

Most people buying really cheap bikes don't know to do maintenance. The might throw some grease or oil on the chain from time to time. They wouldn't know a spoke wrench if they saw one. They don't think to check every fastener, because cheap fasteners work themselves loose or simply strip out under load ....

So, those bike serve the intended purpose. They get the financially challenged person to work and the grocery store better than bad bus systems (and a lot of places have bad or no bus systems.) When the break they are replaced. Because the owner was never going to either severely stress or diligently (and expensively) maintain the bike, the bike lasts long enough to be cost-effective and also get replaced eventually .... or, more likely, the person makes friends at work and gets rides, or buys a "buy here-pay-here" car ... a car about on par with a Walmart bicycle.

In any case, the Walmart bike is a little faster than walking.

Walmart-type bikes are okay for people who don't want to be cyclists, but who want to get around a little more quickly than walking. Anyone who is going to be riding for the joy of cycling, would be advised to get a better bike. Fewer headaches in the long run, and better performance throughout.

There are plenty of BikesDirect offerings which I would trust a lot more than most big-box bikes, which cost two or three times as much but offer (as I know from owning one) vastly more value over time.

If a persons can only afford $150, then get a Walmart bike. It will be rideable. If a person can afford more, Get More. I have had enough catastrophic failures on cheap bikes that I would not trust one on a cross-country tour without a complete tear-down and rebuild, and never without a support vehicle. My sub $500 Dawes got me from LA to Washington DC, right out of the box. I adjusted the brakes and shifters, and had to true the wheels once (doing it roadside with spoke wrench and using the brake pads works fine, but some we did at a bike co-op we passed, because we could.) Two dozen bikes, 3200 miles, no failures. No failures. Not even really bad wheel warps, just minor flutters----could have been ridden, but since there were a couple people who could tighten a spoke, why not?

No extra lube needed, just a little chain lube.

And I still have the bike, and it still works. That now-passed (and much missed) poster Inpd had a similar Dawes he rode all of northern California, long, long miles. I know From Experience that cheap bikes don't have the same capacity ... and I didn't test just one.

Nothing wrong with a Walmart bike. It is what it is. Use it as such. Like any cheap tool, it will do the job pretty well for a while, but will wear out or break if used hard, or much, much sooner than a quality tool (mechanics don't buy quality tools to show off.) But there is nothing inherently evil about cheap bikes. The won't assplode any more than Chinese CF. They are what they are. They work as intended for their price point.

We all know this. We all know what they are good for, what they are bad at, and why better bikes are better investments over the long run ... for people who have that option. But I know, people like to bicker.