Pez, let me be the first to NOT call your bike a turd. for right now it seems to be doing what you ask of it. maybe not exactly how you want, but it's working. I've had 3 brand new bikes in my life. one when I was 6 that came from Toys R Us, another when I was 15 (another toys r us special) when my hand me down POS got trashed by a car. I just quit riding that one. and a Tandem made by Pacific Cycle that may have a lot of low end parts, but does what I need it to do, from Meijer. I have decent bikes, but they are all old and were junk when I got them. many of the bikes I own would be considered turds by those standards, but I love them all and they all have or had a purpose. The fact that you can get on that "turd" and ride it to work or wherever you need to go makes it not a turd at all. And if it can't be any more than a turd in your eyes or anyone else's I would like to be the first to say I love all the turds I've had and all the ones I will in the future.