Hey guys, I'm new to the forum, new to biking, and only 15 so please bear with me.

I'm not a hardcore bicyclist, nor do I know much about bikes, but ever since I was 13 I've been riding my dad's old Freespirit (I believe he bought it at Sears) mountain bike. I am not sure how old it is, but it's pretty old which is why I put it in the vintage forum. This thing is AT LEAST 10 years old, and I suspect it is much older than that. I also don't what model it is, since it seems some Freespirits were cheap quality while some where good, but it has Shimano parts for the shifting system and the brake levers say "LEECHI" on them. I've been using it 4-5 times a week to take one-and-a-half to one-hour trips for the past year and a half, and also just for cruising around town since I'm too young to drive. I always loved it, it's nice and simple, not too heavy, and it just feels good riding it. The only problem with it was that the chain would often fall off the front gears (the ones where the pedals attach) when I put too much force on it. Other than that though, It was an enjoyable ride.

My problem begins 5 days ago, when I was tying it onto a bike rack to go inside a store. My friend, who was being a dumbass, pushed me and I fell onto the back wheel. It bent horribly, and not only was it bent but the entire wheel is now very wobbly and moves side to side. I told my dad about it, and he said since it was a pretty old bike and a new wheel would cost "a lot", that I should just get a new one. I happily agreed. We went to Toys R Us and bought an $80 Dynacraft mountain bike.

It wasn't until I had gotten home, ripped open the box, and assembled it that I realized what a huge mistake I had just made.

The bike feels CHEAP!! I'm into computers, and I know there's a huge difference in terms of build quality and parts quality between a bottom of the line $250 eMachines and a high-end quality built Sony VAIO desktop. For some reason, I didn't realize that it's the same with bicycles. The new $80 bike is too flashy, it's too heavy, I hate the way the pedals feel, and the brakes barely work, no matter how well you adjust them. It was a pain in the ass to assemble, because the included manual is the manual Dynacrap includes with ALL their bikes, so it has generalized instructions for all mountain bikes. The front derailleur (sorry for the spelling) won't shift into the 3rd gear, only the first two. No amount of adjusting the screws or the wire that pulls it will fix it. The bike rides smooth, but I just hate the feel of this stupid crappy Chinese bike.

It wasn't until a few days after I assembled it that I realized how badly I miss my old Freespirit. It's sitting there right now, with the back wheel useless and in need of new brakes. The problem is that my parents know even less about bicycles than I do (which is saying something) and they think that the new Dynacrap bike is better "because it's new". They fail to realize that although the old Freespirit is much MUCH older than the new Dynacraft, it's still a much better bike. So now I'm stuck. I really wish I'd tried to fix the old (quality) Freespirit before buying the new (craptastic and cheap) Dynacraft. So I have two questions for you guys:

1. Do you think I can return the Dynacraft to Toys R Us? We bought it unassembled and put it together ourselves, so I doubt they would let us return it, BUT the front derailleur doesn't work. Would this be enough to get a refund?

and

2. Is the old freespirit repairable, and how much would a new back wheel cost? I don't a need a high-end wheel.

I really want to get a refund for the horrible Dynacraft and use the money to fix the freespirit, or at least put the $80 towards buying a decent bike at an ACTUAL BIKE SHOP.

I apologize for the long post and my lack of knowledge, I do a lot of posting on computer forums and I know how annoying it is when a complete n00b comes along and doesn't even know what things are called. Thanks.