[QUOTE=tjspiel;6111712]I don't think the bikes you get from Target or Walmart today are as good as the bikes that Sears sold 30 or 40 years ago. We used to buy cheap bikes for our kids figuring they'd only use them for a year or two before they out grew them, but no more. It's not like the frames are going to suddenly disintegrate or anything but the assembly is so shoddy that we've had things come loose or come off both of my son's first bikes while he was riding them. I've seen bikes on display at Target with their forks on backwards. I've seen neighbor kid bikes with their forks on backwards.

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I don't think that's what ILTB-2 was saying.

The quality might be worse, but it's the features that make a bike useful for transportation. If Wally World offered bikes with appropriate features, I agree that others like LBS's would follow suit. It's flat out amazing that they offer such inexpensive bikes up for mountain biking, which have lots of features for that. I bet they could offer up a decently equipped transportation bike for $100 if they wanted. Even a single speed would be nice, if it came with fenders, a rack, kickstand, and bell. It would be useful for students. But they don't.