I've got a "Schwinn" hybrid purchased at Target. There was some initial tweaking of derailleur and brakes required on mine, but that didn't bother me. If anything, it was helpful for me to have to try to figure out a couple of those things on my own that I could fix with the couple Allen wrenches and other basic (i.e., not bike-specific) tools I already had at home. In fact, I still have some work to do on the derailleurs and indexed shifting.
I put "Schwinn" in " " above b/c there are Schwinns as sold in LBSs and there's big box Schwinns, a distinction that they state blatently on their
website.
Quote: Because it's likely that they will see more use..., frames and components on bike shop models are designed with this rider in mind. IOW, our big box bikes are POS designed for the huddled ignorant masses who ride their bike once every couple motnhs for two miles and call that a long ride. Wish I'd read that before I bought my bike...
Because my bike has been a major headache of late. Only a couple months into ownership and a no more than a few hundred miles on the bike, and it's one spoke after the other. *PING* POS wheel has only 24 spokes, and after a couple trouble free months of commuting and weekend riding, I've had three broken in two days of riding.
Guess if I'd ridden it twice and put it away forever after that as they apparently assume all big box buyers are going to do, then I'd be fine. But, I tried to actually USE the bike, so I guess I should have gone to the LBS...
My experience with the wheel and spokes does make me wish I'd been more aggressive in pursuing the used bike route or somehow scraped together another 100 or so bucks to get a Trek instead of the "Schwinn". Because as it turns out, short of Schwinn doing something about the wheel under warranty (doubtful, right?), I'm gonna end up spending close to that extra $100 to get a sturdier back wheel with more spokes to support my clyde stature anyway.
Sorry to be so sour. I used to think the "don't buy Wally World bikes" people were bike snobs. Now, I'm beginning to see they're just more experienced...