I had a pretty busy day yesterday dealing with a new cruiser bike.
First I'd ordered a Schwinn Point Beach from Walmart and find out they have one in stock locally , still in the box . I figure I got lucky this one . They said I could pick it up after 10 am , I was there around 9:45 looking on the floor to see if they had one together I could size up. No deal . So I go back to the pickup area and picked up my new bike . When they brought it out , I was surprised to see an almost perfect box . With all the bad things you read about buying a bike online I expected to see a crushed corner at least .
Took it home , assembled it in about two hours , greasing the front steering tube bearings which actually had some grease , another surprise . When I got to the rear wheel , while adjusting the derailleur , I noticed a grinding noise when I rotated the wheel. I'm thinking a bad freewheel , so I pulled it and it seemed ok , so I spin the wheel without the freewheel and it's the wheel bearing making the noise . I greased them and adjusted the tension and then they were quite like they should be . Then I adjusted the brakes and pumped up the tires .
She's ready to ride . I took off down the driveway and this is when it hits me how small the bike is . It feels smaller than my old HD .
So, I took it back to Walmart and returned it . Somebody's going to get a nicely assembled Point Beach .
I couldn't help but to notice the quality of the bike , definitely not up to what a Schwinn used to be . I also noticed the frame dropouts were modern , built for the 7 speed freewheel and derailleur. Couldn't convert to a single by just changing wheels .
Left Walmart , checked out Target , looking for a single speed cruiser. They had one for $130 , but I wasn't impressed with it .
After Target I stopped off at a Trek store and tried out a Trek Pure . Smooth bike , definitely better quality ,and its a full size bike, but I'm not ready to drop $500 bucks on one .
I get home , start searching around the net , and I find out I can get an Electra Cruise One from REI for $249. WOW ! Sounds like what I'm looking for . I had trouble ordering directly online , I had to order by phone , but I have one on the way . Should be here next week. Kirby

I can't imagine myself buying a brand new cruiser from a local retailer. That's what Craigslist is for-- finding a decent used cruiser. IF ya gotta buy new, grab a Worksman. Personally, i tend to get the best of both worlds-- I have a habit of buying used Worksmen (Worksmans?).

I've "cruised" Craigslist looking for deals , but most are too far away or in a sketchy part of town . Others are $100 bikes with $50 price tags . I prefer to buy from yardsales locally , but lately the bikes are bought up by dealers that discovered my area . Anyway I've wound up putting more money than a bikes worth in fixing up a used one . Got a garage full of them . Never seen an Electra used around here . This will be the base of my eventual ultimate cruiser . I ordered a Brooks B-67 for it today . Kirby

Hey, do whatcha will, but there's no part of any town that's sketchier than the typical Walmart.

Around here there are no cruisers on CL or in the yard sales, everybody has WM stuff listed for anywhere from 85%-125% of new retail. Most of my bikes are British built Raleighs and all except one I bought in either the Midwest or the Northeast. The only cruisers I have are WM Huffys that I bought new on clearance sale...

Aaron

I hit a few yardsales this morning . Saw a couple WM MTB's and a couple of kids 24" bikes that the folks were asking $150 each for . Kirby

There have been a few Electra bikes on the Pensacola CL in the last few months. tom