I work on BSOs, but only if the customer actually lets me fix the problems! I run into far too many people that have no working brakes, but want the flat fixed. I try to explain that were we living in a less litigious country, I would do it, but now, no way. Ya gotta have working brakes when it leaves.....which usually means truing the wheels, new brake pads (because the originals made of playdough apparently are worn weird) and a brake adjustment. Suddenly, $70-80 is needed to make this never-assembled correctly and never maintained bike safe to ride. "But I can buy a new one for that" they object. And so it goes......and the bikes these days are utter garbage. Walmart's price war strategy has left us with "bikes" that will not withstand actually being ridden!

And lately, it's been a rash of left cranks falling off on Nexts and Roadmasters. "But it's brand new!......."

I have noticed this too when I volunteer at the local bike collective. The cheap three piece cranks that are on a lot of the low end bikes just seem to fall apart. What makes some of them even worse is on a lot of them they don't even have a threaded bottom bracket so you can't just switch to a good used crank and bottom brackett.

Yep, and it's even steel left cranks that are coming off! And many are 165mm. Like I have lots of those just lying around! The freewheels have also been disintegrating and a record pace.... the person is JRA when suddenly it either locks up, or goes into "exerciser bike" mode, where you pedal furiously, but go nowhere.....

But that's Walmart's "squeeze the manufacturer to make it cheaper cheaper cheaper" policies at work. Makes what they sold 5 years ago look good.

The thing to remember is that until the flood of BSOs, a low-end bike would be around $300 after adjusting for inflation whether it was a 3-speed, department store 10 speed, or a cruiser. Today there are a few bike shop cruisers and hybrids at that price point while anything you see in a department store is scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I bought a BSO from a local sporting goods store earlier this year because it was on sale for $30: I figured at that price I could at least get my money out of it from parts. Nothing was set up right on it, and by the time I had it together properly I did about as much work on it as I would a used bike and the BB and pedals were broken before I rode it. I rode it a total of 40 miles before piecing it out.

+1 Adjusting for inflation, those old Free Spirits and Huffys I grew up with would be selling for an equivalent of $300 plus in todays dollars.

Imagine the corners the manufacturers have to cut in order to sell Walmart a bike (and make a profit on it, and ship it all the way from China) and have Walmart retail it for $79?

I just have a workshop in the home, but I won't work on the modern XMart stuff either. Its very frustrating, parts are a combination of plastic and potmetal, they are really meant to be throwaways. And at the end of the day, how much is someone who bought their bike for $79 willing to spend on repairs????

I would recommend anyone with an Xmart bike needing any significant repair to just donate it and get another one (or better yet, watch the used market, and pick up something better used).

+1 to wrk101.

The field of cheapness and nastiness has seen great strides in recent years, it seems.

And everything these guys have told you is true. If time is money
(and in the bike repair biz, it is) you cannot charge enough to repair these
to make it cost effective.

There is also the element of "You bought the ****er somewhere else,
why not get them to fix it ?"

One of the recent innovations in the ____Mart manufacturing business
is something called the "semi cartridge bottom bracket" which craps out
pretty quickly and is simply not serviceable. It contains all the worst
features of both the traditional ball bearing cup and cone bearing BB
combined with those of a sealed cartridge.

While it is possible to replace them with a sealed cartridge, the time
and cost involved quickly exceeds the cost of a new BSO from Target.

A quote from my friend and coworker at the coop, Mel

"Anyone can work on that high end Campy crap. It takes
a real mechanic to tune up a Roadmaster."

Y'know, if you're the original owner and the Wal-Mart bike is less than a year old, you can just take it back to the dealer. Most managers will just give you a new bike and send the old one to the crusher.

Even assembling them new, for putting them on the floor

in some modicum of working, is a longer time /effort
than the store management wants to pay for.

The unfortunate part is the slew of folks bringing their Wal-mart bikes into the local co-op. What often starts out as showing them how patch a tube ends up showing them how to adjust their brakes so the bike even stops.

I don't like the idea of letting them patch a tube on a bike that the brakes are disconnected because they rub the tire...

When you consider you bought a bike with labor in China making between $1 to $2 an hour (fully loaded), its not surprising that even a small upgrade job, when you have to pay US shop rates and overhead, will exceed the price of the bike. Who is going to spend $200 to refurbish a $79 bike? Its kind of like consumer electronics, its all throw away stuff. Now move up in quality, and all of a sudden, repair costs can be justified.

I've actually rebuilt my target "Schwinn". Tore it apart, cleaned, assembled and tuned -- very good exercise and learning experience.
Much more confident touching five time more expensive Fuji.

Considering price/performance and cost of acquisition of some xMart BSO, I have to agree with most opinions that would say to forego any temptation at "upgrading." Replace a part if indeed you must repair the low-end bike, but don't try to upgrade the BSO simply because to do so would end up costing FAR MORE than getting a solid/decent bike at an LBS to start with.

There's an irony to the xMart BSO, that I think many opinions on this thread have expressed. And that's the contradiction in trying to save money by buying a BSO in the first place, versus the reality that the BSO is likely to cost far more in maintenance and operations and never really serve well as a bike. The only time, I think a BSO is worth buying is for a kid needing a cheap bike that he will grow out quickly of -AND- who has a parent/guardian who can and is -willing- to assemble the bike properly.

Much of the reason why BSOs dominate the volume however, is simply because most buyers around the world aren't considering the total cost of ownership. It varies from person to person, but in general, has contributing factors such as Cost of Acquisition, Reliability, Serviceability, and Performance. Most folks only consider the first factor, cost of acquisition, and that dominates their thinking, which results in massive sales of BSOs. But given sufficient time of ownership, all buyers of BSOs tend to end up dealing with Performance (it typically sucks to start with), then the reliability of stuff that started out poorly performing and then failing to perform at all, and then the massive cost or even inability to obtain service for that bike.

Unless a buyer is going to service the bike himself (or has a line on a brother-in-law who fixes bikes for cheap and keeps parts in stock at his house - i.e. I'm that bro-in-law...unfortunately for me) and enjoys the masochistic endeavour of working with crappy parts (I don't enjoy that - but enjoy getting nagged by the big sis even less) and working often with that bike-shaped object, it really doesn't make sense to buy that BSO to start with.

So for the OP that posed the initial questions about upgrading, well, it depends on individual Utility one gets from certain tangible and intangible things, for example, maybe:

TCO = Total Cost of Ownership = Function(Acquistion, Reliability, Serviceability)

TCO typically is fixed and non-varying for any given use-profile. We know the cost, the reliability and the estimated costs for average repairs, so TCO tends to be well defined and non-varying for all customers.

Utility as a Consumer = Function(TCO, Performance, Subjective Qualities like paint/style/logos/etc.)

Most consumers would be well advised to maximize utility, but they input the wrong data into the formula. So instead of TCO, they put in just the Cost of Acquisition. And they have zero-clue about performance and what they want out of the bike (i.e. - it has "gears" on it - good enough!). And lastly, most buy because they like the "look" of a bike - aka, nice logos and paint jobs.

Based on maximizing utility, I would ask the OP, does it make sense to upgrade an xMart BSO? Or would it behoove him to start with a frameset/bike of known, higher quality in fit/finish/machining/geometry and then upgrade? I admit, both my daughters, one 9 yrs old and the other 3 yrs old, are currently riding xMart BSOs. And that's because they only will ride those for a couple of years, and aren't depending on them for reliable transportation. And with exception of replacing brake cables, brake pads, Vbrake noodles, and brake housing, and the occasional tire/tube, I won't consider upgrades to those bikes. It just doesn't compute.

I agree, I know that there are those here who will argue that the "higher end" BSO's from the box stores are "worth" the money as they are of better quality. But how many of those "higher end" box store BSO's are really worth the money? The sad thing is as you've said is that those who by the box store BSO's are the ones who can ill-afford to do so as they will not get the usage and reliability out of them that one would out of a low end LBS bike.

The most obvious repair that will occur depending on how often it's ridden is that the chain/cassette/freewheel is going to need replacing. A new chain/cassette/freewheel is going to cost more than the bike is worse. The next most obvious repair that they're going to need is a new wheel when the wheel ends up getting tacoed.

Then as has been said, they're not assembled by people who know what they're doing, they're made from the cheapest components. So it's no wonder that many LBS' won't work on them.

I was in the process of reading a mega long thread of Walmart bikes and came accross an interesting message. Someone said he changed the brake levers, brakes, derailleurs and shifters on a Walmart bike. Now, it may not be exactly the same as having a high-end bike. But, it's one way of trying to get higher-end for a lower price.

They are still are much more heavy than they should be, which you cannot fix with any kind of upgrades (well, significantly).
I got mine to shift smoothly and fast, but I need to tune it every other week. So, for riding to Safeway it works as intended -- takes me there; no one wants to steal it

Is it? Take the original cost of the bike, then add the cost of the replacement components and the labor to install them and see if the total isn't equal to or more than a decent entry level bike from an LBS.

Well, I suppose it does depend on the situation. I saw a Diadora Palermo at Sports Experts here in Canada on sale for $279 (regular price $350) that had an Altus front derailleur and Acera rear derailleur. I had V-brakes and a rigid fork. So, there was no risk of having a cheap suspension fork or cheap disc brakes. It was fairly light and looked like it had acceptable pedals and crankset. In other words, they were not largely made out of plastic. Had I switched the shifters to Falcon friction shifters and replaced the brake levers with Shimano Deore, I think it would have been a very nice bike. Of course, being a little materialistic and perfectionist, I would have changed the seatpost and bars to silver/chrome ones and of course replaced the saddle. But, who doesn't want to replace the saddle on a complete bike?

+1 again. Do that and you end up spending good money and coupling your new parts with wheels, freewheel, crankset, bottom bracket, and cockpit that comes on a _Mart bike, along with the _Mart frame. And you have no real warranty support. Not wise at all.

hey, I bought a low end used lbs bike and have done all that and more and probably spend 5 times what I did for the bike itself (and will have spend more once I build wheels for it), but I know that and accept it and consider it an expensive hands on clinic in bike repair having serviced/replaced pretty much everything on it.

Instead, find bike shop quality bikes on craigslist and fix those up. Many can be had in the $20-$50 range if you look carefully. Then when you're done you might actually end up with a nice bike that doesn't weigh 30-40 pounds.

I can understand people's concerns over an $80 bicycle. However, I have a $250 CCM Excelsior from Canadian Tire that has served me well for several years and that I still use today to do my groceries, etc. It has plastic cranks and plastic pedals. It also has Microshift shifters and a Tourney rear derailleur. And with the seatpost suspsension (stock), 700x45 Kenda Keen Commuter tires (my purchase) and Velo Plush saddle (my purchase), I can tell you I practically don't even feel the road at all. If I pass over small rocks for example, I don't feel it. Heck, I can't even feel train tracks. It's also the most comfortable bike I've ever sat on. I used to bike year-round with the same bikes and because my former superintendant did not let me keep bikes inside, a lot of my bikes only lasted a year or two. So, I passed through many bikes. I've also had a GT Karakoram from 1992 in the past and know what it felt like to ride a bike with Deore LX and DX. DX was higher than LX at the time. Fact is, I had sold it to my father after a year because I was always concerned it would get stolen. So, I chose to go to work on department store bicycles.

It's true that I accumulated almost all the parts necessary to complete a touring bike and will probably be done with that project this year. But, a lot of parts were purchased with the money from two consecutive x-mases when members of my family gave me several hundred dollars. And this year I literally started going to a food bank to be able to eat and found I could save money for the first time in a while. So, I bought bicycle parts with the money left over knowing I'll pay back the money on my credit card once I get my x-mas money. So, in reality, this will be a touring bike bought by x-mas money.

I think it's almost awkward and weird to try to "defend" department store bicycles. Right now, both my bicycles were bought at Canadian Tire. My other bike is a $150 bike that's now over 6 years old and it's my winter bike. I haven't replaced the derailleurs yet although the front derailleur is pretty much seized by now. Yet, it's still useable as a winter bike. Most of my trips are less than 6 miles one way or a maximum of 12 miles.

Will I enjoy my touring bike? Probably. But I know many people find it almost insane to spend $800 on a bicycle and need explanations from people to understand why these bicycles even exist. Fact is, people who want a bicycle as a method of transportation could see a lot of value in a $250 bike that can get them from point A to point B in a lot less time than walking without having to pay to ride a taxi or a bus. I put fenders, a backrack, panniers, a bell, a kickstand, switched the saddle, tires and brake levers (to Shimano Acera). I bought a lot of those things either on sale or for a low price. And this is my "vehicle" that I use to get around with. As a matter of fact, I have a yellow biking jacket, full finger gloves, a helmet, clear sunglasses and hiking boots and always feel safe when I'm riding. And my $250 bike was on sale for $220.

Sounds like a big difference between an $80 bike and what you have. Some of those components are reasonable. Some of them won't survive daily cycling chores, but others will undoubtedly last a while.

Also let's keep in mind the old saying, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear." Or as other's have said/misquoted, "you can't polish a turd." Actually you can, you just end up with a shiny turd.