WestMichiganGuy

Thank you very much.. and I plan to Sadly, it is now raining or I would be out on it... decent enough to ride, cheap enough to not get hit hard when it does die for whatever reason.

exile

Just to be on the safe side you might want to bring it to a bike shop to have them look over it to make sure everything is working properly. I am not sure about the wal mart you bought it from, but most places don't have a bike mechanic put together the bike.

ACrowe25

Congrats OP!

I'm also from MI (Ann Arbor) and a new guy here. Only complaint I have is don't sell yourself short! I too thought I wouldn't be able to get a long ride or two in, boy was I proven wrong. Never let your mind say "I can't do it today, or... I'm going to turn around and head home". Before to take off have an idea of what you want to accomplish and DO IT.

Also, MI is great biking weather lol. Especially for us big guys with the extra insulation.

Enjoy the bike, and please don't ever sell yourself short again brother. Just have a plan and succeed. All there is too it. Post your success stories along the way too!

MRT2

it might. OP outweighs me by 100 lbs, and I wouldn't ride on those stock wheels.

WestMichiganGuy

The WalMart I got it at has an outside cycling company come in and assemble all their bikes. I actually was there as they finished the bike and spoke to them about it and my concerns and whatnot. They even did some minor adjustments for me before I bought it.

WestMichiganGuy

There is my little ray of sunshine ! And I am sure you only ride on gold lined, quadruple wall wheels blessed by the tears of circumcised children and the blood of albino cows. That is, IF it has a name brand on it as well..

eja_ bottecchia

lol

eja_ bottecchia

It won't die, unless it gets destroyed by a steam roller. Seriously, bikes such as the one you bought are sturdier than people give 'em credit for. If you take care of it, don't leave it out in the elements and don't make a habit of crashing into trees or walls, that bike will last you for a very longggg time.

Enjoy the ride and welcome to the tribe...even if some of the tribe's people aren't initially very welcoming, when the c a c a hits the fan, we ALL stick up for each other.

Dave Cutter

Many.. if not MOST of us have started with and/or still own a "big box store" bicycle. Bicycles are solid known technology that work well at all cost levels. A couple of my bicycles are 30 year old technology.... and they are still great rides. Enjoy and welcome to cycling.

exile

Go out and enjoy as much as you can (even in the rain). It's great that your wal-mart has and outside shop come in and put together the bikes. I've been a few places where whomever was on duty was expected to put bikes together and the results were hit and miss.

raqball

OP..

1st of all congrats on the bike!

Ride that thing till the wheels fall off then decide if you want to buy new wheels or upgrade / buy a new bike..

I have no issues whatsoever with someone new to cycling purchasing a Walmart bike. Your investment is low so if cycling is not for you, you've lost little..

Beware though, if it is for you the upgrade / new bike bug is going to bite you so start saving :-)

MRT2

Proof is in the riding. Save your energy for the road because you will need it if you really care enough about yourself and about riding to back up your words with deeds. If you stick with riding long enough to ride 100 hours, I will reconsider my position on Wal Mart bikes. Come back here and tell us how you rode 10 Miles, 20 Miles, 30 Miles on your new bike in the first month. Tell us how you rode 100 Miles in a week by the end of the summer, or took the bike with you on vacation and rode the length of a long bike trail. Tell us in 4 or 5 months out how you conquered hills on your bike you would have walked up in your first week. Tell us in 4 or 5 months how you didn't think it was possible to ride 3 or 4 hours continuously, but now you do it every Saturday.

Or, you could still be riding around the block, on the sidewalk, this time next year. Your choice.

oddjob2

If I were in Grand Rapids, I'd be bidding on these;

shopgoodwill.com - #16818660 - Green Trek Mountain Track 820 BIke - 6/16/2014 1:17:03 PM

shopgoodwill.com - #16809286 - Men's Schwinn Frontier Bicycle - 6/16/2014 7:04:36 AM

In your backyard
Specialized Bike

Miyata Parkrunner mountain bike

MRT2

Something odd with the handlebar setup of that Miyata, but could be easily fixed.

WestPablo

This is a common opinion here at BF. It's nothing unusual. Xmart bikes have a history of having the cheapest components improperly installed upon their frames.

MRT2 is clearly disappointed at the OP's choice for a bicycle. However, this bicycle is hopefully NOT the only bicycle the OP will ever own. He will most certainly purchase other bicycles and this one will most assuredly prove to be a bicycle from which he will gain much valued experience.

The OP is a novice cyclist. He is not aware of the long history of failed Xmart bikes or what particular weaknesses they typically possess. Therefore, he cannot be held completely responsible for making the choice of bicycle that he deemed proper for himself. However, at the end of the day, the OP has free-will and the right to make his own decisions and purchase his own bicyces, with or without our approval. We can only hope that his purchase brings him happiness!

IMHO, there are only two things fundamentally and typically wrong with Xmart bikes. First of all, they all have the cheapest of components attached. Next, those components stand a good chance of being installed improperly, due to untrained employees, who have either little, or no bicycle building skills.

Walmart profits from the cheap mass production of bicycle frames. It could not maintain its profit margin on those frames, without the addition of the cheapest of bicycle components placed upon those frames. The employees installing those components are some of the most poorly paid employees living within these United States.

Most tall guys have difficulty with finding the right sized bicycle or frame. Patience is not a virtue for most of them either!

No need to apologize. You're just expressing your opinion out of profound concern and disappointment. Besides, you've stated nothing that's incorrect here, however insensitive.

Now, I do strenuously object to this statement! I've gotten quite a bit of fishing equipment from Walmart, including about 4 or five fishing rods. Fishing rods, that are still in great condition, even after over a decade of service and hundreds of pounds of Walleye later...Yummy!

So let's just do that! Let's prove you wrong! It would be beneficial to us all, if we could all be made aware of the continued happiness and success that the OP experiences from the purchase of this bicycle. He could take note of his rides on a daily basis and sometime later report back to us the number of miles in distance that he's catalogued. He could also keep track of the type of maintenance he performs on his bicycle. Well, that's if he should decide to embrace this 6 month challenge that you've offered.

There are many of us here who might out weigh you, MRT2. There are many of us who started out on an Xmart bike too, not knowing full well the type of bicycle we were about to use for our new hobby either.

Just remember: We all had to start somewhere. This is merely the OP's starting point. I'm most certain that all of his future bicycle choices will be different from one another. Surely, this one deserves the right to be different, as well. It deserves that right, due to freedom of choice...

Enjoy your new bike, OP!

PS.

The only concern that I have is one with regards to safety. I only hope that the OP has the bike properly evaluated mechanically, in the interest of safety. Of course, I also hope that this outside assembly company is more proficient than the usual inept employees hired to build these bicycles.

Null66

Congrats on the bike.

If you can spin a wrench and or watch youtube videos you can make this work. Mostly assembly can be an issue. So give it a once over.

There are lot of people who depend upon these bikes for getting to work and such.

Please understand he needs to get moving now, while the motivation is there. If he gets moving and stays moving, 10 of these bikes is a rounding error.... He's doing right for himself, his family and all those that care for him.

eja_ bottecchia

Good grief, a new cyclist come here to share the joy of his new bike purchase. All of the sudden this happy occasion turns into a long-winded discussion about what bike the OP should have bought, dire predictions about his wheels falling apart in mid ride and some sort of a challenge to ride more than just a few miles around the block.

OP, enjoy your new bike, have fun riding it and pay no attention to the nattering naboobs of negativity. You will know when you are ready to move to the next level of cycling. When you do, you may wish to consider donating your bike to the local bike co-op where it will make a great bike for yet another new rider.

raqball

+1

NurseWizzle

I'll be honest, I wish I would have started with a really cheap bike. I spent a lot of money on a bike that felt comfortable, but in the end wasn't really what I wanted. I should have dropped $85-100 on something cheaper to figure out what I really did want.

Astrozombie

You will want to be able to get decent leg extension without "maxing out" the seat post, that's generally what they mean by "size" (The graphics look better than when I bought one of those) remove the dork disc and get some slicks ASAP.
I'm not trying to be negative, but when i got mine i didn't know anything about bikes and one day decided "it's $100 and i'm tired of walking to the bus/train stop plus i'll be able to ride around the neighborhood once in a while" then later I came to regret it when I saw "legit" Aluminum Hybrids on craigslist for ~$150.

It would really be great if they didn't bother with suspension forks on these entry level bikes IDK why they do that (people say not to even attempt to MTB with them)

Make sure everything works correctly, get a nice saddle and some bike shorts, safety gear, have fun!

WestMichiganGuy

Again, I am not here to stroke your ego or prove anything to you. Secondly, as someone who was partially disabled for years after returning home from deployment, has not been on a bike in 20 years, and is over 350 lbs, I am doubting I would be riding 100 miles in a week on any bike or of any make whatsoever. You are just getting petty, stupid, and trying to be annoying now.

How about you come back to me with your God bike after you rode a wheelie off a 45 foot drop and did 3 backflips on the way down and maybe, just maybe, I will change my opinion about your bike.

WestMichiganGuy

Thank you very much. And you are right, with me and many people, you have to do something while you have the urge and bug to do it.. you wait too long and ya end up just saying "screw it" and moving on.. even if the initial investment is something cheap, it will keep the interest and move someone forward into something better, and then again, and again.. the key is just staying motivated and excited about it

Johnny Mullet

I went through the same thing when I started riding. I was posting pictures of my Huffy and the guys on the forum (my very own forum to boot) were raggin on my Huffy and said I need a better bike, blah, bla, blah. I was talked into getting a road bike and sadly, I cannot even ride the thing because I am too large for that kind of riding position and Iwent back to riding my trusty Huffy.

I really do like that color combo on your bike. Looks nice!

WestPablo

Hi there, West_Guy!

I really don't know quite how to begin to express what I'm feeling right now. I've spent the better part of an entire day trying to determine exactly how to phrase what I'm about to say. I know that I would like to simply say, "Congrats! Ride her like you stole her!", but that's not really what I'm feeling...

When we purchase bicycles we want to enjoy our purchases. We want to cycle knowing that we're not going to have any structural or mechanical issues with the bicycle. We simply want to have fun, express our freedom, and cycle safely. For the most part I feel that we could do that without any hesitation at all. However, with department store bikes, we have to take extra precaution concerning safety, because of the large possibility that they were assembled improperly with inferior parts.

Most of us are either overweight now, or we were at one time or another. Just like everyone has to be concerned about their personal safety whenever cycling, it goes double for us, because of the increased risk taken, if we should have an accident while riding a bicycle. Our excess weight will cause us to suffer a greater impact than the average cyclist. This is the reason that we need to take extra care and do diligent research, before we embark upon a bicycle purchase. As overweight people, buying a bicycle from a department store presents us with greater risk to our personal safety, primarily due to improper assembly and cheap parts. All features of Xmart store bicycles of which most Bike Forums members are already aware.

I know that we all enjoy freewill and freedom of choice as Americans. However, we sometimes need to exhibit greater concern when using our freewill when making those choices.

Like MRT2, I too was kind of disappointed with your decision to purchase a department store bicycle, because of the increased risk that I feel that you're taking, being well over three hundred pounds and all. However, I'd still like to be there for you regardless of your bike choice.

I really do want you to enjoy your bicycle and have as much fun and exercise as anybody else. It's just that I can't help but to worry about your wheels holding up while you're cycling. I also worry about your bicycle failing catastrophically and suddenly, possibly causing you injury.

So there you have it! On one hand, I'd like to congratulate you for your new bicycle purchase and wish you well. OTOH, I feel like this is some kind of a solemn occasion.

There were better choices...

PS.

If you had gotten a steel single speed, I would possibly worry less, I don't know. I think I even reluctantly recommended an Xmart single speed to you at one time. I most probably would have regretted that recommendation too!

WestMichiganGuy

Thanks The colors actually match the PC I just built a few weeks ago lol