So first off I'm fairly new into cycling as an adult. That being said I looked into getting a bike for commuting purposes decided to get a road bike or cyclocross style that way I can do events in the future. This is where the woops came into play. I bought a cheap kent bike from walmart with plans to upgrade later on. I have sense found out you never want to do that but now I am faced with fixing up my cheap-o- bike or just save up and buy from a bike store. Need advice if keep it what should I upgrade first?

You need to decide what you want the bike to do that it cannot do now and then people can give some advice. For example, I am a heavy guy; and if I have problems with the wheels not being durable enough I may ask for an advice on some stronger wheels. Try doing what you want the bike to do. If it is turns out inadequate for that, you need to figure out what the problem is. Maybe the bike is fine for your commute and you do not need to upgrade at all.

I advise not upgrading anything on that bike - ride it and consider it a learning experience. Hopefully it's not so bad that you're turned off from riding forever.

Which "Kent", and what's wrong with it? IMO, whenever you "upgrade" you should know exactly what it is you're fixing before you spend the money.

Someone said an inexperienced rider on a walmart bike can't tell the difference. Not so sure experienced riders would pass a blind taste test. Worst part of the walmart bike is it may not last long before needing tightening or something just plain brakes. Until that happens it'll get you where you need to go. Some have even suggested that road bikes in general are not particularly faster than hybrids or even mtn bikes. Aside from gearing ratios and a little more rubber friction on the road the rest is on you the rider. The 2-3 even 5 pounds extra weight means nothing to someone who's 30+ pounds overweight themselves. I suspect elite racers back in 1973 were riding worse bikes.

Congrats on your new bike. I would suggest that you ride it as is and save the upgrades money towards a specific new quality bike. Think long and hard about your riding preferences and once you saved up the money, go try a few out at local bike stores and bring one home with you.

No sense spending money upgrading a cheap bike. Someone here posted a thread about fixing up their "cool" Schwinn, but it wasn't cool at all.

Just curious, how did you find out that you never want to buy a cheap bike from Walmart or Sears? If it was from reading bike snob /LBS affiliated personnel comments on BF, my advice is to enjoy your bike as is and when it no longer serves your purposes perhaps then ask around to include BF and your local bike stores.

I agree with most of what you said, but this just isn't true. Elite race bikes from 1973 are way better than modern department store bikes.

I did the same thing back in 2009 when I bought a Kent bike shaped mountain object. I rode it about 20-30 times to work before it sat for 6 years. When I eventually started riding it again and it felt small so I sold it off. Then I ended up buying bikes off craigslist to try since I could sell them for about the same price I paid. In the end, I am left with a Sirrus Sport and 29er hardtail for the mountains and I am happy.

Are you still within the return period of the walmart bike? Is it your size? If it fits you, ride it for until you decide what to do. You many not even like cycling and it is better to have a couple hundred dollar bike sitting in the garage than a $1k bike.

Upgrading a Walmart bike would just be a waste of your money. Get something from a bike store after you have saved up.

Tires and wheels would be the first upgrade IMO, then probably saddle. Depending on what's there I think a bottom bracket and crankset is worthwhile.

In my experience, cheap bikes from discount stores almost always have fundamental problems with the frame, and every single thing on them from the headset to the bottom bracket are of the absolute cheapest make they can get. Most dangerous, I've actually seen the brakes simply snap off on relatively new Wal*Mart bikes when a kid tried to stop. The brake boss just snapped off the frame.

There's no upgrading that. I would do only required maintenance and save my money for a good used bike, or a proper bike from a bike store or elsewhere.

I actually got my road bike from BikesDirect - if you are reasonably comfortable with a wrench, it's a good option. I got what would be a $1500 road bike if bought locally for $800, and 4 years later I still love it. It's actually held up better than either of the bikes I bought from the LBS (one for more money).

I also found this to be true. BD has it's niche and I think it is a great option for those between a big box bike and a more serious cyclist. I am happy with all three bikes I have bought from them.
Walmart bikes are also good for the person who wants a bike hanging in their garage so that when the door is open, all their neighbors can see that they have a bike shaped object, lol

Just curious, but which bike did you buy from BD? Was looking at some of the Motobecanes with 105 and they seem to be decent no nonsense bikes.

OP, I agree with the others to try to not spend too much on your current bike. I would only stick to the basics: tires (if needed), brake shoes (coolstop salmon can improve them) and optionally the saddle if its killing your rear end.

I have a GMC Denali, a Bikes Direct SST, and a build up from a Nashbar Aluminum Road frame. I bought a Bikes Direct Hays MTB for my son, and for my wife an Aggressor GT from Performance Bikes, our only bike store bike. (I have approximately 40,000 miles on those three bikes over about 7-8 years)

There is nothing wrong with upgrading the Kent road bike, and IME literally no benefit at all from using a local bike shop for an entry level bike. The Kent is going for $129 right now, and I expect that anything you replace will be an upgrade. Replacing those parts are cheap if you do it yourself. I suggest just upgrading anything that breaks or wears out.

True. Even today many of those bikes are still better and some would question whether the "department store" qualifier is necessary. For cyclocross events newish bikes are preferable, but there is much to be said for an old road bike. They are also among the best frames for "upgrades" if you are so inclined.

To the OP: I agree with what others have said about riding what you have until you decide if you even need something else and if so what you want, but I would suggest that there is much value to be had in used bikes so maybe just start browsing craigslist and learn about the options available. You can find some supremely crappy used bikes for $150 or so, but also some very nice bikes for that kind of money.

Don't upgrade anything based on our advice. Ride it. You will know soon enough what needs upgrading. Just be frugal. To put money in this bike might not be the best value. But get some use out of it and learn what's good and what's not. You'll know in time whether to keep it or buy a better bike. And when if you buy something else, keep this. You may need a nice bike that is reliable and comfortable and efficient, but you will almost surely need a beater bike as well, a bike that you don't care about if it gets stolen, vandalized or falls into disrepair.

At that price, buy another one and keep the old one for spare parts. Unless you don't like the bike in the first place. You can spend more than that on a nice saddle alone, so going down the upgrade path on a BSO is not money well spent.

Thanks for all the advice. I do like the bike so far. I might just upgrade to a decent wheelset and set of tires in the near future and keep the rest the way it is and upgrade to a better bike down the road. I definitely have noticed some tightening that needs done about everytime I ride but not a big deal.

This is very good advice!


Also, your Walmart bike just might prove to be a good bike upon which you can hone your bicycle mechanic skills. Skills you'll most likely need for your next quality bike!

I've thought that, buy another for spare parts and you're still ahead, and have even said it sometimes. But when you get down to it, if I had a Kent Road Bike I wouldn't really want the same parts on it. Why would you not want a Claris Derailleur replacing whatever is on it now? Or even Tourney, they work well enough.

If I was thinking of riding that bike, or a similar bike, for potentially thousands of miles I wouldn't think twice about an inexpensive wheelset. If it's lighter, stays true, the axle doesn't bend and it has a hub that I don't have to grease after riding through water puddles, is it really that important that the wheels cost more than the bike? I just disagree with the perspective that it's not well spent - in my opinion it improves the bike more, for less money, than a new wheelset on a mid-range bike would.

I wouldn't put aero carbon wheels on it but a $20 bottom bracket, sure! Or splurge $30 Sora brakes; they're exactly as useful on that bike as on any other. Just know that there are limits to what you can reasonably expect from a $129 bike.

You really think so? I don't know. Tires:$80/pr.; Wheels: $120/pr; Saddle: $90 - $140; BB: ~$40; Double Crankset: worth upgrading to: $60. And all this is going to be hung on a High Tensile Steel frame of low pedigree? I'm just saying. Back in the days when decent tandems started at $3K. It made sense to start out on a dept. store model <$400, and make judicious upgrades: saddle(s) no. 1, BB(s) (not cranksets) no. 2. Tires (not wheels) no 3, and see how that goes.

Anyone who has "events" in mind should not, IMO, expect a dept. store bike to pass muster. True story: after riding the dept. store tandem a little while we decided to join a tandem club. We knew better than to bring our Kent to a group ride. So we shopped for a tandem that was at the limit of what we could afford. $1000. After a lot of research I bought a Raleigh Coupe: 700C wheels, Shimano 105 components, Avid BB7 discs f/r. Not at all a slouch of a bike. When we showed up for our first ride there was an immediate challenge from the ride organizers about our bike and we eventually agreed to participate under the understanding that we were on our own. The usual "no one is dropped" policy would not apply to us. We weren't dropped. In fact on subsequent rides we have often waited while other teams needed to repair bikes costing 5x as much.

It isn't always what it costs that makes the difference, but there are limits.

Adjusting for being more of a cheapskate,
tires $40/pair (eg, Rubino Pro on sale)
saddle: $15-$20
UN55 BB: $20

Wheels, about that or more but worth it. Although I have spent nearly half that on wheels, which were improvement on stock. The crankset, it would depend on what's there IMO. You can live with whatever is there, but lighter and rounder is nice.

Tires especially. Life is too short to ride crappy tires, on any bike.

The ride organizers were out of line weren't they, and as it turned out completely wrong.

I've done a few events and never saw an eyebrow raised.

This. Listen to us even when we say don't listen to us. You'll know later what changes you want to make, and you only learn that by experience.

I was curious about this so I looked up the $129 Kent. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it might have been. I can't find any spec details, but it at least looks like a basic steel bike. That's a big improvement over a lot of what I've seen in big box stores in recent years.

A lot of the bikes I've seen at these stores have been designed in ways that I just couldn't understand -- bulky, bulging frames with components attached in all kinds of non-standard ways. In a lot of ways they just couldn't be upgraded.

If the new Kent is a basic steel road frame with a 1" threaded fork, a BSA bottom bracket, 130mm spaced rear dropouts and maybe even a 27.2 seatpost (as it appears to be) then the case for upgrading gets a lot better. You can replace things bit by bit as you see the need. Eventually you can even upgrade the frame and you've got a whole new bike, George Washington's Axe style.

The key, I think, is to always upgrade to parts that you'll actually want rather than parts that you think are somehow appropriate for the lowly status of the bike you're putting them on. I say that with the caveat that I think the suggestions like UN55 bottom bracket and Sora components are appropriate. If your ultimate goal is to have an Ultegra-equipped carbon wonderbike, then it's probably best to just buy one. But if you goal is to have a basic, utilitarian bike with reliable components, you can do it one piece at a time.

Of course, buying a new bike, even of the sort just described, is probably cheaper than upgrading one piece at a time, but if budget doesn't allow the new bike you can enjoy as much as you can afford in the short run and might eventually discover that you don't really need to replace everything after all. Also, if the new bike you upgrade to is an entry-level Claris equipped bike (nothing wrong with that), you'll already have things like nicer wheels, tires, saddles...whatever was important to you(!)...to put on it.