I'm sorry, but that term is incorrect. The word you are looking for is "craptacular." For example, here is a proper usage of both terms: "I've seen many crapulous things in this world, but the Rosie O'Donnell swimsuit calendar, well, that was just craptacular."

i just think its a really sad, telling commentary on this country that the two Walmart bicycles mentioned so far are named after SUVs.

Yeah... because the Saturn Ion and Buick Century have so much marketing cachet to bring to the table.
But hey, if you don't like it, there's a multitude of Jeep mountain bikes to choose from. Or you can go with the PT Cruiser -- they've got a big ol' line of low end bikes too (though I don't know if Wal-Mart specifically sells them).

There are other bikes out there for which I would find it interesting if they had any kind of reasonable "non-critical user" quality. For example, sears.com is offering a couple of Schwinns for $135 and $152, with a rebate on the shipping costs. So this would be the final price for a fully assembled bike. They also have some Mongoose-branded bikes in the same price range.

While I have no doubt that a road warrior or serious mountain biker would beat these into junk in short order, my question is whether such a bike might serve the casual commuter, who rides 3-4 miles on a bike path, for a few years.

I know here on the Wisconsin-Madison campus, where there are thousands of bikes used by students, about 1/3rd of those in the racks are Huffy, Mongoose, Next, and various store brands. Many of these look like they have been through a few years of use. So I'm not certain these bikes are as junky as sometimes portrayed here. I'm not saying that they would be good choices for someone who does century rides frequently.

I thought millions of Chinese rode crappy Chinese bicycles daily...? Don't tell me that they have to replace them every few months?

I couldn't believe it when I ran across a $400 bike from Marin named the Belvedere. I know this is after a nearby town, but my goodness, what a load of crap the Plymouth Belvedere was.

This is getting interesting. Are we going to take bets on what breaks first? My money is on the pedals.

Yes, The Huffys and Next can and, and do last for years with a average rider. But I did kill a huffy this year in 30 days. I put 748 miles of hard ridding on it before it bent the head tub out of shape. I am 175 LBS. so I don't think it was the weight that casued the head tube to bell out out the top and bottom. I rode that bike with a average speed of 17 MPH. My top speed on it was 37 mph. So you can say that I just road the crap out of it. I paid $25.00 for it, it was a 1989 frame with stock parts.

Then got the Peugeot for $10.00 and have put 3600 miles on it from the 1st of April to now. I killed the back rim. It has two cracks in the rim. I ride it with a average speed of 18 mph and a top speed of 38 mph. I have made it to work in 41 min. on the Peugeot for the 17.2 miles commute (one way). My Average ride to work was 55 min.
So on the average I was doing a 18.76 mph average speed.

Perhaps. But Mr. Belvedere was awesome!

Somehow I don't think we're talking about the same bicycles...most of the chinese bikes you see in the pictures of Beijing are single-speed steel with coaster brakes.

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I thought millions of Chinese rode crappy Chinese bicycles daily...? Don't tell me that they have to replace them every few months?

If we don't count crappy braking and really crappy shifting, I put my stake on (probably rear) wheel getting out of true by 5+mm. Unless Cigtech tensions/trues the wheel before that. Machine built wheels are way undertensioned and weak. If he does, I vote for the rear freehub/cassette giving in the ghost. Stem could also break if he is a masher.

You seem to go through a lot of inexpensive bikes. I am wondering do you work at maitaining them or just toss them when they stop working? The Peugeot with a bad rear wheel sounds like an easy enough fix so why did you get rid of it? Also as are you leaving late or just really phsyced to get to work? Why ride so fast too work? I can understand coming home fast but is there a reason to be so concerned with time/speed? If you went a little slower do you think it might have less of a destructive effect on the bikes you ride?

I'm rebuilding the Peugeot. It will be with me for a long time. To much salt down here to try to keep the rust off a bike. Mostly the rust gets to the nuts and bolts. Are now the nuts and blots are covered in rust along with the cassette and spocks, nut on the threaded headset and starting to show on the frame. So see I need to tear it all the way down and rebuild the hole bike.

I got the Denali for two reason, First needed it NOW. And just because I know it would start a big debate on this forum.... not really. Just want to see how long it could stand up to a commuters daily ride.

I do believe you're correct with the "most" part. I found this excellent photo essay months ago, and often look back to it (I am traveling to China soon and find it interesting)... There are some road bikes for very cheap:

No, that was the correct usage. Let me give you an example. "I've seen some pretty poor stuff - the low end Shimano derailleurs, for example, are pretty crapulous, but the Shaino FAKE Shimano derailleurs on the Chinese made roadbike in my garage, well, those are just craptacular"

Oh, and OP - PLEASE go and hunt down a higher end used bike. None of my bikes would be ridden into the dirt after 3000 miles. I took a look on Ebay, and it does seem as if decent bikes are few and far between in Florida, but hunt one down - it's worth it.

I believe he's pointed out that he's rebuilding his Peugeot and he's using the Denali in the meantime.

No, I'm talking about a GOOD bike. The mid-low end Peugeots of the late 70's to early 80's, while superior to the Denali, are still not awesome bikes. I have one that I got for free, and I'm expecting two more for £5 in the next week or so. I have one 531 Falcon tourer that I got for nothing, and a 531 Raleigh Royal, with Suntour Cyclone gruppo, that I paid £23 for. That's the sort of thing. It's worth the extra £15.

I don't shop at Walmart. I'm certainly not going to buy a bike there.

This is not as easy as it sounds in some areas. In my town, good used bikes are nonexistant at bike shops, difficult to find on Craigslist (as in you'll spend months looking in Cig's price range), and ebay shipping turns a decent find into something overpriced. You CAN find super bargains at some yard sales, but a LOT of duds have to be waded through in the process.

The deals you speak of in the above post are not to be found around here unless you spend your weekend combing crappy yard sales. And have a lot of luck. And after you get your $10 bike home stripping it for that one part that's useful, and combining it over a period of many weeks with other bikes that had a few good parts here and there. Sounds fun, I don't ever seem to have the time, though.

I envy the folks who live in areas where these $10 bikes flow freely. It just isn't happening in my neck of the woods. Even the craptastic rusty Schwinn Varsity's go for $50-100.

That's why a new bike looks real attractive, and cheap, to some.

Tell me about it. I've looked at the San Francisco craigslist bike listings a few times. They get more listings there in a single day than we get here in a month (and 85% of the listings here are for mountain bikes -- which I suppose is nice if that's what you're looking for). Feh.

I am in China and I can say that I have yet to see a single coaster brake. There may be some bikes with them, I have yet to see any; I have only been living here for about three months. Tey typicaly have a tightning band on drum for the rear brake and a low end front brake. On the higher end bikes the front brake has all rod (no cable) linkage. I can take and post a picture if anyone wants to see one.


In general, they are steel bikes with a low top tube (what I grew up calling "girls bikes," due to a design that made them easy to ride while wearing a skirt). They are most often single speed (8-9 out of 10). ONe thing I have found is that the Chinese are lighter than westerners and they do not ride as hard. Within the first two weeks, before finding outt hat we can not push these bikes, I broke a chain (the chainline is way off) and another westerner tore the pedal out of the crank arm.

I went with a better quality bike than the generic Chinese bike; so, I have not had too many component quality problems other then the chainline issue.

I have decided to go and look at a better quality bike (I have decided that a single spped is not for me as an only bike) today. So, I will try to provide pictures of what is on the market. All of the bikes, even the better ones, are closer to what a westerner would consider to be 'mart grade bikes. I have seen no bikes that I would call a good bike-shop grade bike.

It may be a nice starter bike, but I still feel a quality used bike would have been a better option in most cases....if for one reason: no oddball parts. It's easier for the owner to get it fixed when the parts can be easily found.

OK, I'm going to jump in and add my $0.02, this being the internet and all.

Regarding the quote, unless they breed roadies (even weekend roadies) different down in your parts, I have a hard time believing this. The other day I was riding my SS on errands (1/2 gallon of chicken broth on my bag), and I was caught by some roadies doing 22mph+, slightly uphill, at 6500ft ASL - and that was at the end of thier ride. (This isn't to brag - I've been left clutching my chest in a Cat 4 Crit, so I know I'm not "all that".) 18mph on a cheaper, heavier bike isn't anything to sneeze at, and the mileage that CIG puts on a bike is awesome - so I'm not knocking his efforts. But I'm sure that while there are roadies that ride "carbon-queens", but there are A LOT of guys and gals out there that don't often do 18mph even when cooling down after a training ride.

I'm interested to see what happens to the Denali. But that frame isn't the same (in actuality or performance) as the Taiwanese frame on my $1000 Lemond, and it certainly ain't close to a good AL Cannondale. You go get what you pay for to some degree, despite what some would believe. EDIT: That doesn't neccesarily mean that CIG's new frame is crap (only time will tell) - it might be a solid frame that will serve him well. But it's not going to measure up to better designed, lighter, higher performance frames on more expensive bikes.

I think CIG is wasting his money upgrading those components. If he wants something with modern components, and something new, he should spend $500 or $600 on a low end Trek (etc) roadbike on sale from an LBS (which will probably come with lifetime adjustments). Overall it's going to be a much better bike, and it will be harder for him to ride it into the ground. And it won't cost that much more.

I do agree that getting a used bike can be a PITA. Before I bought my Rush Hour new on Ebay, I spent 6 months watching CL, local EBay, yard sales, and thrift shops for a decent used steel road bike in my size that I could use to make a SS (so I was willing to take a bike with some bad components). I had no luck, at least for something in the $100 range. Definately a good option if you have the time and you find something, but not the end-all be-all some suggest.

And yeah, to agree with one other guy, I wouldn't buy anything from Walmart, let alone a bike, to save my life. None of my bikes may be "Made in America", but at least I've given my hard earned money to two LBS's and IRO.

gmc denali = piece of crap bike