walmart bike
 

I would not bother with a Walmart bike. Last summer I bought a cruiser from them and the right pedal broke after the first day. I thought that it was just a fluke and returned it and the second bike had a rear wheel out of true and on the second day the left pedal broke! It was obvious that there was a serious design flaw so I returned the bike and bought a used bike from a garage sale for $ 25 dollars.

The used Huffy I got was much better than the new walmart bike. And Huffy has a terrible reputation for poor quality bikes! If I were you I would get a used bike.

John

I guess for someone who has no knowledge of bicycles and a limited budget, the big box discount department stores offer the ability to ride for not much money.

For anyone with even basic knowledge of bicycles, IMO, there is no reason to spend $100-$250 on a low quality bike when a better bike can be found on CL and local second hand resources.

Before I bought a used Specialized bike I always bought new $50 bikes from Kmart (Huffy). They always lasted me the summer and would usually end up getting stolen by year 2 max. Plus I wasn't hitting hard trails and mainly just riding 2x a week for a few miles in the city for a few months (while the weather was warm).

I bet alot of the people commenting have NEVER owned or ridden a walmart bike since they were kids, but their 'friends' have all had 'experiences' with walmart bikes that reinforce their personal opinions of walmart and its products.

Anyway this is probably why many people are turned off of biking in general.

This woman comes to find out if walmart bike is really as bad as the snobs let on, now she is told that her life is in IMMINENT DANGER the second she sets foot to pedal on a walmart bike.

Hell, maybe she will just give up on biking entirely.

OP, if you are still reading this, get the bike. Used can get a better bike for cheap, but the walmart one will not kill you. Walmart is a PRIME target for lawsuits, and if their bikes were as dangerous as they are made out to be here, they would be in litigation and on the news about it all the time. They are just bottom end, but the price tells you that. For your stated purpose the walmart bike will work just fine.

*looked back to see if OP was even still reading this thread, glad she got a bike and enjoys it.

It's not that Wal-Mart bikes are unsafe. That's such a ridiculous claim. It's just that you can't size them properly, they are heavy, and made with cheap components. If you can stand all that, Wal-Mart bikes are great. Just don't ever expect to ride seriously on one.

Well, many are unsafe in that they're frequently assembled incorrectly by folks that get paid piecework at pretty low rates to assemble them.

I agree with John 426 that dept store bikes were just a little better in the 1970s and early 80s, not much, just a little bit.

Of these factors, I'd say the assembly is the biggest factor that will contribute to the success or failure of an x-mart bike.

I've wrenched on these bikes and yes, they can be tuned to run pretty well. But, the components are pretty crappy, the cables are chintzy, etc. which limits how well one can actually tune the bike.

This was demonstrated by a prior poster who found enjoyment from re-tuning an x-mart bike. It is possible.

Me? I'd rather drop $200 on an old Peugeot or Centurion (and the like) which will perform beautifully with a proper tune-up.

I fixed it for ya.
Welcome to internet forums my friend. ;)

Assembly at discount stores is far more a problem than the quality of components. I've heard stories of pedals barely threaded onto the cranks. The front fork installed backwards.

Factory assembly isn't good either. Every discount-store bike I've worked with had the bearings overtightened, and too little grease in the bearing areas. The bottom brackets also had significant metal shavings in them.

But, this is a good-news, bad-news story. If someone spends the time to learn bike assembly/maintenance at www.bicycletutor.com, and they disassemble/reassemble a new bike (overhauling the axles, BB and headset) they can not only have a fairly reliable bike, but also avoid costs by being versed in their own maintenance.

To me, it's really about motivation. If someone's motivated to save money and *put the time into it*, they can save some serious money with a department store bike. But, if they're one of those people distracted every 20 seconds by text messages (too busy to focus on the topic at hand), and thinks you can get something for nothing... there's a strong chance they'll be disappointed. Bearings will fail early. They'll get inner-rim flats because they didn't spend $8 on Velox tape. Etc.

I even disassembled my pedals, cleaned and lubed the bearings. That might be a little obsessive. It might be cheaper to let pedals fail and buy a new pair for $10. But, now that I know how to overhaul my pedals, and bought some 1/8" ball bearings for $3, I may never have to buy pedals again.

I think this is one of those topics where "it all depends." Not all discount-store bikes are good value (quality v. price). Not all individuals are good candidates for the better-value bikes because they're not willing to put some sweat equity into it. They expect a bike-store bike they can just start riding. Like you get something for nothing. Like, the high-school dropout working at Walmart is going to assemble a bike like a bike shop.

It's been my experience: Craigslist is the biggest waste of time on the planet. People don't provide many details about their bikes. They don't describe frame size, quality, etc. After you spend hours contacting people or driving around looking at misrepresented bikes, you pay dearly for the occasional bargain.

The problem with Craigslist is twofold:

1) No structured data entry. They don't solicit commonly-expected data elements like year, brand, model, frame-size, color, wheel diameter. It's just free form, giving advertisers little guidance.

2) No reputation system. If a seller misrepresents their bike, how will it affect them? There is no buyer feedback or history. (Think eBay.).

For the new rider, they wouldn't know what to even look for. It would be like rolling the dice on Craigslist. The experienced rider might know which bike(s) they're looking for. But, they're going to work for it. (Watching CL for weeks, soliciting information the seller didn't provide, driving around only to find misrepresented bikes, etc.).

I think the reasonable choices for a new rider are discount-store or bike-shop. The bike shop will give them an education on riding styles (road, cafe, fitness, comfort, cruiser, hybrid, mountain). Also, an exposure to brands and frame sizes. But, the rider will pay for that.

People opposed to discount-store bikes make a good point that the new rider may not be willing to invest the time to make such a bike work. They may get the wrong bike and have aches/pains/injuries that will turn them off of riding. Those are definitely risks. But, there's also the problem of a new rider not willing to plonk down $400 on a bike-shop bike, not knowing if they'll enjoy riding. They might not ever give it a try.

when my wife and i started riding again, i decided to just buy a couple of cheap bikes - one from walmart and another from canadian tire. both bikes all in were under $300. they were heavy and generally not well set up, so i spent a few hours just getting them properly adjusted.
all was well and good on the flats we were doing short trips.

then one day i went down a hill. the cheap bike from canadian tire - no matter how hard i squeezed the brakes, i could not stop. i saw the metal brake calipers twist as i pressed harder to stop my descent. i wound up bailing into a bush - there was a major intersection ahead and it didn't look like traffic was about to stop if i went through it (i guess traffic would stop after i bounce off the first vehicle). i haven't ridden that bike since.

they were also simple cheap 6 speeds, and again on flat ground were basically okay. hated any hill climb, always wound up walking the bikes up.
never again. i would rather ride an old good quality bike than a crappy cheap new bike.

Just stopped at LBS for new front v-brakes for $165 Target bought Schwinn. The spring adjustment part had a pin break the plastic case and the brakes are now useless. The good news is that the new all metal parts v-brakes was only $32. I will replace the back brake next month. The rims are really starting to come out of round also, that will be another $50. And earlier this week the tube in the front just split about 6-inches long. New kenda tubes on sale at REI for 4.50. And I really need to replace the schwinn tire up front with a new bontrager H2 hardcase, the back is already done.

My observations so far, you can pay now or you can pay later. So far every time I've had to pay later has meant missing a good day to ride.

The v-brakes on my Schwinn Avenue was the weakest component of the bike. They used to go out of adjustment all the time. Like the spring metal wasn't good quality and would lose its tension. But, it got better after 4-5 months. Like they've finally reached a stable level of tension.

Those were "radius" brand v-brakes. My Schwinn Trailway hasn't had any problems. It has no-name brakes. I don't think it's a quality difference between Walmart and Target. They both change components over time.

Regarding out-of-true wheel. Just buy a spoke wrench for $6. You can true the wheel on the bike. Just hold a brake arm close to the rim, spin the wheel and eyeball it. It's easy to do. Bicycletutor.com has a tutorial. If it's single-wall you'll have to retrue it occasionally. (Every 250 miles?). If you ride on rough surfaces (equivalent to hopping curbs), single-walls may not hold up for you. But, under normal conditions, and if you're not too heavy, they should be ok for a comfort bike like that. After you true it a couple times it should hold its true better than it did from the factory.

Depends on whether you want to save $50, or save the time/headache of truing your wheels occasionally.

Good choice on the H2 Hardcase tires. I have 35mm H4 and love them. Smooth middle for low-rolling resistance. I bought 32mm Race Lite Hardcases. I kind of like the H4's better. The ride feels a little better. I don't notice much difference in rolling resistance.

We have goat's head thorns here. When I rode a normal Walmart bike (normal tires) 25 miles in 2 weeks, I had 4 flats from those thorns. With my hardcases, I've only had two flats in 1500 miles. One was a piece of stiff wire that poked through. (Probably from a fragment of a blown-out steel-belted radial tire I rode over?). Another was a piece of glass that got into a small slit in the rubber (cut from something else) and worked its way though the hardcase.

In both cases, I bet those things were stuck in the tire for awhile and it was my fault for not examining the tire before each ride. I bet I had the opportunity to see it and remove it before it worked its way through.

going to try trueing up the wheels a little myself, thanks for the tutorial link.

Walmart mountain bikes aren't necessarily built as well as they should be. Watch how this young man tries to simply cross a stream when all of the sudden his front wheel just buckles and well.. golly it just falls right off!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yS8m...eature=related

Does anyone here ever buy a bicycle and not give it a tune-up and/or look over the assembly of it before taking it for a ride? BTW, Wal-Mart employees don't assemble bikes sold there.

Is that really true? I thought most big box stores have an employee that assembles bikes. Or does Walmart not sell assembled bikes anymore?

My LBS does as good or better job than I would, so I would certainly ride a bike they had assembled without any checking beyond squeezing the brake levers.

Craigslist has been pretty much useless for me as well. Every time I see a bike on there, it's either a nice bike and overpriced (like a used and not rare Trek 520 for $1200), or it's way more bike than I want (some carbon thing for $1500, probably a good deal, if I wanted a carbon bike), or it's crap and overpriced, like a wal-mart bike that sells new for $120 for $110. That sort of thing.

I hate CL. I just stopped looking there all together. It's funny... people selling stuff want exuberant prices and people looking for help seem destitute by their low-ball figures. "I want a site like PayPal and my budget is $100". "I have a 4 year old Giant with 8k miles on it for $2100".

I have ridden Walmart bikes off and on over the years and have never really noticed a problem with them....the furthest ridden was probably 10-15 miles at a time with some good sized hills. The guy that has been assembling the bikes at the local Walmart for the last couple months is a retired engineer. The only thing I noticed about one of the newest bikes they rolled out was the handlebars were turned down a little bit, but everything else seems solid.

I did see a 20-inch bike there last year that was so tight that the bike wheel wouldn't even turn. I have two bikes that came from walmart right now that came from a couple guys I know and accept for needing a new tube and minor adjustments, they ride fine. Although somewhere down the line they will probably chopped up and used to build a freakbike...they come in handy as winter riders.

Shaggy

Had a friend bought a new Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra, Top of the line Hybrid, Headshok was installed backwards.
I would still look it over first, Richard

When I worked at WalMart back in high school and college I used to assemble the bikes, though most of them were done by an older guy that was a good tinkerer and knew how to do them right. Assembly was putting the wheels on, pedals, handlears, maybe some stickers. We didnt adjust shifters or BBs, or install forks and headsets or anything like that. While we were trained and given proper tools (I also grew up fixing my own bike as a kid), I could see how that could be left to a high school kid with a pair of pliers if there is no proper supervision.

Here's the thread about the Corsa - Holy Grail of Walmart bikes.

Pics in posts #170-171

I heard rumors that wally world is going to start selling bikes made of bread, that should create some tasty debates.

Craigslist a it a bit of a lottery and to win you have to buy a ticket everyday. Of course just looking is free except your time.

If you want a Walmart bike sometimes you can get them for cheap rarely ridden on CL for a fraction of the price. I bought one of those Target Schwinn Varsities they sold a couple years ago a few months ago for $50. It still had the pricetag on it clearance for $130. I rode it for a few days around and it was ok I just didn't like it most how it rode. I adjusted the brakes so they stopped significantly better than before and and sold it for like $85 which I though was a pretty good price. It didn't last long. It looked nice of course, was basically brand new and all the consumables were basically new. If that was the only bike I had I really couldn't have complained about it.

I had a Huffy Mountain bike a few years ago I rode alot as a commuter. I had to fix a couple things on it, but I don't remember it ever letting me down. Of course when I acquired a Used Gary Fisher mountain bike a few months later that was the sweetest thing I I had ever had and it was probably their lowest model or something. I can't remember what it was since I only had it for a few months before it got stolen. I think I spent like $10 or $15 at a thrift store on the Huffy and I got my money out of it. I gave it to a friend that never owned a bike and she was overjoyed.

I was dissappointed to see Walmart didn't have that $200 Schwinn hybrid that was basically outfitted to be a commuter with fenders and rack. for that price it wasn't bad at with the accessories. I was tempted to buy one of those Mongoose Cachet Signlespeeds and now that they are only $129, but I have no need for one.