The 4 department-store bikes I've assembled were all the same way. Rotating the axles (and BB), it felt like it was "indexed." It would turn 1/4 turn, drop into a position with greater resistance, then turn 1/4 turn further, meet another position of resistance.

That's why I always stress overhauling department-store bikes. This takes away from their perceived value, making it a more realistic purchase. It drives home how DSB buyers don't get something for nothing. But, it's also an opportunity for the pennywise buyer to learn how to do their own maintenance, saving money they'd have to spend even if they buy a LBS bike.

I think that's really the distinguishing factor between DSB and local-bike-shop buyers. If someone accepts the added time requirements of a DSB, it probably will be a good value (assuming their time isn't worth a lot, or they just plain enjoy spending their time tinkering with wrenches and grease). If someone just wants to ride a bike without a lot of drama, there's a good chance they'll be disappointed with breakdowns, more frequent spending on LBS maintenance, etc. They should spend more on a LBS bike (or factor in the expense of professional reassembly/adjustment, potential for more frequent maintenance expenses).

I doubt your limited riding wrecked your overtightened axles. But, if you want to be on the safe side, you could buy replacement bearings from your LBS. (Just in case your limited riding wore the original bearings and their imperfect surface could accelerate wear of the harder-to-replace race surfaces.). You can buy packages of 100 bearings for $3-4 online. Often with free shipping if you coordinate purchases of other things you need.

I do agree. If i didn't have prior experience with overhauling bikes , I would be very frustrated with this bike. DSB or LBS, all bikes need yearly maintenance. The difference is DSB need the overhauling done the moment your bring the bike home.

As for my DSB, I will need to buy alloy pedals & brake cables (and eventually brake levers). I have invested fair amount of time into it, and I think it's a keeper. If i enjoy Mountain biking, I will definitely save up and purchase a better MTB for around $500 or more (after all, a bike pays for itself by saving on gas). As for the DSB, it can stay as a backup or spare (or something just to tinker). No regret there :-)

I also think the DSBs bring in more work for the LBS. The LBS will not go out of business because of xmart bikes. (The LBS probably makes more money on charging for bicycle maintenance/repair than they do selling bikes). The LBS's in my town gets so backed up during spring/summer, it can take them weeks to even tune your bike, that is assuming they have room in the storage to hold your bike!)


I have only ridden it 15-20 miles. I doubt any major damage happened, but it probably would have if i hadn't noticed. I do have some 3/16" (front wheel) & 1/4" (rear wheel) bearings in stock. Hopefully the DSB does follow some standards..


Thanks.

It depends on the store.

I have two local shops where the salesmen earn commission selling bikes. They can be snobby, insulting department-store riders, making them feel unwelcome (probably so prospective customers aren't exposed to such options.).

The other store is extremely "boutique." Everything is 10% higher just to pay for the store's facade (ambiance). I attended a free "bike clinic" at that store. When I mentioned I bought my bike (aluminum frame, 700 wheels, rear rack) for $99 at Walmart, I could feel the chill. The staff spent more time working one-on-one with the other three attendees who bought their $600-$1200 bikes at the store, leaving me to glean what I could as a bystander.

I don't blame them. I was surprised they invited me in the first place (knowing where I got my bike). I think they assumed it was an ugly mountain bike that would stand out to the high-dollar buyers, and I would stand out as the "lame" guy who can only dream of being a "real" rider someday. When it turned out to be a decent commuter bike (Mongoose Paver) at an incredible price, I think it they went into damage control. :)

Two other stores, the sales people also work in the shop. They have a broader interest in the entire business (parts, service). They say they make good money from department-store bikes and don't have anything bad to say. ("It depends on the bike and the effort the rider puts into it." "All roads lead to Rome."). They don't have an image to protect.

So, I learned from that. Some stores have their "schtick." It's part of the "experience" people pay for. I take what I can without being disappointed. One store has some good prices on take-off-parts. I drop in and get some good deals. I try to avoid discussions about bikes. When the used-car salesman approaches me, I remind him "I only buy Walmart" and let them glare at me before he schmoozes the next person.

Yup. There will be snobs everywhere and every aspect of life... and it doesn't really bother me. The Mongoose Paver seems like a very nice bike. Are the rear derailleurs Shimano made?

And good news for the Roadmaster MTB. I called Pacific cycle, and they do sell TD-One spare parts. I was afraid of damaging the rear derailleur of my bike and not being able to replace it. I called their customer service and I should be able purchase a replacement directly from Pacific Cycle. The TD-One rear derailleur sells for $18.00 + S&H. LOL.. that is almost 1/3 the price of the bike itself :rolleyes: :lol:

The rear derailleur seems very heavy and made of cast iron, so i doubt it will bend easily ;)

Mongoose Paver
 

I'm glad to see the Paver is still sold. It went out of stock when I got mine a year ago. I thought it was a very nice bike. Yes, it uses the Shimano SIS rear derailer. That's one step down from the Tourney.

"xoxo" did this video review:


And, I took these photos.

Downside:

- Single-wall rims.
- The rear rack and kickstand are steel (you can shed 2-3 pounds replacing them).
- It had tires that didn't seat well. The tube would blow out the side easily. (This wasn't a big problem for me because I already planned to replace the tires with Bontrager H4 Hardcases.).
- It only has 7 speeds. But, in my flat area, front chain wheels and derailers are just added weight and cost.
- Cheap brake handles and cantilevers.
- Peel-off stickers (but it looks great when you peel them off).

It cost $119 when I bought mine. Mine was slightly damaged in delivery (site to store) and appeared to be the last one (it went out of stock immediately). So, I got $40 off. (Thus my earlier comment that it was $99. I was just averaging the price to keep the story simple.).

I think it's worth the money. However, at $133 I might consider the Huffy Savannah for $99. It's steel frame, but has 18 speeds. For another $100, the Schwinn Trailway (Target) is a better bike. It (and the Avenue) fit taller people. The Paver and Savannah are better for 5'-4" to 5'-9". The Schwinn is good for 5'-7" to 6'-1".

It's a nice bike for errands. It would make a good basket bike to get groceries. I especially like the lack of front shock. (I think shocks are just decoration on most department store bikes.). It was more attractive at $119. Hopefully the loose-seating tire problem has been fixed while it was out of stock for a few months (a new revision to the model?).

It seems like Walmart is raising prices of its bikes. I noticed the Avenue is $244 now. It used to be $199. I would have suggested it over the $133 Paver. But, at $244, it doesn't look as terrific either.

Regarding your rear derailer, it seems like you could use a Shimano. I imagine it's the same derailer, just branded for Pacific. I'm thinking something like this one. Obviously, they're all designed to move the chain across the same freewheel. The indexing is in the shifter. So, I don't think there would be much difference in derailers as long as the bolt-on geometry is the same.

Hey, those are some very nice high resolution pics. Seems like a great deal you got. So what got damaged during delivery? some scratch or scuffs? It's good to see it has a Shimano rear derailleur.

And thanks for the link for a possible replacement derailleur for the Roadmaster MTB. It seems the TD-One is a knock off of this exact one on the link you've posted. $8 sounds a lot better than $23 for the TD-One. I always seem to damage the rear derailleurs on most bikes I've owned. I need to be ultra careful, and it should last.

Do you use your bike to commute or just casual riding on weekends?


PS: I agree on the front suspensions. I prefer bikes with no suspension. My bike won't let me adjust the tension of the springs, so it can get annoying and downright scary if you are up for a really bumpy ride. I wish there was a way to lock the suspension permanently!

Finally...got done with greasing the bearings on both the wheels. What a pain. I damaged my 15mm cone wrench in the process... (The wrench was cheap/generic to begin with, but a hub should never be this tight.)

Few things that i observed (see images below)

1. It's obvious who assembled it had little or no clue how to assemble a hub.
2. There was barely any grease in the hub. It was pretty much dry.
3. The front hub had a bearing missing.
4. The good thing, the hubs were all standard measurements. I used 13mm cone wrench for the front hub, and 15mm cone wrench for the rear. (3/8" bearings/ 10 on each side on the front wheel and 1/4" bearings/ 9 on each side on the rear wheel). I did not have to purchase new tools, which is always good in my dictionary.



Some pics:

Opening it up:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_O...0/IMG_0783.jpg

Bone dry!!!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_O...0/IMG_0785.jpg


Extracted the bearing with a magnet.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_O...0/IMG_0787.jpg

Cleaned it up and packed some Park Tool Polylube 1000 grease in it.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_O...0/IMG_0789.jpg

Got a bit carried away, but it's gonna perform so much better now.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_O...0/IMG_0793.jpg


And really what a difference! Can't wait to ride. :thumb:

Cheers.

Oh...and thanks for the Rubbing Alcohol advise. It works like a charm. It only cost me $1.5 for 16 ounce bottle. Amazing stuff!!

The the bike had some scuffs, and the front wheel had been beat up (knocked seriously out of round). The box was beat to heck. I returned it and was going to order a new one but found it was out-of-stock. I went back to the store and talked to the manager. We agreed to $40 off ($79). It was a good deal for them. (They didn't have to ship it back. Sometimes they'll sell returns, but this was damaged.).

I trued the wheel. It took a day or two because I didn't know what I was doing. I got it true, but had dished the wheel. So, I had to un-dish and true again. (Good experience.).

I sold the Paver because it was a bit small for me (6'-0"). I bought a Schwinn Avenue for $199. I use it (and the Schwinn Trailway I bought as a backup) for everything. Errands, commuting, and 25-mile mindless rides. Sometimes I go 6 weeks without driving my auto.

BTW: when you get a chance, check out Lubrimatic Marine Bearing Grease at Lowes, Ace, or your local boating center. I'm convinced it's the same stuff as Park Tool's grease. But, it costs about 70% less.

I buy 12 oz grease-gun tubes for $3 and push it into a plastic food container (with a custom brush built into the lid). I spoon that into a small, inexpensive grease gun for application to bearings, etc.

I think the Park lube costs $6 for 4 oz. It seems like the same stuff. Same color and texture. Lubrimatic is designed for immersion in salt water, and highway speeds. A bike shouldn't see that kind of stress.

Yup. You are right. It cost me $6 for tube. I actaully ran out of grease. I only grease once a year, but now I have 3 bikes...so i will need to keep more in stock. I will check out the Lubrimatic Marine grease. Thanks for the suggestion.

How many bikes have you got now? Sorry to hear about the Mongoose Paver. You seemed to really liked that bike. Hope the Schwinn serves you well. Be sure to overhaul it and make sure no bearings and such are missing. And upload pics ff the schwinns if you got any...

By the way, do you use any special tools to true or dish a wheel? I dont really have any truing tool...i just use break pads as a guide. Not sure how to check for dishing though.

This would be impossible for me do! I would rather leave it up to the pros for this kind of stuff...lol.

Edit: The dishing tool (WAG4) isn't really as expensive as the Truing stand, but it seems like it will take infinite amount of patience to get it right. (Not sure whether it will even be possible on the cheap DSB rims). I would like to give it a try though.

I used brake pads for truing. To determine dish I put two bricks on a table top, and laid the rim on the bricks. I used a tape measure to measure from the table surface to the hub surface. Then flipped the rim and measured.

You can also flip the wheel on the bike and eyeball it, measuring the distance between fork (or seatstay) tubes.

Later, I found a cheap "Spin Doctor" truing stand on Craigslist. That makes it easier.

My biggest concern about truing/dishing was whether I was over/under tightening. I bought the Park tensionometer. That was useful as a sanity check. It was especially useful when I replaced my Schwinn Avenue's 60 psi tires with Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase (110 psi) and the spokes came loose due to the pressure. The tensionometer helped me tighten everything up, knowing where I was coming from (normal pressure/tension).

Initially, wheel truing was nerve wracking. Especially when I accidentally dished my front wheel after hours of careful tweaking. But, it's kind of fun now. I know I can get wherever I need to go. I can undo mistakes. And, the tensionometer eliminates guess work. After doing it a few times, I think I can just pluck the spokes and hear whether it's too far off. But, I couldn't get that confidence without using a tensionometer to see where I was.

Cool. I was wondering about the Tension Meter. It's sounds easier than tightening/adjusting the spokes by musical notes. I think I will pull the trigger on the tension meter. Ah..wheel building...that's one challenge i have yet to take. It's all possible, but does require some time and practice.

The brick idea is pure genius. The first trick would be to make sure the hub is 100% centered on the axle. I know i have goofed up on this once :-)

I see nothing wrong with buying a DSB. Obviously any bicycle that you buy from one will probably need fine tuning. Bike's from the LBS need tuning too. The one component I avoid like the plague on DSB bikes are twist shifters.

Speaking of shifters, does anyone happen to know whether or not if it's possible to replace the cable of a gripshift? I haven't tried it, but I think the cable is fixed. You need to replace the whole module (cable/gripshift/etc) if the you need to replace a bad cable. The cables on my bike are lousy. It keeps on stretching and stretching... It this continues, it will snap in no time!

PS: Are there any cheap friction shifters that can be mounted on handle bar?

If it's a Sram MRX 7-speed shifter, you just loosen anchor bolt at derailer (I always cut the cable above the crimped part so it's easier to pull through also), peel up the rubber below the #7, start jiggling the cable out and you should be able to grab the end and pull it out.

You can get friction thumbshifters for $13-14 usually.

Universal cycles
AE Bike
Niagara Cycle

are some of the usual suspects for them. Falcon brand is common.

http://www.niagaracycle.com/product_...ucts_id=418214

Niagara has a fair of friction shifters for 9.36 plus shipping.

Ordered an FR7 freewheel tool so I can get the bike finished.

I mentioned earlier that the Falcon derailleur looked a lot like an Eagle II. I dug one up and they are IDENTICAL aside from the mount type of screw used for the cable and the lack of the Eagle II's crazy-enormous cage guard. Once I get the hub greased I'm going to try swapping derailleurs to see if the index shifter works with it.

Thanks. It's always good to have a backup plan. Looks like this is the ticket if I can't replace the cable of the shifter.

Cool. The FR7 may help extending the life of the bearings and hub.

As for Eagle II derailleur, it seems it may be compatible with TD-One derailleur as well. Let us know how your switch goes. Post pics, if possible. A picture alone is worth 1000 words :)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_O...A/01-79122.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_O...e9efc1f6_z.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_O...oadmaster6.jpg

Just an update, I replaced the resin pedals with some Alloy pedals. The grinding and cracking noise was all coming from the resin (plastic) pedals, and not the Bottom Bracket. The Axle was very loose in the pedal and gave a sensation as if the crank arm was lose and shifting. Now the ride should be noiseless and smooth. :)

Woah, hold on here. If y'all have triple chainrings, that Shimano Eagle derailer is not going to work for your bike. Its cage is way too short to pull enough chain for the range of a triple.

See: Bicycle Tutor: How to replace a GripShift Cable.

Sweet. Thank you so much. You gotta love the interwebs :-)