^^

Good. Now ride it into the ground and everyone will be proud of you. :)

Excellent news!
You need to keep us posted on how the bike looks, and works. I wanna know if it is as crappy as some have said it is.
More importantly!! When you decide to upgrade please post again, cuz I really really like spending other peoples money on bikes and cameras! :lol:

Good for you! When I was in college and had a very limited budget (mainly due to buying expensive racing bikes!) I bought an old Schwinn 3 speed for $35. Took me back and forth to college (5 miles each way) for well over a year. By the time I was finished it was a single speed (fortunately the middle one) and into the trash it went. I was probably the 5th or 6th owner so it had served the bicycling population well.

Just remember to keep up your maintenance and check it over frequently to avoid any surprises. Good luck and enjoy your riding.

If you have some municipalities near by you could CL them as well-CL tends to default to your locale, but you can look anywhere on it. Sometimes you have to google "seattle craigslist" or whatever, but you usually find a little bit of a larger area near you if your local is small.

At least give craigslist a week first.

What's wrong with a Wal-mart bike?

The particular one you've picked doesn't look like the worst choice. I've seen people who ride $200-$500 Wal-mart bikes: What's wrong with those is that they're a ripoff. If you're at Wal-mart, and it's dual suspension, it's a bad idea.

But, Wal-mart bikes in general have issues:
1. Wal-mart can't service them. They can barely get people through the registers, they won't be able to stock a bike shop with employees. Even if they do it for 2 years to jump into the market it won't last. Wal-mart maintains about 50% employment on purpose.

2. Wal-mart can't get high end brands. The manufacturers simply won't sell to them. This is a good thing. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/...n_snapper.html Wal-mart forces manufacturers to push price over quality. This is bad for businesses which survive on quality and brand value. So, again, you're not going to find stuff from frame manufacturers who value quality. It'll probably be sturdy, it'll just be heavy. They don't want law suits.

3. Wal-mart can't fit the bike. Once again, you need plenty of people and, according to some, equipment to do fits. Wal-mart isn't going to keep the people around.

4. Make sure it's assembled correctly. Seriously, buy an allen set and check that none of the bolts are ready to fall out. Check that the stem is going the right way (the handlebars aren't backwards).

Do they let you ride before you buy? I've always wondered about this. With $70 bikes I can't see how they could possibly profit if an employee spends 20 minutes waiting on you to ride three bikes. Heck, I wonder if they sell them at a loss already.

5. This is the big one: Wal-mart sucks, don't support them with your money.

I was at our local bike shop today looking for a heavy duty rear rim for my engined bicycle.
Then I checked out the 2 to 3 thousand dollar road bikes.
There was one on the floor. It was all carbon fiber,man.
I grabbed the frame and picked it up.
WOW.
Man this bike felt like it couldn't have weighed more than 5 pounds.
You know,I could really get used to riding a bike this light.
It's almost cheating.
Definitely a light 3 thousand dollar bike would make riding much more enjoyable.
The one I picked up was 2100 dollars.
Yes. Definetly a difference.
I thought the Wal Mart bike was pretty light.
Now I know a bit more as to how road bike riders out there can push the limits.
The Wal Mart bike was actually pretty heavy actually compared to that one I picked up anyway.

Caroline - I work as a bicycle mechanic and have been working on bikes my entire adult life and have not stopped riding since I took off my training wheels.

Not that you have ordered the bike and will be receiving it you need to find a competent mechanic to do a thorough inspection of the bike and make sure that everything is set up properly and that the bearings have been properly lubricated and adjusted.

If the bike is not 100% then I'd be sending it back.

Buying a bike without test riding it and seeing if it fits is a bad idea so you may find that the bike does not fit you as well as you like.

Quality will be an issue and I would expect that the maintainence required to keep your bike running safely will be more than if you bought a better quality used bike or a new bike from a reputable shop where bikes are their number one business.

sixtyfiver,
I think she tried the bike on for size in the store, then ordered it. I have seen the bike in question. IF (and that is a mighty big IF) she gets the same bike I have seen it is a sleeper. I suspect it is the first or second year the WM has carried it and they haven't had a chance to beat the manufacturer down on price point...yet.

However all the rest of the advice stands! Another thing people don't seem to get through their thick cheap minded skulls is that WM basically stocks ONE SIZE of bike. If it isn't your size it isn't going to fit properly period. I have been on the search for a gently used 80's rigid MTB...in a 23" frame....so far no luck.:o

Aaron:)

You're missing the boat, back then at least they were all steel. Only problem was they were heavy as heck and the shifting sucked. But the bikes themselves were built like tanks.

Now they have PLASTIC derailleurs, Incomplete welds, and believe it or not even worse assembly.

Ordering online is the only way to go with them, that way you don't have to worry about putting your life in the hands of one of Wally World's finest when they assemble your bike. I ordered the Varsity from them a couple of days ago, online so I could assemble it myself.

I know Walmart bikes are not the best but it will hold me over until I can purchase the Trek XO1 next season that I have had my eye on :D.

I spent some time talking to the manager at the shop where I bought my Surly not long ago, and I was surprised to hear that about 70% of the repair traffic they get was "kmart bikes". The shop was in DeKalb, IL, a pretty rural area, but still.

Those that buy less than quality bikes are usually mechanically inclined or know of one that is. About the only thing about bike mechanics I've tried and tried again and simply cannot do is to true a wheel. Other than that I can make any and all adjustments a bike needs. This is from when I was but a child and I had no choice but to fix my bike or I would be walking.

Um, I said I already tried out the bike and liked how it fit.

I am also interested in learning bike mechanics, I would rather learn and practice on a $200 Walmart bike then a $2,000 bike and risk causing even more damage that will up the repair cost. I just ordered The Art and Zen of Road Bike Maintenance, any other book recommendations any of you might have?

You should try it out and see if you like how it fits.

I would just like to say that I REALLY appreciate all the responses from people who have either seen this bike in person, or who at least clicked on my link and read about it - those are the responses and PMs that most swayed my decision to take the plunge and just get the bike. All of the assembly comments convinced me that if I just order it only and work with my neighbor on assembling it, it should be fine. Although I do appreciate the sentiment that in general Walmart sucks, this was not a very compelling reason for me to not buy the bike.

And yes, I will come back and update once I get the bike and have had a chance to ride it a few times. I'm excited - I'm stalking the package and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow :)

That book should be more than adequate. I'd recommend it to the OP too.

BTW, my local public library has several copies to check out. When I started riding again last year I borrowed a copy to get up to speed on the all the "new" tech like threadless headsets, GPX BBs and such.

Other great free resources are the Park Tools website and the late great Sheldon Browns site. Between the Zinn book and those two sites you should have all the info you need to tackle any bike repair.

All in all, a bike is a pretty simple device. No reason to be afraid to work on yours!

You can rationalize it all you like, but trust me, those who are truly "mechanically-inclined" aren't buying big box store bikes. These bikes are garbage to work on. Even if you are learning bicycle mechanics, you couldn't pick a worse bike than this to learn on. I don't know how anyone can defend buying a crap bike when there are perfectly good ones in bike shops that won't cost very much more. They will be heavy of course, and they won't have higher end components, but they will still be good quality, solid bikes.

Those of us who know a little about bikes are only trying to save you money and trouble in the longer term. Geez, if you have to buy a Walmart bike, you would be better off waiting until the next police auction to get an older name-brand bike.

Not sure who that response was intended for, but I do have a question.... I'm curious what bicycle at a bike shop you are referring to. I haven't hear any suggestion yet for a "perfectly good" bike in my price range, so if you have a suggestion, please do share! I can always return my Walmart bike if someone finds a better option for me. I have a feeling our definitions of "not very much more" are different :)

I hope you enjoy riding it.

Yeah, I have yet to see an LBS bike that's <$200, let alone one that includes a rear rack. even at performancebike.com, comfort bikes start at $250 for schwinns. Only thing I'd be most concern with though is the brakes, since failing brakes seem to be an ongoing issue. I'm surprised that people keep repeating the same old mantra of "CL>Walmart", when clearly the issues have been addressed earlier in the thread. Riding a bike is way more fun than waiting around to buy one.

has anyone told the OP to try out the bike first and see if it fits her?

:innocent:

Caroline,

Before you decided on the Mongoose/Wal-Mart, did you visit any local bike shops and test-ride any of their bikes?

You won't find new $125 bikes in bike shops, but there are an increasing number of bikes in the $300 - $400 range. (For example, the Jamis Commuter, the Kona Smoke, the KHS Urban.) If you add in cruisers and sale bikes, you can probably find new bike shop bikes in the $200 - $300 range.

Ultimately, the question is: Do those bikes feel appreciably different than the Mongoose? Do they brake better, shift smoother, seem more solidly constructed? If they do, maybe it's worth spending the extra cash to get one. If they don't, go with the Mongoose.

Since it's only $125, you could probably upgrade the brakes, rear derailleur, and various other components with parts that are better than what are spec'ed on most of the $300 - $400 bikes, and still finish with a cheaper overall price. (Providing you do the labor yourself, or ask your neighbor to do it for you.)

I would like have the OP report on how the bike fairs over the next few months. I have thought about that bike for some folks I know looking for a low cost bike for just getting around the neighborhood/campus. These are people looking to buy new. They don't have the time or desire to watch CL looking for a deal.

Walmart bike? Why not!
 

I am really new to biking. I started commuting to work last March as a way to build up my left muscles after an incident in the Army left me with a disability. I knew absolutely nothing about biking or commuting except that it required money, which I did not have. I went to walmart and bought a Mountain Bike for $49.00. It was the best experience I ever had. It made me curious about how to go faster and how to make my commute easier. It eventually led me to this forum and to read a really good book on biking...can't remember the name though :(

That $49 mountain bike will always hold fond memories, and I am proud to say that the guys at the bike shop who saw me ride past every day were impressed that it had that many miles on it when she finally bit the dust (I was down to one gear :D )

While my current bike is by far no where near as nice as most of everybody elses out there (I'm still poor), it is a step up (Trek 7000). I probably wouldn't even still be commuting today if I hadn't bought that first AFFORDABLE Walmart bike.

Go for it. Love it. Learn about it. Enjoy it. It will be the highlight of your day on the way to work and the highlight of your evening on the way home.

P.S.

A tip. People stop yelling at you when you turn your mp3 players volume all the way up... or maybe it's that I just don't hear them anymore!