Hi Caroline - If your budget really maxed at $150, you made a fine choice. You bought a cheap bike that will need some maintenance. You knew that. Eyes wide open. Enjoy the bike, ride it like crazy, and in 6 months you'll want something better...it's a disease, we all have it. I have a bike I'm in love with and I'd upgrade it tomorrow if I could :p

Wow thank you so much!!! :thumb:

A few days ago I ripped the drive side spoke flange from an X-mart coaster brake hub while climbing a steep hill on my single speed. I had this coaster brake hub laying around taking up shelf space so thought I would build up my single speed with it saving a few bucks in the process. I did get several hundred miles out of it before it broke but if I had been going down hill when it tore loose I would have been in some serious trouble.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...WebBrowser.jpg

Does this mean that using old parts culled from junked bikes of unknown provenance in a "build" for different purposes than designed is the same thing as buying a new bike manufactured with new parts?

Oh, for Criminey! A mile commute? It doesn't matter what you buy. My stepson and I are working on a foot scooter for him to go a mile. You could walk it, and you'd be fine. ...It's just that the bike is faster. Low-end is good for this situation.

Buy a real road bike next and see if you can get your commute under 3 minutes. :)

really!?? because I believe that Trek is considered a respectable name and their frames come from taiwan...

Comparing Taiwan and mainland China is like comparing apples and oranges. Taiwan is a capitalist country whereas mainland China is a Communist country. The attitudes of there people differ greatly. Taiwanese must produce a quality product if they want to keep there job. Chinese are assigned jobs in factories based on where they live in relation to the factory or communist party affiliation.

^^ what he said

Oh so wrong. The iron rice bowl has been dead for decades. China is communist in name only these days.

Taiwan used to be cheap crap on the level of mainland China today, just as Japan used to be known for cheap crap before that. In both Japan and later Taiwan, they simply got better at manufacturing things while their standard of living went up. The result is their export industry focused on expensive, quality products, and left the cheap crap to places where labour was cheap.

Caroline:
Congratulations on the new bike. Ride safely. I really enjoyed my WalMart bike that I bought when I first got into bike commuting. I hope your experience is as good as mine.

Little Rock, Arkansas

A little squeamish about giving out too much info on the net (you already know what I do for a living, that I live a mile from work in a hilly area, that my neighbor bikes a lot, that I have sick kid, etc.) But after seven pages of posts, I'm pretty certain no one is going to come beat me senseless for buying a bike from Wal-Mart :lol:

I know I won't. I didn't have a lot of money either when I started out, so I got what I could afford. It's not a big name, but I had been commuting for a month, plus taking longer rides( 20 -30 mi ) w/o any big problems. That changed after I wrecked, but when I get her back, I'll ride again. But I did spot a bike on an LBS website, the Cannondale BadBoy, which when I have the cash, I will have it. "it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine"

To the OP.....

My oldest daughter got the same bike for her 8th grade grad present. We swapped out a gel seat and. adjusted it to fit her. She likes it.

I've riden it around town, til I get me own bike. I'm at 275. I ride up to six or seven miles at a time to get groceries and movies. I've even rode it on our town's five mile bike path.

I like it. I did have to adjust a few things on it. My LBS looked it over when they put a front and rear baskets on it. They didn't turn their noses up at any Mart store product, they know folks are strapped for cash. A fw spoke needed tighten up, that was about it.

If possible, I would see if you could find a LBS that sold used bikes. Mine does and has a large selection of used bikes from $150 and up. Most in the $200 range are very nice bikes, older frames with repaired or replaced compontes and good seats. I saw a nice older Swinn in there today, when I was making a payment on my layaway. If it was there a couple of weeks ago, I would be riding right now! Also, my LBS will assemble any Mart store bike for $25! Why? They said it best, "there isn't a nickle difference between most sub $300 bikes." The Mart stores can sell then up to 40% cheaper due to volume. And, right now, its hell to get a $300 bike into a LBS. Its a new model season and EVERYONE is on a waiting list. High gas prices has everyone buying commuter bikes. The LBSs can't keep them in stock.

I saw a few nice Wally World bikes. The one you are wanting, and http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=4990073. I would have bought this one for riding around town/spare if it was just a little bit taller and longer. And they have a Pee Wee Herman Special that I would have to be pretty drunk to ride!

My thoughts, best option is to buy used from LBS your friend can find for you. Second best, buy in a box from Wally World and have friend or LBS assemble it or you.

Hope this helps, Jerry

OP, you can also look at Craiglists. Your bike savy friend can be your guide/scout.
In the St Louis area, there are alot of bikes for sale, cheap.

But then you have to spend time/money looking at them. And most are garage queens, they will need a trip to the LBS, if your frined can't tune them up.

Good Luck, Jerry

I don't criticize anyone for riding a Walmart bike. I have done it before, and I would do it again, if I had to.

But I would tell anyone considering a Walmart bike this:

A Walmart bike will get you where you want to go, as long as you make sure you have a qualified bike mechanic check it out and adjust it before you ride it. Just remember two things: it's not anywhere near the quality of a bike from a bike shop, and when it comes time to repair your Walmart bike, you will discover that you should have spent that money on a better bike in the first place.

Oh hog wash! It's a wheel hub! It shouldn't fall apart like that unless it's obviously damaged. This sounds like a case of quality control failure. Not that high quality bikes never suffer from this ;).

Ya know, with a 1 mile commute you should probably just walk. It takes 20 minutes and you burn twice the calories you do biking (the same distance).

Edit: I hope that doesn't sound rude, I don't mean to chase you off. I just mean to point out that your commute is well within walking range.

And what makes you think it wasn't damaged before the "build," or by the builder during his "build? The point being the builder's anecdote about this component failure, given the details provided, has no relevance to this thread.

There is always a better bike.
If you don't like the Mongoose bike from Walmart, you can go to a bike shop and buy a more expensive Mongoose with a coffee mug for triple the price:
http://www.mongoose.com/mtn/ProductDetails.html?id=2633&enc=mtn|25
http://www.mongoose.com/mtn/Mongoose...3_1_medium.jpg

HAHAHAHA!!! I thought that coffee mug was a photoshop!

No, that isn't rude. What's rude is not reading the original post or the replies to a thread before responding.

I currently walk to work. I'd like to start biking, to work and around the park with my kids. Maybe more some day. I'm not doing it to burn calories.

There's nothing wrong with walmart bike, they may lack some performance and require more maintenance, they will still get you from one place to another. Just make sure you do regular maintenance to your parts, and wear a helmet! Good luck!

Congratulations for making an informed decision after ferreting through both the crap and good stuff in this thread. I must say, the thread was entertaining, if more than a bit repetitive. The best thing about buying anything from Wal Mart is if it doesn't please you, you can take it back. Bit of a hassle, but I've never had them refuse to take anything back they sell, even if it was bought elsewhere. Keep your receipt, unless you'll be happy with store credit.