roccobike

OK, I've got a line on a GMC Denali for $75. The guy is moving overseas and is selling a whole bunch of stuff, including his bike. Normally, I run when I see an ad for a Wal-mart bike. At yard sales I won't spend more than $10 for one and then only if it has nice cables or other parts I need to rebuild an older LBS bike.
But this one is three months old and in new condition at about half price. I read some of the BF reviews and as expected, many road cyclists trashed it. A few said it was OK for the $150 list price and another group owned them and were real pleased. I already have two 95 vintage road bikes, a Bianchi and a C'dale, so I'm not searching for a roadie. I was just wondering if you all thought this was a good deal or just another used X-mart bike to stay away from.

Tom Bombadil

Did you read the long, long thread in the Commuting forum from the guy who put something like 2500 miles on one over about 3-4 months? He was quite detailed with his report, and added a summary near the end.

I think it is worth the $150 asking price for a new one, for someone who isn't going to put a ton of miles on it and isn't looking for a top notch riding experience. If a like-new one was available and someone told me they wanted an inexpensive bike for about 500-1000 miles a year, I think it would be a good deal.

Now whether it is a better deal than a used 80's steel bike selling in the $75-$100 range, well maybe not.

It would probably be a decent deal for me, if I wanted to test out a road bike for an occasional ride now and then.

BluesDawg

I just read the long term test report at the Commuting forum. Interesting. I'm not sure it convinced me to recommend the bike, but before reading it I would have had the knee-jerk opinion that you'd be an idiot to buy one. I don't think that now. I could see it being worth $150 to some people. And at $75, even more so.
The big concern would be with making sure it was assembled properly, brake pads lined up right, everything lined up right and bolts tightened etc.

Having fixed up 4 Japanese 80s era road bikes in the past year for under $200 each (including replacing chains, cables, repacking bearings and such), I would be hard pressed to advise anyone to spend similar money on one of these Denalis. I kept one of the Fujis and it is an amazingly nice bike that I believe will last for decades with basic care. I can't imagine the Denali's components lasting as long or working as well.

But as a disposable bike, you could do worse.

If anything, I'm glad to see low priced road bikes are starting to reappear on the market. Maybe the major manufacturers will take note and start offering something that you could buy from your LBS for $300 to $400 instead of the current $600 to $700 entry level for road bikes.

Big Paulie

+1.

filtersweep

I decent saddle costs more than $75. A set of pedals cost more. A set of tires cost more. I could go on and on--- I'd take a used bike any day over a sub $300 bike.

Retro Grouch 

So if you buy it, what are you going to do with it? If it doesn't have a role in your lifestyle, what's the point in owning it?

Donald A

Buy it and use it a beater bike, bad weather, trips to the store, etc....
Donald a NDenial

I-Like-To-Bike

Depends on how the individual cyclist defines "decent". I know I don't share your definition. I have found quite decent bikes, saddles, pedals, and tires for far less than your minimum price for decent equipment.

oilman_15106

Please do a search on this subject, on the road bike forum the thing gets trashed often.

BluesDawg

Compared to a new one at $150, it's a good deal. Is it the BEST deal possible? Probably not. Depends on what you need and why and your knowledge and abilities. If you live somewhere where there is a good supply of decent old bikes at thrift stores for $20-$50, then you can almost certainly get a better bike that way. But you would need to know at least a little about what to fix and how (same goes for the Denali for that matter).

Is it "just another used X-mart bike to stay away from?" I don't think so, not really. It seems to be a lot more capable than most of the junk I see coming from those places.

I'll put it this way. If a new person showed up at one of my bike club's beginners rides on a typical WallyWorld MTB, I'd be thinking "oh boy, now I get to spend half an hour adjusting the crap components on this junk pile and stop half way through the ride to try to fix whatever comes loose or breaks."
If they came on a Denali, I'd check to make sure things were tight and adjusted and try my best to get this person excited enough about riding to buy a better bike before this one started falling apart.
From this guy's experience, that might be longer than I would expect.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=gmc+denali

roccobike

I started this thread because I would usually jump at an almost new road bike at half price. But this is a Wally World bike that I'm not familiar with. The responses posted here were just what I needed to know. Even a higher priced Wally World bike may not be a bargain at half price. I don't need the Denali as I alreay have a couple of beaters and my sense is, it's too high priced to flip it, so I think I'll just pass.
But thanks for the input, it was very helpful.

Tom Bombadil

Technically it isn't a Wally World bike, because it is sold through many outlets, with W-M being just one of them. Thus it is not a W-M exclusive where they have spec'ed the low-end parts.

I haven't seen many of them on our campus. I do see a lot of inexpensive, newer model Mongoose & Schwinns. The students run the crap out of them and they appear to hold up to quite a bit of abuse as short-distance commuters.