Nothing, besdies being told what to do by peer pressure.
I have the original kickstand still on my thousand dollar trek.
The fashion police can KMA

I had a (gasp) Mongoose 5 or so years ago that was actually pretty decent for a hundred bucks. This is because it had no rear suspension, a rigid fork and not many gears. If they would keep it simple as far as suspension and derailleurs go, you COULD get a decent bike at a department store. My god-daughter has a bike that has lasted years, because it's a single speed, with a steel frame and a coaster brake! But on the adult bikes, they keep trying to make bikes with 30+ gears with front and rear suspension for $100! And that just don't work.
P.S. I like kickstands, too. F*%# them other fools.

Yeah, kickstands. I like 'em, too!

he said it the best. massive kudos to you!

and the whole thing about kick stands.. yea.. you could lean it against you, but then what are you going to do when you need to step away but leave the bike there? and yea the pedal trick works too and i bet there are a million other tricks to avoid a kick stand. but seriously.. what exactly is wrong with them? do they make your bike too heavy? and you look like a dork? i think they're pretty useful and pratical... but i guess nowadays people care more about asthetics then praticality

It saves lots of scratches and tipovers, makes sense to me...

Why can't they just make a hardtail, rigid fork bike, no more than two gears in front, maybe even just one.
An indestructible 5 speed, it would stay in adjustment longer that way too.
a decent range of gears and people wouldn't even know what they were missing.
Assembly is a BIG key in these bikes too as was mentioned. Something like...The Chinese Raleighs...

They made good quality practical bikes like this for years - Raleighs, Schwinns, etc. Then the 10-speed craze - the 70s 'bike boom' - came along and, IMO, bikes became more fashionable and less practical. The 70s bike boom resulted in people wanting a cheap imitation racing bike instead of a high quality practical urban bicycle. Now, 'most everything's about style and fashion - to hell with practicality. Bike manufacturers even release new models every year in the fall just like the car companies. What's really changed from last year? Maybe the paint scheme. Sure there have been some technological advances in the higher-end bikes, but for plain ol' utilitarian cycling, a 60s Raleigh or Schwinn is still as good (and probably better) than anything on the market today, IMO.

Yeah, but they could update the frame geometry and make em a little lighter and shift better.
Something appealing like a mountain bike frame for shape, running a fairly narrow slick, or slightly treaded tire. Brakes have come quite a ways since the Schwinn I had too.

Brakes have improved partly because alloy rims work way better for braking in the rain than the old steel rims did - I would consider alloy rims essential on a modern urban bike (also goes towards improving the weight thing). Basically, you're describing something like a three to eight speed hybrid, just like my internally geared Nexus 7 equipped Trek L-400 or my Electra Commuter 7. These types of bikes have been available in Europe for years and are slowly becoming more available in the US. Prices need to come down more that a little bit, though, before these bikes are competitive with a $100 Xmart bike...the Electra cost $450, the Trek about $900...

I think the main reason none of this will ever happen is because the market research guys have ascertained that people want something like in the "Gravity Games", but only want to spend $100 dollars. The only way that's possible is to make a BOS (bike shaped object) in China.

I use one speed beach cruisers for short neighborhood trips. Coaster brakes. Nothing to adjust. Just hop on and pedal. I have noticed that most of the boys, aged eight to around fifteen seem to prefer one speed BMX bikes. Tough, reliable, and close to zero maintainance.

K-Mart and Wal-Mart buy in such huge quantities that they could sell one speed bikes of excellent quality for $89.95 or $99.95. Bikes that would give five or ten years of safe and reliable service. Instead, they are selling "dual suspension", 21 speed bikes that provide MAYBE six months of hard riding before problems crop up that will cost more than $89.95 to repair - then off to the landfill.

But, Wal-Mart would defend itself by saying that they sell junk because their customers buy junk. Hard to argue with that logic.

Bike Shaped Object is BSO
BOS maybe means Bike Of *****

I'd rather beat up a dept store bike on the trails when we go camping than worry about getting a good pair of 'real' bike's stolen. We got a pair of bikes for Christmas (7200, 1000) and then I realized the whole reason I got us bikes was so we could trash them at camp!

Edit: Trek 7200 & 1000

Sure does. I was in my LBS the other day trading in my new Trek 7200fx for a Trek 1000 and I wanted to pick up a kickstand for my g/f's 1 week old Trek 7200 that just doesn't want to stay up against the garage and they all started laughing at me thinking I wanted the kickstand for my 1000.

I'd rather show a little pride in my investment and technolust and put a kickstand on my 1000..

This is just my experience, but I never felt the need for a kickstand. I rode my bike instead of letting it sit still and when it was at home I just hung it from a couple hooks.

The trick is to just ride.

Kickstand is fantastic, why people insist on not having one is beyond my comprehension. It doesn't interfere with riding. If you argue that it doesn't look professional, than you are a drone in a world of conformity. Be an individual and put a kickstand on your bike, and while you're at it, get rid of other useless road bike hypes like cleats, and wafer thin seats.

for mtn biking, it can be extremely hazardous....all I have to say is kickstand piercing.

for most road bikes, they just dont have room for them anymore.

I dont use one on either of my bikes, but if I had a beach cruiser, I would go for one.

cleats are quite useful, and the thin seats have to do with thigh chafing....this stuff did come into existance for a purpose...try 60 miles straight on a roadbike with a heavily padded saddle...actually don't...nobody needs that kind of thigh-burn.

You don't thrash Dept. store bikes they thrash YOU then break down leaving you stranded.

But what if you want to stop for a beer or something?

Well, I just got a Kent folding bike for my brother and a Schwinn Sting-Ray for my nephew. I'm ok with it for now. I'll monitor them closely, and if they pick up the cycling bug, I'll invest in some nicer bikes for them to ride. But as I said before, there's no way I'll pay good money for bikes they'll ride for 3 or 4 times, then never ride again. They have a treadmill here they continue to drag around with them each time they move, and they haven't used it in over a year. In fact, I don't think they've used the treadmill since a couple of months after they bought it. They need to just sell it and run the stairs in their building if they want to do any running.

While I was in line today with my bikes, a lot of people walked up to me and told me whoever is getting the bikes is really lucky- I explained that I've now outfitted the entire family with bikes, and this summer, when I move into their place, we'll all be riding every day. Hopefully, they'll develop a love for riding. Maybe we can even find other families and get together for organized family rides. When I mentioned that idea in the line, people were so excited about the idea of an organized family ride. I'll probably advertise on craigslist this summer and see if we can get a big group of families to go for a ride. All these trails and no one rides!

Koffee

Koffee

I rode a dept store bike with promax disc brakes and i tried riding on a trail, the brakes sucked so bad i went straight into the water. what a pleasant 5 mile ride home. Got many flats too, they used this crappy plastic rim tape that folds up. Take apart the shocks and see what you find, you dont need to worry about leaking oil THe rims are usually a really soft alloy, im afraid if i squeeze to hard on the brakes it might crap out the rim. Ive been stuck walking too many times so my vote goes toward a real bike

If you bought one of the new Sting Rays, you might also want to invest in a pair of old-school Sting Ray 'apehanger' style handlebars for the kid. They make the bike much more rideable than those short 'n' low 'cafe racer' bars that come stock on the new models.

Walmart, KMART, and Target all sell single speed bikes but do not stock many of them, at least where I live near. I see them almost everytime I am in those stores and rarely see them move off the rack. The reason is, they don't sell well. You can buy them off their websites also.

One thing I have also noticed among some of the roadies I come across and have spent time away from looking at their cyclometers to talk to me riding my lonely hybrid. They spend more on maintanance in one year on their bikes then the cost of my hybrid. If you get six months of 3,000 miles of riding for an 89 dollar bike, that is an excellent value.

I am seriously thinking of buying a one speed cruiser just for the challenge of riding a metric century or even a full century on one of them. Don't know if I would tour on one of them although Or just something different..... I could always pick one up at a flea market for 20 bucks, spend a little bit of time cleaning it up and trying it that way.

You can also make any 21 speed a one speed bike real easy.

Absolutely nothing but since hard core roadies pretty much dictate what we are supposed to be doing, they are frowned upon . Their logic is that 8 ounces will cause them to lose a .2mph and for them, that is unacceptable. I use them and if I bought a bike that didn't have one, I would go buy one.