Wal-Mart Bike 200 mile update
 

Some of you may remeber from my first post that i have just started getting into mtn biking and bought a mongoose xr75 from walmart to begin with. Well after roughly 200 miles here is whats happened. This 200 miles includes trails(single track mtn bike trails, dirtbike and atv trails, and just plain woods trails) and several 18 mile round trips to work, and several laps and jumps on the BMX dirt track. Bike is still holding up pretty good. Only flat just happend and its a very very slow leak. Suspension still works. I have had to replace both plastic pedals from them getting busted when i wiped out. Brakes have been adjusted a million times. The seat just plain SUCKS. I think one of the rims is slightly bent from riding some stairs. And the chain skips in certian gears. I almost have enough money for my new Trek bike i have been looking at. When i get the trek im going to take this mongoose and absolutly try to tear it up. But overall for $100 i cant complain and its still running strong.

200 miles isn't exactly a feat. Call us back when you hit 10,000.

Brakes out of adjustment, rims out of true, chain skipping... sounds like it's ready for its break-in tune. Get it back to the Wal-Mart soon, I'm sure they offer the first tune free.

Or since Wal-Mart doesn't know a bike from a Barbie, take this opportunity to teach yourself a little bike maintenance so you can make all the rookie mistakes before you get that Trek.

I'm glad you're out there riding and having a good time on the bike. When you get the Trek you will see a night and day difference and really appreciate it.

it is when your brand new to riding

not bad

I bought a dept store bike to use as a winter beater (on sale for $72.96)...lasted 3 days in the city. The cog set fell apart, replaced it with a used rear wheel, then the brakes seized, the rear derailleur stopped working in the 2'nd week, and the front rim peeled back

lasted 3 weeks before I threw it out

t3h hawtn3ss d00d!! u rawk!

its done a lot better than i thought it would

His bike is better than your english.

Hey-- welcome to cycling. I'm glad you enjoy it. It's one of those things that scales: the more you do it the more you want and the more fun you have. I first started with my dad's ancient 10-speed, then moved to a rock-bottom Schwinn MTB with caliper (!) brakes. Then i moved up to a "real" mountain bike (this was in the late 1980's so "real mountain bike" was still in a state of flux).

I rode and i rode and i rode. Years later I liked riding so much i bought a road bike so i could ride even more!

You'll have to let us know about your impressions when you get that Trek.

P.S. Feel free to ignore the elitist snobs here. Everybody starts at the same place... they just seem to have forgotten that.

Yeah I was gonna say for a walmart mongoose 200 miles is actually quite an impressive feat to survive through. My friend's mongoose hasn't lasted through one short ride without something major breaking.

Hey brother! Don't despair...I think what you are doing is awesome. I have a Target Schwinn Prelude as my roadie and I am also keeping people updated with my budget bike. I feel there is some value to be had from them.

Not everyone can or will pay alot of money for a bike...and I have no problems riding my $199 bike. Glad you enjoy the bike and I hope it holds up well for ya!

Maybe a feat for you but not for a bike. We are talking about the bike, correct?

i just think its cool that its made it through everything so far with minimal damage. Most people told me it wouldnt last one trail ride

Yeah, 200 miles isn't really much. When you hit around 1,000, then come back and report how your doing.

200 miles isn't Just 200 miles. That's like saying 200mi. flat land is the same as 200mi with radical trailvariations and hill grades etc.

kudos to getting your moneys worth, indeed.

But you get what you pay for, and while you understood that, most here do too I reckon. "Updating" the board on your carnage may not all be the best for getting on the right foot in this area as I'm sure you've seen the flames you've gotten.

Definitely do a comparison for us though!

Congratulations. Even though a few people will give you a hard time about the bike, many of us started on something that others made fun of. I did. I went from an old POS bike to an entry level HT and was shocked at how much better it rode. I say ride it into the grave. Just beware that as you get better and ride more technical trails faster and harder that bike won't take the beating you give it. You don't want a catostrophic failure. Also realize that parts on that bike will start to break the more miles you get on the trail. I hate to say it, but it's a disposable bike. There really isn't much point in putting money into it. Put that $ toward an upgraded bike when you can.

yeah, you could end up like this dude! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNwmpLPhoHw

i know that. The main reason i posted this was just to kinda give people an idea about my wal mart cheap beginner bike. Maybe someone like me who has just started and is debating on getting into biking or not will read this and say "You know i really dont need to spend a whole lot of money just to see if i wanna do this or not". I also wanted to do this so when iget my new bike i can do a comparison for yall. Thanks for the encourgment guys, and the flames i ignore

I made it 1500 miles on my Walmart bike...(Vertical pos, full suspension). The rear shock squeaked all the time, no matter what I did. It annoyed the piss out of my friends that I rode with :D. I definitely spent more money fixing that pile than it originally cost. But it was good for 2 summers, and I had a lot of fun on it!

I think the obvious message most peeps get is that, yes your walmart bike made it through XXX miles, but may not last XXXX miles. The underlying message I see is that you are taking a positivestep in this sport and every mile you do should be a congratulation, you could have been sitting at home vegetating. Even 20 miles is better than nothing. We all start somewhere, why flame newbie riders? +1 to you BlkGuitarRedCar!

For your next bike, consider buying used. It's a great way for us monetarily challenged folks to get nice bikes cheap. You get way more for your money, plus it's recycling.

Exactly what I did. A nicer bike is a night and day difference, but until then, ride that thing until it breaks and then take it apart and figure out how everything works. Makes any future maintenance a heck of a lot easier and you just feel good working on your own bike.

congrats on the first two hundred. ride the hell out of it until it breaks and by that point you will have learned so much that your upgrade will be much more thought out than your original purchase could have ever been.

if you like riding the goose, you'll be hooked on your next bike.

well i think i have my dirtbike sold so as soon as its sold i will have the money to go by my trek. I rode several at the LBS i just kept going back to the Threk4300disk as far as bikes in my price range. Oh yeah and my mongoose suspension squeaks like crazy no matter what i try to do to it. Oh and i figured out the rear bearing is starting to go out i think. The rear wheel has a lot of play in it and i have tightned everything down.