mongoose walmart bikes, any good?
 

I saw a bunch of them at my local wal-mart supercenter. They're definitely in my price range (max is $200). I am looking for a moutain bike mainly for exercise/trail riding not for extreme sport or anything like that. I would like a portable/folding bike (but they costs like over $400 for a full size one).

Any one here know of a good mountain bike under $200 that's light and durable but also with a ton of options? Thanks.

No such bike exists that fit your description and price point.

Ah! Heresy! Save another hundred and get an entry level Marin. I started out with a Nail Trail and that is third from the bottom. For Gods sake and your own, don't get a walmart bike. Aside from being far too heavy; they suck. Haha. You will be much happier on something that will give you exercise, not wear you out.

Thanks for all the replies.

Phiber -- I don't know much about bikes. I've never heard of Marin bikes. But I'll look into them.

Anyone else have any suggestions? Oh, by the way, the mongoose walmart mountain bike retail for $157.

Marin is a real nice California company. They make good bikes and are usually affordable. I have owned two and loved them both. The thiing with owning a bike that doest weigh as much as a car is that, especially for trail riding, you won't die halfway through. Usually those walmart specials are made out of HEAVY STEEL. Marins' Cromolly bikes are badass and don't weigh hardly more than an aluminum HT. I own a Nail Trail which is their top of the line Aluminum Hard Tail. Now, their bottom of the line HT is going to be heads above that mongoose. I would say if you can afford around 300 or have a Sun and Ski sports near you go pimp a Marin. Sun and Ski sports also has a real nifty program called Play now Pay later. You put at least 25 percent down and give them three post dated checks for the rest and you take stuff home with you. :) that's the only way I could afford 2 grand worth of stuff in one trip. ;)

its better than a walmart bike. Its called motiv and is about 250 at costco. and as long as your not to rough it sholdnt break.

oh yeah.. walmart bikes are awesome. im surprised they havent put bike shops out of business...

Just the oppisite, bike shops make lots of money repairing X-Mart bikes. January can be very busy in a service area fixing bike bought at big chain stores and simply put together and given to kids as Christmas presents.

Look for a good used $500 hardtail for $200.

Thanks again for everyone's reponses.

I found the nail tail Phiber spoke of here:

http://www.marinbikes.com/html/spec_04_nail.html

The retail price for it is $840.00! Way over my budget for an exercise bike. Again, I'm new at bikes. :(

I don't understand why a bike could cost so much. At that price I can get 5 wal-mart bikes. It sounds like they'll break down pretty easily, but I would have 5 of them to go through.

I have to go back to wal-mart and check to see if they're made out of metal or so other alloy that is lighter.

I wish I had a Costco membership to go look at the motiv bike that cheewymuffin suggested.

Anymore suggestion, guys? Or is operator correct in saying that there's not one for what I'm looking for?

It's not light, and it doesn't have a ton of options but i've bought a supercycle at Canadian Tire for about $200 CDN w/taxes. Only thing that I didn't like was the brakes so I replaced those. But other than that after 1500km of riding on it, everything is fine. Just take care of it.

Of course once you bring it home, be prepared to give it a VERY throrough checkup. I already knew how to do most of the basic things so it wasn't a huge job.

Currently i'm fixing up an old road bike I got at a garage sale. You could look into one of those. My friend got a really nice Nishiki for ~$50. Everything in top-notch working condition as well.

Hope this gave you some other avenues to explore.

If your just looking to ride on the road definately get a used road bike.

Listen.
If you want a good bike for 200 US, try getting a lower end trek. DONT GET A WALMART BIKE WHATEVER YOU DO. I'm serious. I didn't listen to everyone, I got a canadian tire bike and now Im trying to sell it. They are terrible. Don't get them. For god's sake avoid them. Bikes are not toys.

I'll second what The Fixer said. Look for a used bike from a LBS. Or alternatively, save up and raise your budget up another $100-$150 and look at something like the Specialized HardRock. They're solid, dependable and hard to beat in the $300 to $350 range price-point.

well ive got my old peugot dirt racing mtn bike hanging in the storage room. its got the old small chromo tubing and acera x components. only thing is the shifters need to be replaced as the spings in em are screwed (due to an excercise hiatus) i could probably let it go cheap. i was gonna fix it and just keep it in case someone i knew needed a ride, but somehow i dont think thats gonna happen soon. and itll be too many years to keep it for my oldest kid.

Hahah i love charging people with walmart bikes $300 when they could buy a new one, but their so damn insistant on having their POS.

Check the bike shops for a used bike. The Wally World bikes are heavy and have crap components that will make your experience a negative one sooner or later. All those "features" that they sell, the full suspension especially, are made of garbage materials, and are not something you need unless you are doing some serious hard core riding..in which case you'll break the cheap stuff they have. Shop around and get a good name brand bike used, you'll be far better off.

I also suggest going used... do you have a www.craigslist.org in your area? You can check there for used bikes and gear. Good luck

a friend bought a $125 bike from walmart.
Ride #1, all goes well.
Ride #2, cancelled, pedal broke. (he had to buy new pedals, added toeclips)
Ride #3, got a flat, couldnt repair because I didn't have wrenches (no quickrelease hubs on X-mart bikes)
Ride #4, bent wheel, I straightened it enough to ride, but average X-mart shopper has neither tools nor skills to do that.

He's now considering buying quickrelease skewers. He's already got almost $50 in parts for his $125 bike...and thinking of another $20 for skewers. If I didn't fix it for him, he'd have paid LBS a ton of money each repair. All that for 3 rides.

Contrast that to my experience. 10 yrs ago I bought a Gary Fisher Mamba. Entry level hard tail at the time. I rode that sucker hard until 2002, when I bought a 2001 Gary Fisher Sugar 4 full suspension. Now that mamba is my commuter. In 10 years I've replaced the shifters (wore out after 5 years), rear wheel (old lady backed over my bike in a parking lot, while it was locked to a rack), and brakes (I wanted to upgrade to V-brakes, cantis worked fine, but wanted an upgrade).

I think you're better off buying used, and if money is an issue, don't forget to get a bicycle repair book, I bought one years ago and now I maintain all my bikes and friends' bikes for free. And don't forget helmet and if riding at night, lights and a good lock.

If it's still too much, try to find some old "beater" for around $50. Ride it til it dies, then fix it yourself, and find out what you like and don't like about bikes.

Wow. You guys are the greatest with the replies. Thanks once more to everyone who replied.

hooligan & super-douper -- you guys have convinced me to steer clear of wal-mart bikes.

khuon -- the specialized hardrock got some good reviews here:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/review23396.html

and you're right about the price it's $350 (it's a bit pricey for me but like you said I could save another $150 to get this). I went to specialized web site (http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkMode...vfobaft.j27006) and it looks like they have the 2005 version coming out at the same price $350. The reviewer from reviewcentre.com stated that he didn't like the noises that the disc brake makes. The review looks like it was posted around the 2003 - 2004 time frame, so hopefully, the 2005 version (hardrock sport) corrected the problem. Also, it looks like the 2005 version has a Tektro “V” front and rear brakes. Is that the same "V" brake that Gnigamica from reviewcentre.com mentioned?

super-douper -- I'm going to look into the Gary Fisher Mamba as well (10 years! can't beat that). Thanks for the heads up. Do you prefer it over what khuon's suggestion (specialized hardrock)?

twahl -- Yes, that's where I'm going to check out next. There's a local bike shop several miles from where I live. I didn't go to the local bike shop because I didn't know anything about bikes. So, I didn't want to go in and get bombarded by the dealer (who knows a great deal about bikes as opposed to walking into wally-world). But now thanks to everyone's posts here, I am a bit more confident about bikes.

nepaMTBer, Trauma, twahl, & rsvmiller1 -- I'm trying my best to avoid used bikes for my first one just because I'm new at bikes. I figured if I get a good new one, this will allow me to study it and learn how to fix it without having spent too much money on repairs.

rsvmiller1 -- thanks for the craigslist link. I've heard of it mentioned elsewhere before but didn't know anything about it. It looks like they have listings for dallas / ft worth!

Any more suggestions?

I can't really compare the Fishers to any other bikes, since I've owned exactly 2 mountain bikes in my life, both fishers and i still have both. I've been very happy with them. I'm sure there are a lot of bike manufacturers that make solid bikes also, but I've only had experience with Fisher.

I've seen people riding those Walmart Mongoose full suspension bikes on paved rail trails. Not my first choice of a bike on pavement, of coure they didn't even know what height to put the seat at - legs bent out at funny angles and all. I guess Walmart didn't fit them properly.

I've get a Gary Fisher Tassajara (hardtail) and it's held up very well. I've looked at the Specialized Rockhopper for my son and it looks like a decent bike as well. I think you would do well with either brand. I don't know anything about Marin's - have only seen them in a store once.

Remember, if you buy at a good lbs, they'll stand behind their product and help you as you learn.

Mark

No dude, look down at the bottom of the list. Bayview trail or Pioneer trail. I started out with an '03 Bolinas Ridge. :)

just as note, i dont know where your from, but here in Ottawa there is a "T&L" LBS that has Specialized bikes at around 30% off, so you may find something in your area.I find end of year is the best time to buy. (no i dont work there, but i have been buying most of my extra stuff there).