Most Volkswagens are named after tradewinds

Pity they only ever offer these bikes in one size - if they had some smaller ones, it'd be a great bike to get a teenager started on (seeing as they'd outgrow it in a year or so anyway).

It's also a pity there can't be a massive supply of used Trek 1000's out there for sale; that'd be a much better way to spend that money. (for that matter, for the extra $100 or so, you could get a new Trek 1000 or a cheap Dawes or similar).

actually the Walmart bikes are offered in different sizes... check their web page. They'll also deliver to a local store for free.

Ebay has a Denali Limited with Sora shifters, carbon fork and carbon seatstays for a "Buy It Now" price of around $550. Crazy!! Never saw that coming!!

Actually, the Trek 1000s are out there. The 2005's and 2006's seem to sell for around the price that you can get a brand new one for. A 2004 may drop to $450 but not much lower.

Cool, nice looing entry-level bike. Not sure what the carbon wrapped aluminum frame is suppose to do but I know that a lot of stems,headsets, handlebars,and seatposts are carbon wrapped in aluminum.

I disagree tc, I lied about my age to get a part time job at Fullerton High school when I was fourteen. I saved my pennies because I knew that I wanted a durable road bike to race on. Not just in looks but one that wouldn't break down on me in a race. Four months later, I was riding a Nishiki Internantional. A year and a half later, I was working at Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant as a cashier saving up for a Centurion Ironman that I saw on a commercial. Nine months later, I had saved up enough to buy a Ironman Masters. I ended up buying the Ironman expert and had them put Dave Scott full aerobars on it. Well, I chose 105 over Shimano 600 (this was in 1988). All of this by the time I was 16. My parents thought that I was crazy. I had the love and desire to ride. My parents paid for a portion of my races- I paid for the rest. You see, anyone can do it. I dropped out of racing because my time was being taken by something else important- college. Now I can afford the bikes that I like and I buy quality. Department store bikes don't feel the same. They aren't even comfortable to a child. My Free Spirit 10 speed that I had before I bought my Nishiki was a completely different animal. The Nishiki is what made me shine. Lance said,"It's not the bike." Well he was partly right. He couldn't have won those races on a department store bike no matter I great a rider he is. That's why we look for efficiency. It means we can go faster- usually more comfortably because we use less energy to do so.

My real issue is whether or not I am comfortable riding the bike I ride. I have no issue whatever with the millions of people who ride something different than I.

No. It's like saying Walmart will sell everyone a size 10 shoe. Shoes that are size 5 aren't half the size of size 10.

Unless you're 5'10", that bike will can make your life excruciating.

No budget = buy used.

If it lures people out of their cars then who cares.

I saw one of these at my local Target. I believe that "Triax" was the brand name. They had been there for a bit, but what caught my eye this last time (around the beginning of February) was the fact that they were on clearance. For $24.99! I thought about getting one for that price and just seeing how long I could ride it before it was destroyed, but I got to thinking what $24.99 could buy at a garage sale and I just couldn't do it. They were so bad.

I get a little tired of the constant "Go to your LBS." refrain. Some bike shops are a rip off and some are genuinely helpful. I've seen many potential bike owners talked into an expensive bike they didn't need to ride paved park trails and putter around on. The Schwinn road bike sold by Wal Mart can be a good choice for riders who will never get serious about riding road bikes and will simply not pay $300 for a road bike no matter how cool it is. Oddly they will spend $400 to $600 for a mountain bike. When a friend or relative comes by to show me their new road or mountain bike I go thru it truing wheels and adjusting everything. I also show them how we can adjust the saddle, bars, etc. to make the bike fit them better and be more comfortable for them to ride. I can't remember when I last saw a bike that was set up 100% right. I was with one of my brothers when he picked up his new Gary Fisher mountain bike from one of our nicer LBS. He had up graded to Bontrager tires. We were just about to leave the store when I noticed the front wheel's tube sticking out between the tire and rim. The kid in the back of the store who installed the tires had even taken the bike for a test ride but never noticed the tube sticking out. It turns out that a lot of LBS also have kids assembling bikes.

$24.99!! I would've gone for it, just for fun and the fact that a brand new, geared road bike anywhere for $24.99 is something special in its own right!

Triax.. I think that was it!

i'm sorry to hear that, i can...

At which point the marketing guys at Trek went into collective convulsions.

I actually got it off the rack and was preparing to take it to the checkout, but I looked it over once more and just couldn't do it. It was pretty crappy, and I'm most definantly NOT a bike snob. I also have a stable of bikes that is getting close to or possibly over 50, so storage space was an issue. If I didn't have so many bikes right now, I'd probably have bought it. What's funny is, I went in a week or two later, and they had a new model, with the same frame but I believe the shifters were index and it had sidepull brakes insted of the cantis, and it was around the $130 dollar range.

Specialty compressed gas bottles use this composite construction. F1 uses it for components and some frame work on their cars, America Cup and Vendi Globe boats use it. All to provide strength, rigidity and light weight. The cycling world has not used it I thought until now because of cost. Now the cheapest bikes in the world use it. So I haven't a clue what it's for.

Sorry to bring up a thread from early March, but I've been lurking for a couple weeks now and wanted to join.

Long Post Warning

I've never tried cycling before. I work out 5 days a week at the gym, and while the weight lifting is no big deal, the cardio always leaves me looking for new activities. I get so bored. Running is good because the scenery changes, but I wanted something new. Maybe something faster. I love speed and I love my motorcycle, but riding my motorcycle certainly doesn't burn calories. I briefly considered training for a triathalon, and the realization hit me, I haven't ridden a bike since I was a kid. I probably sucked at it. I knew I needed to buy a bike and see how I would do. I'd been doing a spin class at the gym for about 6 months or so, and I was in decent shape, but I'd never been on an actual road bike.

I had this exact problem. I bought one of those pieces of crap on clearance, and I knew it was a piece of crap, and I finally decided to buy it anyway. I knew buying used made the most sense, and that's what I'd wanted to do. I'd spent weeks searching Craigslist looking for a good used road bike. I very quickly discovered two things:
a) If it was cheap (under $200), it was from like 1970 or 1980 and needed some work, as was usually stated in the ad. I know nothing about working on a bike.
b) If it was in rideable condition, and taken care of, it was $500-$800 and was a nicer bike than I could afford. Getting a $1500 bike for $600 is an awesome deal, but it's a moot point if you don't have $600.

There seemed to be no inbetween. Perhaps summer is just a bad time to look. I realize people would probably have more bikes for sale in winter, just like it is with motorcycles, but it isn't winter and that's months away. I surfed a few other major city Craigslists just to see, and noticed there were plenty of decent deals in Atlanta, Chicago, etc. Here in Jacksonville, FL, I seemed to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time for finding a good used bike in the classifieds. Okay, I can be patient. However, in the meantime I'd like at least SOMETHING to screw around on and learn on.

That's the bike I bought - The Triax. I know nothing about bikes but even I can tell it's got the cheapest components known to man. I bought it for $100 on clearance, snagged a gel padded seat and a helmet, threw it in the back of my truck, and drove home.

I put air in the tires, checked it over for glaring mechanical problems, got on it and rode about 5 miles. It had squirrelly handling and it made my back hurt. I expected this.

I adjusted the seat and bars a little, stretched out my legs some, and played with the gears. Huge improvement. It still sucks, but now I can put in a 15-20 mile ride comfortably at least and not feel sore or uncomfortable, and I can breath easier while riding.

Bottom line: I'm an intelligent guy. I know when you're buying something like that, you can expect performance and reliability on par with the price. However, I also had no real disposable income at the moment to spend on "getting into the hobby" and yet I wanted to do exactly that. I wanted a way to cover some ground, get out of my neighborhood without wasting gas, get some exercise and see what my legs were made of.

As it turns out, I love the thing. The gears don't shift well, but I live in FL where it's flat as hell and I only really need one or two gears anyway. I rarely even mess with them. I can get out of the house and breathe some fresh air and go for a ride where I forget I'm even exercising because I'm having so much fun. I am completely dripping with sweat when I get home an hour or two later, and all I want to do is get some food and drink and go do it all over again.

*shrug* Maybe cheap retail store bikes DO have a place. I'm just sayin...

that is the biggest dork disc i've ever seen.

Incredible. Up here in Canada we have an extremely popular hardware/general merchandise store called Canadian Tire (canadiantire.ca) and they have what I believe is the identical bike, with the Revo shifters and all for $399 CDN! They had it on sale, 60% off a few weeks back which would have brought it in line with Target's price. It's sold under the 'Supercycle' brand with the handle 'Medalist' I guess these Chinese-made bikes get around...:rolleyes:

Me neither. I owned a Huffy ATB for maybe 15 years, all the way up until a thief stole it from campus. Never really had any problems with it, either; the only thing that broke was the rear brake cable, and that happened the day it go stolen.

I'd get a $30 bike for riding down to the museums or something. If it gets jacked, so what, I'm out only 30 bucks.

Plus, it'll make my Cannondale feel so much nicer. ;)