also, today i was on this farly long down hill side-walk that is totaly striaght and noone walks on. not the best highspeed spot, but thier was a truck comin' down the street, i was on the sidewalk and i'm flying down the sidewalk, hunkered down on my mtn. bike, i was keeping up with this truck and coulda passed it if i had more road. I don't know what he was doing, 20mph 30mph, i hope 30 :) .

The bearings aren't of high quality, and over time are going to be more prone to failure. Same with the brakes. Give it a good going over or have the shop go over it if you aren't completely sure what you are doing. Those bikes are often put together by people that don't really have a clue and that's the most dangerous thing about them. Another issue could be tire seating...again, poor assembly. That could be tragic. For what it's worth, my daughter ended up with a "bike shop" bike last year when her Roadmaster blew a freewheel. It was one of the MTBs from Walmart. We had the honor of having Koffee Brown in town, took her for a ride, and my poor daughter couldn't ride her six month old bike due to a mechanical failure.

wheel bearings right? and how can i make sure the tire is seated right?
also, is it even safe going 20-30 like i was doing with that truck?
thanks

if you turn the bike upside down, and spin the wheel, look for "bounce" or high spots. You can use a marker to mark where they are. Then look where the tire is seated on the rim, where it meets the rim, and see if it's even all the way around.

And yes, the wheel bearings aren't very good, but they are as good as the other components I guess.

Anything you do on a sidewalk is dangerous in my eyes, especially in a residential area. people pull out of driveways not expecting someone to be moving at 20 MPH on the sidewalk. People take turns with the same lack of caution. You are in more danger on the sidewalk that on the road. AS far as the bike goes in this situation, if everything is up tight you should be fine. It's the other aspects of being on a sidewalk that are dangerous.

i see totaly what your saying, i try never to ride on sidewalks, but this side walk has 2 drive ways, and low traffic street and i can see the peoples houses and tell if they are pulling in or out. But what happens if a bearing goes while at 20-30mph? and i'm new to the bike tech world.

thanks for tha help

Two possibilites with a bearing. If it locks up, you are gonna go over the bars. If it blows up, you are probably still going over the bars, but you may not be going in a straight line when you do.

I've watched your threads, and my advice is this: Enjoy the bike. Don't spend any money upgrading it, instead put your money away, do some odd jobs, whatever it takes, and earn some money to possible buy a quality used bike. You seem very enthusiastic, if a little too hung up on the idea of what maximum speed you can obtain. Quaility equipment will help you go faster, further, and with more comfort, and building up the miles is what will make you a stronger cyclist, and more comfortable in various riding conditions.

You can build a lot of what we call "base miles" in the meantime, developing endurance, technique, and confidence with the equipment you have. Don't worry about how fast you are going.

yea, i only bought this bike because i needed something to ride.

i just gotta ask why, lol. why would a bearing lockup?

not overly likely, but looser tolerances, grease leaks out, dirt gets in, bad things can happen.

sorry about so many posts. But, i'm not so worryed about toping out the bike, i just love riding fast and ride fairly quick on the street when safe. And i don't want to have a bearing lockup

my next bike needs to be something that can be pretty damn fast on the street but also do light off-road like public trails and stuff.

and how do i tell when a bearing is about to go?

I do this to my bike all the time.

I love it so much I ride through gravel. I use 25mm vredestein fortezzas. Honestly though you'd be better served with maybe 25mm or 28mm Specialized armadillos if you wanted to ride trails a lot.

i need fairly wide tires :)

but now yall got me worryed i'm gonna be riding, pedalin hard, cruisin' 20-30mph and my bearings will lock up...

I don't think bearing lock up happens that much. I don't know what conditions would cause them to abruptly seize. I more or less though they failed gradually.

who would have thought, 90 posts on this thread!

I'd be much more worried about the pedals or handlebars of a high quality Roadmaster(tm) bicycle falling off than the bearings seizing. Personally, I wouldn't take that kind of bike over 12 mph these days unless I was wearing body armor. I used to ride that kind of bike, and I destroyed at least a half a dozen of them before I got the message. In my experience, you're lucky if the bike makes it 100 miles. And hey, that's only 2.5 hours at the pace you'll be going.

well, the handlebars are tight. it is a cheap bike, but everything seems tight at the moment. I'm not riding it off curbs or anything that could hurt the wheels, fork & frame. I like riding fast, so your saying i'll notice bearing failure overtime and it won't be an instent stop?

thanks

45 mph drafting a semi on a flat here, ran outta gears. I was at 54 going down a slight hill drafting also. it dosent feel like you are going that fast b/c the lack of wind. I need to stop doing it, can't imagine a front blow out going that fast.....

Why did it shift in to you spokes? and how fast where you going.

And man nice bike for free thats clean.

That seat angle looks wild, I wouldn'y want to slip off that at speed