If he could quote it, he would. Actually I think I made a fair case for exactly why I feel strongly about the quality (and thus safety) of these bikes. In return, I was accused of either lying about my experience or being obese.

One thing that I have found among people that are often insulted is that they will make great efforts to find an insult. If you say the bike a person rides is inferior, you must be saying that they are stupid. Makes sense, right?

From WordNet:

"comrade
n 1: a person who is frequently in the company of another;
"drinking companions"; "comrades in arms" [syn: {companion},
{fellow}, {familiar}, {associate}]
2: a fellow member of the Communist Party
3: used as a term of address for those male persons engaged in
the same movement; "Greetings, comrade!" [syn: {brother}] "

None of these definitions precisely fit your usage. It is, however, common among "conservatives" to imply that their opponents are communists by calling them "comrade". But you knew that.

Twahl, whan I was a kid we did not have much money so all my bikes were cheap ones. A Murray 20 incher paperboy frame that was tarted up to make it look like a motocross bike, it got stripped down and ridden for a couple of years, then I got hit by a car on it and it was stolen while I was in the hospital. The next was another Murray, a real BMX this time, number plate and all. I broke and replaced stuff on that bike for years. Then for my 13th birthday I got a freespirit raod bike, drop bars and all, that much like slewfoots moms bike had a loose handlebar and pitched me to the ground('79, no helmets) That bike got stolen about a year later, locked up on the porch.

My first "mountian bike" was a Dynasty sold thru Sears. In two years I broke, a fork , a handle bar, the freewheel, and both rims( I was 20 and weighed 140#). I replaced all these parts with hgher quality parts and gave it to my brother. Next was a used Alpina Uno, then a new Nishiki Alien, and then the one I kept, an M800 Beast built up from a frame. That bike has lasted 12 years used as a commuter, trail bike, race bike, and a trials bike. It has had a couple of drivetrains and I finally upgraded it to eightspeed XT with the old stuff off my wifes bike. But there has never been a failure other than a flat.

So tell me about my politics, Mr. Crystal Ball Gazer! Several of those definitions precisely fit my intended usage. Anyway, you choose to pick a defintion derived from talk radio that fits your intended ad hominem argument

Halfspeed? You sure you spelled that right? Better look in that dictionary some more.

Uh huh. "Intelligent BF member" presumably is one who repeats the same conventional wisdom as yourself. And assumes anyone who does not repeat the CW mantra is not intelligent and furthermore gets assigned the red letter T label by the pompous know-it-alls who possess the real truth.

Whoa, why such nastiness here? If people are ignorant, no amount of slamming is going to make them any wiser. It's obvious who works for Walmart here.

The key is information. You can present all of the important factors and the reasoning behind it but if one is unable to process it, then they are the ones who are shorted. Besides, with the way Walmart employees are trained, brainwashed and threatened, I can understand why there is the fear and the need to defend the company that enslaves them.

Glad to hear you moms ok. And I would definately take that bike back to Walmart and demand for a full refund and make it clear you will sue them if they don't and they won't think twice about giving it to you. I have also had a bad wreck on a Walmart bike. I bought a Mongoose XR200 from Walmart and it seemed like a pretty damn good bike. After I had it for about 2 weeks I put a speedometer on it and a day or so later I ws riding it with a freind and for no reason the chain flew off and my left foot flew to ground resulting in me going over the handle bars face first! I was going 22 mph when I wrecked and I slid about 10 feet. I am only 17 years old and my dad was thinking seriously about suing Walmart. But he ended up not suing them, now I kind of wish he did bacause of all the injuries I got. I got a chunck of meat cut out of my face right above my eye and I slid on my arm and leg for ten feet. I wil never buy a Walmart bike again, PERIOD.

Oh Yeah, Ms. Nasty, Who?

Turn on the light, my dear, and you shall see. And you got the name wrong. It's B!tch. Ms. B!tch for you.

oh man you are so lucky...a while back i took my nephew to wal-mart to get his first mountain bike. he picked out a Roadmaster Roadkiller. i had the deptartment manager take it off the rack for us (which was about 5 feet off the ground) and as soon as the rear wheel hit the floor, the bike exploded into chunks of zinc-alloy and flames! it was really horrible; the store caught fire and started burning down and they had to call the fire department! My nephew lost his left eye, and we are might sue. but one thing is certain: if i wouldn't have been such a tight-wad and would have instead took him to the local LBS, we would have lived happy ever after.


seriously though: ease up on the hyperbole a little...almost everyone who has posted on this thread has the reverse-Midas touch; everything they touch turns to poo, and by everything i mean bikes from wal-mart. isnt that the darndest thing?

I'll give you this much, you guys are comical.

A preference for a regulated mixed economy (which is what we have in the real world) over soviet style communism doesn't exactly make me Murray Rothbard. If you don't know what a mixed economy is, or who Murray Rothbard is or what the fallacy of a false dichotomy is, I'm sorry but I'm not here to educate you and none of this has anything to do with whether Wal*Mart bikes suck.[/QUOTE]

its pretty obvious to everyone that we have a large government and a central bank which regulate economic policy in this country, and that the USSR didn't fall perfectly in line with the principles set forth in Kapital. but if you look at the OP, you will see that this is a discussion about alleged inferior merchandise and gross negligence, not economic theory

I was not exagerating about anything. Everything I said was the truth whether you believe it or not.

Don't worry about it. Josh doesn't believe anything unless he accused you of it.

Which is what I have repeatedly pointed out. But for some reason you seem intent on discussing what you misperceive as a philosophical inconsistency on my part.

What I find so amusing about you is not your politics (about which i neither know nor care).

And let me be completely clear that you are NOT in any sense of the word my "comrade", whatever you may have meant or now wish you had meant by it.

Umm, what's that about crystal ball gazing?

Is the irony in this and almost all of your other posts truly and completely lost on you or have you intentionally slipped into self-parody?

"...pompous know-it-alls who possess the real truth" Seriously?

Please, don't stop. It's all too funny.

Strange for Josh to reference the OP (mine) since he was the first person to hijack the thread and lead us into discussing bike elitism and economics. All I really meant to say is that they sold my mom a bike with loose handlebars and that shouldn't have happened.

Anyone else get the feeling he's got a thesaurus open next to the keyboard? Big words add tons of credibility to lame arguments. For me, anyway.

Are you being intentionally dense or do you come by it naturally? We're talking about the issues have when they bring their bikes in for us to fix. If you'd taken me up on my
Not that I was expecting much from you, but you really outdid yourself there.

Funny that ILTB and josh used the same exact phrase in there too. This thread is way better than anything on TV.

Maybe, but I doubt it. I think he's just trying to impress us lowly bike guys with his college vocabulary.

I don't consider Youse Guys lowly. Why should I? After all y'all Bike Guys are the (self annointed) *RASTI™ Clique. Bask in your self righteousness. You earned it.

* Real, Avid, Serious, True, and Intelligent Cyclists with all the Right Stuff (as well as the only Right Answers blessed with the RASTI stamp of approval for Conventional Bicycle Wisdom.)

Funny you call us the clique. Seems to me after having spent a couple of years here that at least in this particular forum, we are the common folk, and the Pacific Bike fans form the clique. I like the RASTI thing though, can those of us labeled as such use that in our siggy?

Sure. Be my guest. If the label applies wear with it with the smug pride you may have in it.

But you really don't have to add it to your signature. Whenever the BF Übercyclists belittle cyclists with their pomous and elitist assignments of Real, Avid, Serious, True or Intelligent labels they display their contempt for all other cyclists.

Hey, all the militant cheap guys are haging out in the 50+ forum. Watch out though, they are very touchy about it. bk

Must have been in the Thursday talking points memo to shills from the home office at Pacific.

What the...

Do you read your posts? That is one of the most...nevermind.