Upgrading a walmart "fixie"
 

ok, laugh at me if you want. I bought this thing to ride to and from work while I was waiting the month and a half for my Trek District to be shipped to me in Alaska. Thing is, I'm finding I genuinely enjoy riding the piece of crap. I've already thrown studded tires and a set of fenders on it for winter riding, though the grease in the headtube dislikes the cold weather. I'm thinking of throwing a set of cheap mag wheels and a set of schwalbe almotion tires on for summer riding, (because I can feel the ****ty seam in the current wheels during braking)

anything else I should upgrade? maybe sealed bearings in the headtube and bottom bracket? different chain?

any advice is appreciated.

What about the option of keeping the chain for now and replacing the rest. Then, once you have that all done, replacing the chain?







Honestly, though, ride it until it dies, have a good time, and don't spend money on it other than maybe some used parts.

I wouldn't bother upgrading anything that isn't problematic already. Seen other threads of people trying to upgrade cheapo walmart bikes and having issues with stuff locked on with loctite, using non standard sizes, etc. I agree with kindaslow, keep it as a beater and ride it 'till the wheels fall off then just upgrade to a better frame.

It isn't worth putting any money into it. If you want to keep riding it just do bare minimum essentials like lubing the chain, buying tubes and maybe cheap tires, and brake pads. If you have problems you can fix for free go for it beyond that just send it to the scrapyard.

Save your money for something nicer or for upgrades to your other bikes. You can get reasonably cheap fixed gears at a lot of bike shops these days which are crap but many times better than Wally Mart bikes. The shop I work at is selling a neat little folding SS bike for a little over $300 which is not bad.

I've been looking around, but I can't find a single speed that fits as well as this thing. And I kinda like the obnoxious color, to be honest. Any suggestions as to finding something like it that's made better?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=499740

Wow - it's been awhile since we did the Walmart bike thing around here...

Yeah, is a bit off-topic, but this guy, who rides & shows off his mad skillz ;) in a lot of our local social urban rides (he is actually pretty damn talented) - did a whole series of vids around torturing a Wallyworld mountain bike...

https://youtu.be/Y3eUfZuo5Bg

https://youtu.be/m3vI2bYhCrk

https://youtu.be/Vtbj4V5x4U8

But, the bike did not survive....

That first video shows what's really wrong with department store bikes. Sure, they're heavy and crudely made, but the bigger problem is poor assembly. They get their bad reputation because people who buy them (unlike the guy in the video) have no knowledge of bike mechanics and don't know how to make easy repairs and adjustments. Even the video guy mis-diagnosed the notchy steering head, which was probably due to lack of grease rather than poor adjustment. He should have assumed that every bearing needed to be opened up and re-greased. and then adjusted.

Looking at bikes on the floor in a big-box store, you'll find every conceivable assembly problem, from items installed backward to crucial components left loose and totally unsafe to ride. If you approach one of those bikes as needing reassembly from the ground up, you can make it serviceable. With that understood, $150 isn't such a bad deal.

These bikes have a useful place in the world. For someone who wants to learn bike repair and maintenance, they are $150 course in bike mechanics. Once they've been properly set up, they can provide cheap and fairly reliable transportation. Someone who has "gone through the course" will be better able to select and maintain a more expensive bike.

EDIT: I just finished the second and third videos. The bike started falling apart, but only after this big-boned guy (180lbs. or so?) jumped up and down staircases, etc. I'd expect damage after some of those crash landings. As basic commuters or for easy trail riding, these bikes should be more than adequate.

Since when are they $150?? Used to go for $99.99...

I'd be inclined to upgrade the bottom bracket and crankset, then wheels. Looking at those the brakes always made me queasy, but if they work well enough I wouldn't bother changing them.

What kind of headset is it? Is that a quill stem?

He ended up replacing a few bits and gave it to his sister-in-law who rides it regularly.

If it were me I would upgrade the parts on the new Trek and move the old Trek parts to the Walmart frame.

Chinese factory workers are getting unreasonable. They won't work for $1 a day any more.

True story: back in the '80s, an American shoe company contracted with a Chinese factory to make their shoes. The American rep questioned the factory boss' estimate of how many shoes could be produced in a day. The boss said, "Don't worry - if they don't meet their quota, we just beat them harder."

At least they're not working for a certain manufacturer of Apple products.

Foxconn Suicides

"In response to the suicides, Foxconn installed suicide-prevention netting, and asked employees to sign no-suicide pledges. Workers were also forced to sign a legally binding document guaranteeing that they and their descendants would not sue the company as a result of unexpected death, self-injury, or suicide."

Count your blessings, people.

If you're itching to spend money on it get a Brooks saddle, which can be transferred to a new bike if and when you upgrade bikes. (Downside is that would make your bike a much more obvious theft target.)