looking for a cheap entry level single speed cruiser that i can just buy "off the shelf". any ideas?

If you can up your price range a bit, I would suggest a Next.

it's not like i didn't already think of that, trust me. it's just, no matter how i crunch the numbers, i can't make it work.

Magna and Next are too new sounding. Huffy wrote the book on cheap*ss bikes.

For the record, none of them will last like a higher end bike, but if you give `em more love than the pimply face assembler did they will serve you well.

why you gotta hate on pimply faced bike assemblers like that? not cool dude, not cool.

I think huffy, or roadmaster, makes a 3 speed SA cruiser for the 50$ range.

which one do the messengers ride?

i bought a roadmaster bike for $35. it had like 18 speeds or some average number of speeds most bikes have. after riding it for a week, the bike pedal twisted then fell off. i tried to put it on but stripped the crank and pedal. i guess i didn't know pedals screwed on diff ways on diff sides.

anyways i let my friend have it, he put a long screw and nuts into the crank to act as a pedal. so it was ghetto, pedal on one side, long screw on the other. he used it alot but the brakes became ****, the cables broke so you couldn't shift, there was rust all over the chain. well we did lock it outside.

anyways i guess if you took care of it, no probs. but in time you'll need to buy replacement parts or a whole new bike. you can go thru two walmart bikes and have to worry and stress and get angry about your bike not working and spend $100, or you can find a decent bike and not worry about it all year.

i guess with you there's no choice u can only afford cheap. what would you be using the bike for? do u live in a flat or hilly area. just take all that into consideration when u are purchasing.

i think Huffy would be a better choice. or you could go to garage sales and look for used road bikes.

just curious is Next really a step up from Huffy? whats a step up from Next? I was thinking about getting a Next bike actually but now decided i want a single speed.

magna's where it's at. only posers ride huffy...

wow people, you must learn to look for the jokes.

IRO!!!

whats that mean?

it makes me sad that not everyone can afford a quality bicycle. those walmart rigs are worthless

in case anyone's curious, you may note that they began to bite in less than fifteen minutes.

amazing.

lol was this a trap?

this forum is becoming entirely too self refferential. it's ****ing exhausting.

Run to walmart and get whatever cruiser they have. Make sure all the nuts, bolts and screws are on tight and ride off into the sunset. If you want it to last, shoot some grease into all the bearings and hubs. It'll last forever barring abuse.

wreck.bicycles.tech had this thread by the venerable Carl Fogel and his escapade with the $53 Fury Roadmaster. Did remarkably well overall.

Something like this or this would probably be a better bet. Up until last year they had a $60 steel version, but seem to have upgraded to aluminum frames and rims. The ones I've seen in the stores are quite reasonable, only needing more air in the tires. I'm thinking about buying the three-speed myself.

i would go magna. i had a magna 10 speed when i was a little doobie, and that thing would not die. awesome color scheme too - textured matte gray tubing with neon green decals, purple brake cable and orange shifter cables. i went home this past weekend looking for it only to find my folks had thrown it out.

Is that guy serious?!?!

that looks photoshopped

...no...

Remove the "off the shelf" and we're in business.

i can tell from some of the pixels and having seen quite a few shops in my time