How much am I going to regret buying this bicycle?

[edprush]

First of all, stop laughing.

Here's the bike:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=882625

 

[Tu13erhead]

|______________|

That much.

 

[boyRacer]

What are you going to use it for?

If you're just going to ride around your neighborhood or commute to school or something, it'll do just fine. Just let a local bike shop check out the assembly.

 

[deftron]

Not much as long as you don't ride it (or try to lift it)

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: bR
What are you going to use it for?

Just let a local bike shop check out the assembly.

I'm sure local bike shops love "checking the assembly" on
a Wal Mart bike ...

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: deftron

Originally posted by: bR
What are you going to use it for?

Just let a local bike shop check out the assembly.

I'm sure local bike shops love "checking the assembly" on
a Wal Mart bike ...

That would probably cost him half the price of the bike..

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: deftron

Originally posted by: bR
What are you going to use it for?

Just let a local bike shop check out the assembly.

I'm sure local bike shops love "checking the assembly" on
a Wal Mart bike ...

I've had my fair share of snobby LBSs... seems like I go to the back of the line because my bike doesn't have an italian name and you can pronounce it in your first try but there are shops that really couldn't give a ****** about what they work on even if you didn't buy it from them... as long as they've got someone riding a bike at the end of the day.

 

[Brutuskend]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: deftron

Originally posted by: bR
What are you going to use it for?

Just let a local bike shop check out the assembly.

I'm sure local bike shops love "checking the assembly" on
a Wal Mart bike ...

That would probably cost him half the price of the bike..

We do it a lot. And it WILL make the bike last much longer.

But it WILL cost you at least half again the cost of the bike.

(I hate to say it but it's a throw away after ...well, not long)

 

[JLGatsby]

You deserve punishment if you buy anything from Walmart.

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: bR

Originally posted by: deftron

Originally posted by: bR
What are you going to use it for?

Just let a local bike shop check out the assembly.

I'm sure local bike shops love "checking the assembly" on
a Wal Mart bike ...

I've had my fair share of snobby LBSs... seems like I go to the back of the line because my bike doesn't have an italian name and you can pronounce it in your first try but there are shops that really couldn't give a ****** about what they work on even if you didn't buy it from them... as long as they've got someone riding a bike at the end of the day.

How can you blame them?
If you owned a business, would you want to do support for another companies, your competitors, business?

What do you think Wal-Mart would say if I showed up with a bike I
got from a LBS and asked them to check it over ?

 

[zanieladie]

Why? What's wrong with the bike?

 

[waggy]

it should be fine. unless you are going to do some serious off roading on it.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I dont quite understand. I have a bike from walmart still going strong after 6 years. It a purely street bike just for riding around the neighborhood. The only reason I'm getting a new one is because I popped the break assembly (foot braked) after slamming on the breaks while going down hill at around 55

 

[thehstrybean]

I bought my Trek off of eBay...

 

[Brutuskend]

Originally posted by: waggy
it should be fine. unless you are going to do some serious off roading on it.

I have worked on quite a few of them and if they need parts that cost over $30-$40 dollars (and many of them do after a few months, due to poor assembly) they are totaled!

By that I mean that for a few dollars more you can just go buy another one and usually that IS the better choice.

For that price, you are almost ALWAYS better off biding your time and picking up a used bike for the same amount of money. 99.9% of the time, if you wait and do your research and beat the bushes (Bulletin boards at bike shops, hitting garage sales and going through the want ads in the paper) you will end up with a bike that is at least 80% better.

The reason shops hate working on these kinds of bikes is it takes on an average at least TWICE as long to tune up a cheap bike as it does to do a half way decent one.

 

[waggy]

ohh speaking of tune ups (thanks brutuskend!) i need to take my bike in. man i want good weather i want to ride soo bad. Pitty my wife can't ride much since she is pregnant and i baught her the new bike too. heh

 

[xcript]

Looks fine.

I got a cheap, fully suspended bike from Canadian Tire a few weeks ago and it does the job.

 

[Juno]

are those tires firestone-branded?

 

[clickynext]

I don't think it's adaquate if you plan on doing a lot of riding, but if you're just riding around the neighborhood for fun occasionally or something, should be okay. I bought a bike from one of those places before, and it just didn't cut it. Nothing about it felt right, brakes didn't work properly, chain sometimes fell off, couldn't shift to some gears. It was just a mess. But I'm sure there are people doing just fine with worse bikes.

 

[tommywishbone]

How much regret can $99 generate? You'll be fine... just stay out of the half-pipe.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I dont quite understand. I have a bike from walmart still going strong after 6 years. It a purely street bike just for riding around the neighborhood. The only reason I'm getting a new one is because I popped the break assembly (foot braked) after slamming on the breaks while going down hill at around 55

Yep, keep buying $99 bikes, and keep having the brakes fail on you when you're going really fast. Sure, it's only a $99 bike, but it's going to be a LOT bigger medical bill when the failed brakes cause you to get hit by a car or run into a fence or something.

 

[imported_ALien]

Dang! You got shocks, ... lucky! You ever take it off any sweet jumps?

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: deftron

Originally posted by: bR

Originally posted by: deftron

Originally posted by: bR
What are you going to use it for?

Just let a local bike shop check out the assembly.

I'm sure local bike shops love "checking the assembly" on
a Wal Mart bike ...

I've had my fair share of snobby LBSs... seems like I go to the back of the line because my bike doesn't have an italian name and you can pronounce it in your first try but there are shops that really couldn't give a ****** about what they work on even if you didn't buy it from them... as long as they've got someone riding a bike at the end of the day.

How can you blame them?
If you owned a business, would you want to do support for another companies, your competitors, business?

What do you think Wal-Mart would say if I showed up with a bike I
got from a LBS and asked them to check it over ?

You think bike shops make more money selling bikes than having a crowded service department? Turning away people who didn't buy their bike from you is a stupid practice.

Why are you comparing Walmart to a dedicated LBS?

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I dont quite understand. I have a bike from walmart still going strong after 6 years. It a purely street bike just for riding around the neighborhood. The only reason I'm getting a new one is because I popped the break assembly (foot braked) after slamming on the breaks while going down hill at around 55

55? How steep was the hill?

 

[edprush]

What are LBs?

If I could find one, my preference is a 10-speed (curled handlebars) that were popular back in the 80's and 90's. But I can't find one near me.

Here's a bike from Target that seems to get some decent reviews:
Target Schwinn