i see so many negative posts about how the big bow bikes are all such pos,s im wundering how many ppl have worn them out under normal use,i and alot of my friends have had good performance after the get ready procedure that some regular bike shops do,i know there were issues with the krates as i suspect will be repeated in the new anniversity krates,it would be great to know if a particular bb bike has an ongoing problem,mfgs do have built in planned obsolesence,but so dolawn mowers,i workerd for TORO corporate for 30 years so iv seen it being figured out,anyway it would be interesting to me to hear some accurate data,thanks
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i have several "walmart" bikes - and after the addition of bearing grease. which thier assemblers seem to be allergic to , and a few tweaks here and there , i have had decent service from these bikes , but on the same note i do not expect lifetime performance , the quality of the components is far to inferior for that
I've never owned one, but i've wrenched more thn my share. Once you lube everything, and go over the wheels, they're serviceable. the wheels, out the box, are completely muffed up. Spokes have serious issues; unevenly tensioned, and few are tensioned much at all. Even after the wheels are sorted, the rims are usually low quality and prone to folding, plus the spokes are usually plated and rust in a hurry.
So, yeah, some lube and some time on the truing stand will make the bike serviceable, but then what? Then you have some garbage tires which will flat regularly. You have brakes that work, but barely. It may shift, but those plasticky rear derailers with the giant pizza-cutter sized pulleys don't index well. :shock: You have a heavy new bike that you spent $100 for, plus too much time, plus if you're actually going to ride it you'll need new tires ASAP. I don't know about you, but my time/labor is worth something. I don't want to spend time/money/effort on a bike that has nothing going for it besides an cheap initial price, something with no value.
For the same money, you could get something older and better with character. Something that already has lasted, and will likely outlast the current WallyWorld bikes. Something that seems more worthy of your time/money, b/c it kind of deserves it, having lasted for decades. At some point, someone bought it at a real shop, and was actually proud of it.
Fwiw, I'm not just talking about the beloved old American cruisers. I'm mostly talking about 80s/90s mtn bikes, early hybrids, steel road bikes from makers that don't have a "cult following" that's driven the price up.... Many of these will cost you less in the long run, plus you'll have a somewhat unique bike, rather than the $85 Wally special that every single other broke guy is pushin, too.
Oh, and for the record, I know a guy who bought a Wally mtb and taco'd the front wheel on the 5 block ride home from the WallyWord, first day
So, yeah, some lube and some time on the truing stand will make the bike serviceable, but then what? Then you have some garbage tires which will flat regularly. You have brakes that work, but barely. It may shift, but those plasticky rear derailers with the giant pizza-cutter sized pulleys don't index well. :shock: You have a heavy new bike that you spent $100 for, plus too much time, plus if you're actually going to ride it you'll need new tires ASAP. I don't know about you, but my time/labor is worth something. I don't want to spend time/money/effort on a bike that has nothing going for it besides an cheap initial price, something with no value.
For the same money, you could get something older and better with character. Something that already has lasted, and will likely outlast the current WallyWorld bikes. Something that seems more worthy of your time/money, b/c it kind of deserves it, having lasted for decades. At some point, someone bought it at a real shop, and was actually proud of it.
Fwiw, I'm not just talking about the beloved old American cruisers. I'm mostly talking about 80s/90s mtn bikes, early hybrids, steel road bikes from makers that don't have a "cult following" that's driven the price up.... Many of these will cost you less in the long run, plus you'll have a somewhat unique bike, rather than the $85 Wally special that every single other broke guy is pushin, too.
Oh, and for the record, I know a guy who bought a Wally mtb and taco'd the front wheel on the 5 block ride home from the WallyWord, first day
Depends what you want to do with it, riding around the park with your wife and young kids? It will be fine.
Commuting to work most days of the week? With some upgrades, it will do the job, but a better quality bike will be nicer and last longer.
Something more extreme? Buy quality...
Luke.
Commuting to work most days of the week? With some upgrades, it will do the job, but a better quality bike will be nicer and last longer.
Something more extreme? Buy quality...
Luke.
i ride my tweaked/upgraded wally world bikes daily , which allows me to keep the wear and tear off my older and much cooler bikes ......i ride my older bikes too , but perfer to keep them as special rides in good weather ..... for the eveyday wear and tear - id perfer to put the wear on a newer cheaper bike - make sense ?
but for extreem wear and tear - off roading , ect ..... buy a better bicycle .... designed for the task at hand - learned that the hard way, chinese schwinn failed me on a trail and i got hurt kinda bad , now i only ride my fisher marlin off road
but for extreem wear and tear - off roading , ect ..... buy a better bicycle .... designed for the task at hand - learned that the hard way, chinese schwinn failed me on a trail and i got hurt kinda bad , now i only ride my fisher marlin off road
Last week I gave in and ordered a thruster fixie from Walmart. FedEx delivered 2 days later so I greased everything up took off all the stickers and put it together. The front brake just broke off when I was trying to adjust it, I replaced the back brake with an old better one made by Schwinn. Got a more comfortable saddle and I've put about 8 miles on it everything seems to be going well. It has the flip flop hub so I'm riding it on the single speed side. I know a lot of people have the same question about the big box store bikes so I bit the bullet and I'm going to find out just how reliable they are. I still plan to switch out the plastic cranks though before going on longer rides I don't want the plastics to brake and then have to walk.
My thought about any bike is if you want it buy it, do your best to keep it maintained and just ride it and see how long it lasts.
My thought about any bike is if you want it buy it, do your best to keep it maintained and just ride it and see how long it lasts.
All bikes depend on the rider and intended purpose(riding). I would say the cruisers are fine for light to medium use. The mountain bikes I would not ride off road due to safety concerns.
At the bike coop, these bikes are generally parted out for the grips, tires, cables, seats and some rear wheels. I think most people treat these bikes as disposible bikes and purchase a new one when something goes wrong. For the same price a 90's Steel Frame mountain bike is serviceable and last for a long time.
At the bike coop, these bikes are generally parted out for the grips, tires, cables, seats and some rear wheels. I think most people treat these bikes as disposible bikes and purchase a new one when something goes wrong. For the same price a 90's Steel Frame mountain bike is serviceable and last for a long time.
For a long time the bottom brackets in most all department-store bikes didn't even have dust shields..... even for MTB's (!?) So the BB bearings would begin to fail within weeks of regular use.
Also for a long time the wheels used a design that used cup & cone bearings, but the cup was cut directly into the hubs. So when the wheel bearings went bad (which didn't take long with an adult's weight on them) the hub was also ruined, and it was then cheaper to just go buy whole-new-wheels. The bearings would be shot when the wheels still looked shiny.
Another typical problem spot is the lower headset bearings.... they usually have no shields at all too. So if the bike has no front fender, then when you ride through mud or water the front wheel throws that up into the lower headset bearings, quickly ruining them.
Other than that though, they're a pretty good deal.
Also for a long time the wheels used a design that used cup & cone bearings, but the cup was cut directly into the hubs. So when the wheel bearings went bad (which didn't take long with an adult's weight on them) the hub was also ruined, and it was then cheaper to just go buy whole-new-wheels. The bearings would be shot when the wheels still looked shiny.
Another typical problem spot is the lower headset bearings.... they usually have no shields at all too. So if the bike has no front fender, then when you ride through mud or water the front wheel throws that up into the lower headset bearings, quickly ruining them.
Other than that though, they're a pretty good deal.
I have never in my life had a bike that is bad as people say and all I had was the cheap bikes from Pic N Save, Lionel Playworld to Kmart. They all only needed routine maintenance just like any bikes need no matter what the cost.
I have had my Huffy Regatta 3 speed for a few months and it has been great. I didn't need to fix or adjust anything except the stem that needed to be aligned straight. I seriously think half of the people out there purposely try to brake them but anyways I agree with the lower price BMX & mountain bikes are not as good as the 80's to 90's American ones from Murray & Huffy. The Cruisers like the Cranbrook's do what they were made for and some of the road bikes like the Schwinn Admiral do too.
I have had my Huffy Regatta 3 speed for a few months and it has been great. I didn't need to fix or adjust anything except the stem that needed to be aligned straight. I seriously think half of the people out there purposely try to brake them but anyways I agree with the lower price BMX & mountain bikes are not as good as the 80's to 90's American ones from Murray & Huffy. The Cruisers like the Cranbrook's do what they were made for and some of the road bikes like the Schwinn Admiral do too.
i have too many hobbies to split my budget amoungst, so wallyworld allows me to pick up bikes on the cheap. i have several. some are for.parts but quite a few are used on the regular. i recently got my son a schwinn hybrid that he uses for commute to college and for fitness. of course it needed to be tuned and greased. but after all.was said and done
Me ex girlfriends kid had nothing but Wally World mountain bikes. She was quite the tomboy and could ruin one of them in no time flat. Last one I knew of she got about three weeks on before something failed catastrophically. Of course she should have been on a Haro or older Mongoose but Grandma couldn't take her on a ride to Walmart to buy one of those.
If you aren't trying to jump the grand canyon and stick to paved roads I would expect the cruiser line bikes to last a while if gone thru before riding. I've seen a lot of mis assembled bikes.
If you aren't trying to jump the grand canyon and stick to paved roads I would expect the cruiser line bikes to last a while if gone thru before riding. I've seen a lot of mis assembled bikes.
The quality of parts and assembly vary. I have a "Windwood" 1-spd that I've logged hundreds of easy trail and street miles. I also have an 80 dollar 18-spd for max 120 yard trips at the tree nursery/landscape masonry shop where I work. If I had to ride one down a mountain side, I'd chose the coaster, the "mtb" would probably fold like cardboard if you ever hit something or had to bail.
Like many have already stated, if you know how to adjust bearings and tension spoked wheels first, they'll work fine as casual errand/neighborhood cruisers.
Like many have already stated, if you know how to adjust bearings and tension spoked wheels first, they'll work fine as casual errand/neighborhood cruisers.
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I have personally ridden cheap department store bikes and with proper grease they do work just fine. My Huffy Santa Fe 2 I had went from Kokomo to Peru (15 miles one way) towing a trailer with 3 bikes on it and came back with no problems other than me being tired as heck. Also have not had any problems out of my Mongoose Beast and I have been towing my trailer with it and riding it every chance I get. I think it is like everything else without proper maintenance anything will fail.
