great price point for big box bikes

[5speed]

Just wanted to give a shout out to the mfgs of big box stores who are selling affordable lightweight multispeed bikes,im an older person on a fixed income who bought a gx7 bike and find that i can once again enjoy riding a bike on trails and around the lakes,instead of profiling on a 60 to 80 lb bike that was fun to ride when i was much younger,i have quite a few classics with a whole lot of money invested in them,and the market has gone flat,the classics are enjoyable to look at and a piece of history,but the restoration cost of doing one right is prohibitive,i also have an electra indy that is a great ride and paid about the same as having a pair of wheels rechromed,this topic is about people bad mouthing anything but the classic bikes

 

[5speed]

for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[detroiter60]

I just got a Genesis Super Cruiser 32 from Wally World,time will tell but it looks to be made pretty good.I found them on close out for $150.00 minus 10% from the dent in the frt. fender.This bike would easily cost $300 in a bike shop.

 

[Vipon]

Peatbog is 100% correct!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to sell you a Giant out of our shop, but I would rather see people riding and having fun.

 

[detroiter60]

Peatbog is 100% correct!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to sell you a Giant out of our shop, but I would rather see people riding and having fun.

I've purchased 8 new bikes from the same dealer in the past 30 or so years,mostly Schwinn, before the latest takeover.I recently bought a Beautiful Electra Hawaii from him for my girlfriend. I like their service but sometimes availability is king as was the case with my latest cruiser,nobody else sells anything like it and it was affordable.

 

[Bigcam59]

With big box bikes you have to take care of the small details yourself, and have nobody to fall back on if something needs correcting. Luckily most of the people on this sight are pretty handy with a wrench so have bought bikes from Wally world before, and each one gets a thorough going over before it hits the road, including lots of nice fresh grease on all the bearing surfaces and a check of the spokes. Having said that I often recommend big box cruisers. A lot of the horrors you have to deal with in cheap big box bikes, like flimsy no name derailleurs, cheap cable housing, mushy brakes,etc, simply don't exist on your average 1 speed cruiser. 8)

 

[NicksGarage]

When I went looking for my first cruiser a few months ago I checked all kinds of sources including the LBSes, big box stores, Costco, Ebay and even the classifieds on here. Since I'm 6'5" I really wasn't going to fit on most vintage bikes so I narrowed down my choices to a stretch or something with forward pedaling. Of course I would have loved to have bought a high end bike like a Basman but I have a budget. What I ended up doing was finding my first bike on CL. It was a few years old but in decent shape and a good start for my build at a reasonable price. I was able to afford a Nexus 3-speed bike over a single speed. A little more looking and I got a great deal on a stretch cruiser. So I ended up spending less for two bikes than I would have paid for one new one. With the money I saved I was able to buy the parts to make my bikes my own.

So far people on this site have been helpful and nobody has been disparaging over my "new" bikes. There is an awful lot of inspiration on here for what you can do with a bicycle.