Potential Acquisition: Hyper Cruiser

[AndyA]

This is up on Craigslist. I kinda like that frame. I see that Walmart sells these for $150. Anybody out there have any experience with one of these? Quality? Riding characteristics? Karma?

 

[outskirtscustoms]

I just sold one not long ago. Rides well and the crank being slightly forward gives a great ride geometry. Quality is slightly higher than your standard average Walmart bike but don't forget to grease everything as usual with any Walmart bike.

 

[horsefarmer]

Looks cool, are those the std equipment bars?

 

[Wildcat]

I grabbed one when they were 99 bucks in Hawaii. Of the 3 they had, only one had straight wheels. Everything else needed going through, lube and adjusting all the bearings. Then it was fine, I added some brick tires, removed the fenders, and a neighbor had to have the bike, so I sold it for a profit! The blue is different than what is offered now, it's more metallic now.

The bars shown in the post above are the factory ones.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

The factory bars are a bit wide for my liking.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

They're the bike that got me here. I work in the SprawlMart warehouse, seeing stack after stack of them got me thinking I could probably do better than that. The design is, to say the least, inspired by Electra:

Just be sure it gets a thorough inspection, was likely assembled by a minimum wage earner with little to no mechanical training, and the previous owner probably didn't do much either. I've heard of people opening them up and finding them bone dry; bearings never even greased on assembly.

 

[AndyA]

...don't forget to grease everything as usual with any Walmart bike.

Everything else needed going through, lube and adjusting all the bearings

Just be sure it gets a thorough inspection, was likely assembled by a minimum wage earner with little to no mechanical training, and the previous owner probably didn't do much either. I've heard of people opening them up and finding them bone dry; bearings never even greased on assembly.

Hhmm, am I picking up a trend here? Thank you gentlemen!

 

[Wildcat]

That's right, a complete overhaul on a new bike. The worst one I bought was a Mongoose Beast. Everything was wrong except there was no damage from shipping. The bottom bracket was cross threaded and some parts were over tightened to the point of stripping the threads. But once everything was redone, it was all good! These are the Hyper handlebars.

 

[AndyA]

The bottom bracket was cross threaded and some parts were over tightened to the point of stripping the threads.

This is bad, but at least one can imagine someone who lacks experience and is under pressure to assemble bikes quickly making these mistakes. I ran into something that is harder to imagine. I obtained a 20" muscle bike and was trying to remove the pedals. They were free of rust but wouldn't budge. So I tried turning opposite, which sometimes loosens things up, and they started to move. They came off grudgingly. It turns out that the left pedal was on the drive side and the right pedal was on the non-drive side. Both completely cross threaded the wrong way! That must have been hard! Whoever did that gets high marks for perseverance, but low marks for mechanical ability.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Cross threading the crank was the manufacturer. I have ordered bikes from Walmart before and most times they are shipped mostly assembled. Might have to throw on the front wheel, handlebars, and pedals but most times cranks are already installed.