I got my mongoose beast today. First of all the box was huge. The bike box was inside a bigger box. Took the bike out and put it on the stand. Headset was super tight with dry bearings. Bottom bracket was so tight the cranks wouldnt budge, dry bearings. The sprocket was bent to the point the chain wouldnt stay on. I was able to fix all problems and I'm really happy with the bike. I just feel sorry for the people getting wal mart bikes that don't know how to work on bikes. More money spent on either returning the bike or having a shop fix the problems.
wonderful world of wal mart bikes
- Thread starter sloar
- Start date
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My 10 year old did assemble his first one last year. He used grease! 
My 10 year old did assemble his first one last year. He used grease!
Yeah? Bad move; all the cool trend-setting kids at the Mongoose factory stopped using grease years ago.
One of the things I have always found strange about Chinese products is that more often than not they get 90% of it right. Then it seems they'll just completely botch the remaining 10%. This is actually a good example of that. It might have required an extra 5 minutes of assembly time for them to actually tighten things properly and to use grease. Let's be very generous and assume that a Chinese factory worker makes $40 a day and works 10 hours. So we're talking a maximum of $0.33 worth of labor to do things right, and probably less. You'd think that somebody over at Kent or Pacific would have noticed this and figured that if doing things properly avoided the return of 1 in 300 bikes they'd still save money and some phone calls would be made, some e-mails fired off and eventually these problems would be tracked down and fixed. But no...it just goes on year after year.
I've talked with a couple people who were involved with contracting Chinese manufacturing, (not bikes), and they told me that you constantly had to ride herd because the minute you turned your back corners would be cut and quality would suffer.
I've talked with a couple people who were involved with contracting Chinese manufacturing, (not bikes), and they told me that you constantly had to ride herd because the minute you turned your back corners would be cut and quality would suffer.
Here's the rift fellas:
Working for a Major bicycle supplier/manufacture assembling bicycles at a piece rate, I.E. $10.00 per unit average, they changed to hourly. Which made me quit. The other guys I knew stopped caring.
Because, they also stopped holding them accountable for returns. Yup, accepted level of returns. Too many you got pay reduced and B.B.Q. assembly tech status!
Working for a Major bicycle supplier/manufacture assembling bicycles at a piece rate, I.E. $10.00 per unit average, they changed to hourly. Which made me quit. The other guys I knew stopped caring.
Because, they also stopped holding them accountable for returns. Yup, accepted level of returns. Too many you got pay reduced and B.B.Q. assembly tech status!
over there you have to produce a cetain amount or you cant live with 30 other ppl in one room and you live with the wild dogs on the street,and your right,take some old schwinns to a sale here in minnesota and try and sell at even give away prices
Here is the real downer, those same people spend $89.43 on a bike, every year, or even every other year. Add it up, couple to a few years you could have a bike that would last.Child labor laws don't apply to Wal Mart? But the price is right. Try to sell a 50 year old schwinn for fair price of 250 to same people it's to much. Just kinda funny.
I spent $500.oo buying my Enduro, rode it 10 years and never even bought grips!
Chain store bikes just cannot hold up.
sounds real familiar, only mine didn't have a second box. I was amazed that nothing was missing. the whole side was ripped open!
There were no major issues with my current wally bike (Dolomite) aside from the obviously cheap components, and over tightening of stuff and lack of grease. The welds are very clean and well done, as is the paint and finish. I knew the components were gonna be bad when I got it, and I do plan on modding mine (its currently in the BBONINE)
I would buy another in a heartbeat for $225.
I've had far less luck on other walbike though, and they were complete trash...
I would buy another in a heartbeat for $225.
I've had far less luck on other walbike though, and they were complete trash...
I've got a few department store bikes, and that's been pretty much my experience as well. They are assembled poorly. No grease, fittings too tight or too loose, brakes and gears completely out of whack, etc... If you spend an hour setting them right though and then replace a couple of things generally you end up with a completely serviceable bike. Then there are the weird obsolete parts that they refuse to abandon like threaded forks. Still, for the money and for certain purposes they're sometimes the best choice. When you need a neighborhood beater and theft is an issue, an old department store bike is perfect. When you've got a kid or a spouse that just wants a bike for riding once a month in the summer, a department store bike is perfect.
