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Walmart bike good enough?



 
 
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  #11  
Old September 5th 07, 03:43 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Mike A Schwab
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Posts: 443
Default Walmart bike good enough?

On Sep 4, 2:50 pm, wrote:
I have recently got into biking and have started commuting to work 12
miles each way a twice a week. My bike is some heavy walmart'ish
bike, 18-speed mountain bike, shimano gears. Honestly I have no
issues with it, as it is tuned up correctly.

However, all the websites say to avoid these bikes, why? I suppose if
I spend $300+ I'll get a 10 pound lighter bike, but what difference
is that going to make? The weight of the rider dominates the mass of
the system, so a 10 lb bike weight reduction should only make you go
5-10% faster?

So what are the real benefits of expensive bikes?


For riding on the road, you will want to set any suspension to hard or
locked to improve your speed.
Also, one upgrade you may want to do immediately is Inverted Tread
Tires. This will smooth your ride and give you about 2mph faster
speed.

Ads
  #13  
Old September 5th 07, 01:50 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Roger Zoul
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Posts: 1,118
Default Walmart bike good enough?

Ron Hardin wrote:
:: I do 8,000 miles a year on a Huffy and it's perfectly fine.

Do you have a link to the specific model? Do you spend a lot of time on
maintenance to keep it going? How many miles do you have on it?


  #14  
Old September 5th 07, 03:47 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
bluezfolk
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Posts: 180
Default Walmart bike good enough?

On Sep 5, 7:48 am, "Roger Zoul" wrote:
wrote:

:: I have recently got into biking and have started commuting to work 12
:: miles each way a twice a week. My bike is some heavy walmart'ish
:: bike, 18-speed mountain bike, shimano gears. Honestly I have no
:: issues with it, as it is tuned up correctly.
::
:: However, all the websites say to avoid these bikes, why? I suppose if
:: I spend $300+ I'll get a 10 pound lighter bike, but what difference
:: is that going to make? The weight of the rider dominates the mass of
:: the system, so a 10 lb bike weight reduction should only make you go
:: 5-10% faster?
::
:: So what are the real benefits of expensive bikes?

Why don't you continue to ride your bike and see how much adjustment &
tweaking you have to do over time, while reporting back here. If it gets
you a year without too much hassle, then that will be interesting info for
us. If not, then you will have validated the claims of others here (which
might be helpful info to have) and then you can move to another bike. OTOH,
I'd hate to hear of you stranded 12 miles from home, so please have some
backup means of getting home. Take your cell phone!


Without saying anything bad about Walmart bikes, I'd like to make the
suggestion that for commuting a mountain bike might not be the best
choice. I switched from a road bike to a hybrid many years ago for
use as a commuter in NYC.

Eric

  #15  
Old September 5th 07, 04:27 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Roger Zoul
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Posts: 1,118
Default Walmart bike good enough?

bluezfolk wrote:
:: On Sep 5, 7:48 am, "Roger Zoul" wrote:
::: wrote:
:::
::::: I have recently got into biking and have started commuting to
::::: work 12 miles each way a twice a week. My bike is some heavy
::::: walmart'ish bike, 18-speed mountain bike, shimano gears. Honestly
::::: I have no issues with it, as it is tuned up correctly.
:::::
::::: However, all the websites say to avoid these bikes, why? I
::::: suppose if I spend $300+ I'll get a 10 pound lighter bike, but
::::: what difference is that going to make? The weight of the rider
::::: dominates the mass of the system, so a 10 lb bike weight
::::: reduction should only make you go 5-10% faster?
:::::
::::: So what are the real benefits of expensive bikes?
:::
::: Why don't you continue to ride your bike and see how much
::: adjustment & tweaking you have to do over time, while reporting
::: back here. If it gets you a year without too much hassle, then
::: that will be interesting info for us. If not, then you will have
::: validated the claims of others here (which might be helpful info to
::: have) and then you can move to another bike. OTOH, I'd hate to
::: hear of you stranded 12 miles from home, so please have some backup
::: means of getting home. Take your cell phone!
::
:: Without saying anything bad about Walmart bikes, I'd like to make the
:: suggestion that for commuting a mountain bike might not be the best
:: choice. I switched from a road bike to a hybrid many years ago for
:: use as a commuter in NYC.
::
:: Eric

I certainly wouldn't disagree...but the OP appears to be happy at the moment
with what he has.


  #16  
Old September 5th 07, 05:37 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
rdclark[_2_]
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Posts: 26
Default Walmart bike good enough?

On Sep 4, 3:50 pm, wrote:
I have recently got into biking and have started commuting to work 12
miles each way a twice a week. My bike is some heavy walmart'ish
bike, 18-speed mountain bike, shimano gears. Honestly I have no
issues with it, as it is tuned up correctly.

However, all the websites say to avoid these bikes, why? I suppose if
I spend $300+ I'll get a 10 pound lighter bike, but what difference
is that going to make? The weight of the rider dominates the mass of
the system, so a 10 lb bike weight reduction should only make you go
5-10% faster?

So what are the real benefits of expensive bikes?


Aside from weight and parts quality (and the quality of brakes,
chains, hubs, spokes, rims etc. really do start to matter to high-
mileage riders), it's that they're available in many sizes, with
further adjustability through parts swapping.

Just like every clock is correct twice a day, there are people who are
actually the right size and body geometry to be fit correctly by a Wal-
mart bike. It's just like finding shoes at a yard sale that just
happen to fit you.

Maybe your Wal-mart bike fits you, and that's your good luck. Or maybe
you don't know the difference between a bike that fits and one that
doesn't, and yours doesn't, really, and the more you ride the more
uncomfortable you'll become. Or maybe you're young enough to ignore
the discomfort, only to regret it when you're 50 and your knees stop
working.

Have you ever gone hiking in shoes that don't fit *perfectly*? They
seem OK for a mile or two. Two weeks later...

r


  #17  
Old September 5th 07, 07:29 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Pat[_3_]
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Posts: 139
Default Walmart bike good enough?


Ron Hardin wrote:
:: I do 8,000 miles a year on a Huffy and it's perfectly fine.

Do you have a link to the specific model? Do you spend a lot of time on
maintenance to keep it going? How many miles do you have on it?


Oh Roger, you just opened a can o' worms.




  #18  
Old September 5th 07, 07:53 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Ron Hardin
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Posts: 145
Default Walmart bike good enough?

Roger Zoul wrote:

Ron Hardin wrote:
:: I do 8,000 miles a year on a Huffy and it's perfectly fine.

Do you have a link to the specific model? Do you spend a lot of time on
maintenance to keep it going? How many miles do you have on it?


The current one is a Huffy Ironman, bought 1998, so it has 72k miles on it.

It doesn't require any attention except twice a year, when it's time to consider
replacing the power train. That's at about 4k miles. The chainwheels last maybe
12k before you need to replace them.

It was one of their top-of-the-line models, but the lesser models lasted as long.

The life is determined by how many components need replacement at the same time.
It's always worth replacing single components. But if it's several, a whole new
bicycle may be cheaper.

Huffy sells parts by the way, so keeping it in parts isn't a problem.
1-800-USA-BIKE. They wind up on your porch the next day, if you live in Ohio.
Anyway they used to. They may have moved to China.
--


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.
  #19  
Old September 5th 07, 08:23 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
DougC
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Posts: 1,276
Default Walmart bike good enough?

wrote:
I have recently got into biking and have started commuting to work 12
miles each way a twice a week. My bike is some heavy walmart'ish
bike, 18-speed mountain bike, shimano gears. Honestly I have no
issues with it, as it is tuned up correctly.

However, all the websites say to avoid these bikes, why? I suppose if
I spend $300+ I'll get a 10 pound lighter bike, but what difference
is that going to make? The weight of the rider dominates the mass of
the system, so a 10 lb bike weight reduction should only make you go
5-10% faster?

So what are the real benefits of expensive bikes?


These are things I have seen perhaps 5 years ago, looking at other
people's cheap bikes:

In the past I have seen that Wal-Mart bikes had the bottom bracket and
headset bearing races cut right into the BB shell, and no dust covers on
the bearings (even for MTB/BMX bikes!). So when these bearings would go
bad, the bike frame (and basically the whole bike) was shot, because
from an economic standpoint it's not worth fixing the frame.

The wheel bearings may not be a standard size either, necessitating
buying a whole new wheel when the bearings go bad, instead of just
buying new bearings for the wheel. Another wheel problem is wheels that
won't stay true, and this can usually be traced to ultra-cheap spokes
used--but once again, it isn't worth it to pay a bike shop to lace good
spokes into a Wal-Mart rim and hub. You might as well just buy a
whole-better-wheel pre-built (which you can do, when the OEM wheel goes
bad).

Dept store bikes have been improving over time, but I haven't looked
closely at any examples lately. A lot of people buy them and never
manage to wear them out, so in that respect, cheap bikes are "good
enough" for a lot of people.

I don't have an original source for this, but it's a widely repeated
story: once during an interview, the president of Huffy was asked why
they built bikes so cheaply. His response was that research they did
showed that the average person who shopped for a bike at a department
store rode it less than 75 miles /total/ before getting rid of it. So
his company built their bikes to be as cheap as possible, while lasting
75 miles.

....A lot of non-bicyclists would think that riding 75 miles would be
something akin to the Bataan death march, but for many people it's only
a single weekend's worth of riding. For some people it's one day's worth
of riding.

-------

Personally I don't feel that the weight of cheaper bikes is really
detrimental to their typical use; comfort is far more important than
weight. My long-distance/recreational bike is a recumbent that weighs
near 40 lbs, and I'm much happier riding that than I would be riding any
sub-20-lb upright road bike.
~
  #20  
Old September 8th 07, 03:03 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Bellsouth Ijit 2.0 - Global Warming Edition ®
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Posts: 122
Default Walmart bike good enough?


"Hank Wirtz" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 4, 2:15 pm, "Bellsouth Ijit 2.0 - Global Warming Edition ®"
wrote:

This Walmart bike is
good:http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5751042


Dunno if it's good, but it's overpriced for its spec and level of
dealer support.


For similar levels of support, you can get a 105-equipped bike from
Bikesdirect.com for $700-$800. For the same price as the Walmart one,
you could get an Ultegra-equipped one.


For most people though, who will need service after the sale, a
similarly equipped one could be had for a similar price from an LBS.
That would be the way to go.



Of course. It was said in jest. I would buy a bike from Salvation Army
before I buy one from Walmart.


 




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