Walmart still = mostly garbage. You can tell that just by looking at construction. They use heavier frame tubing made out of - let's say "not as strong" materials, various unbranded pieces and parts tend to be junkier whenever the consumer isn't looking, and overall it's a heavier, clunkier product more prone to breaking. Now throw on top of that the renowned poor assembly, and there's just no way you'll find anything of quality there. And I'm not picking on WalMart, ALL department store bikes are in the same vein. Now does that mean that everything you get from a dept store will be total unusable junk? No, as others have written, you'll get a clunkier product for your money; but if you stick to unadorned basic features, you have a chance of it at least being functional and not breaking prematurely - under easy use at least.
Regarding 'internet-only' products, yes they carry some; but in every case it will be a model that is cost-reduced beyond a comparable bike-shop quality product, so you'll end up paying more for less quality. Remember their primary motive for them selling anything is profit margin, and most of their products are less expensive to replace outright than to fix.LBS,onthe other hand, tend to sell products with fairly tight profit margins - to them they may need to stay in business but not by selling junk at top dollar.
Last edited by BlazingPedals; 09-25-20 at 09:15 AM.