travbikeman

At WalMart today doing a bit of shopping. So I had to check out how the bike section is doing. Some of these bikes, I have to wonder why the toy department manager is not fired. But the manufacturers are obviously getting wise to the department stores problem, by putting a white sticker on the fork saying "FRONT."

Too bad the handlebar isn't pointing straight with the wheel and the stem is missing a bolt.

NYMXer

Stickers or not, if you buy a bike assembled from a big box store..... check it over yourself and if you can't, pay $40 for the LBS to do it.
I have bought bikes from Walmart in the past, and will again in the future but in each case, I assembled them myself. I even tool them apart to make sure moving parts had been properly greased.

jefnvk

But seriously, since the inevitable "buyers with no knowledge to know what is wrong here should just go to CL and buy an old bike for $100" is surely on its way in, we should really have a picture thread of "this is why big box shoppers are no better off on CL"....

Phloom

Why people buy bicycles from Walmart is a complete mystery to me. Here in Canada, we have another "department" store called Canadian Tire and it's bicycles are just as bad. Our local bicycle coop sells refurbished second hand bikes that are way better and mostly cheaper.

I helped a friend get his Canadian Tire bike roadworthy. He got it brand new and the brakes barely worked. Just had to tighten the cables. Also, the headset was dangerously loose. But the forks were pointed in the right direction.

AlexCyclistRoch

Chances are some brat tweaked it sideways. Also, when people lose screws, I've seen them taking them off of demonstrator bikes in the store....

jefnvk

Oh, this one is simple. "Expensive" bike at big box store: $200. "Cheap" bike at LBS: $500. That isn't even taking into consideration that most people have no issue going into big box stores, while many people are intimidated by walking into a small, dedicated hobby shop.

superdex

Especially when we're talking about kids' bikes. I appreciate the products from Trek/Spesh/Giant/etc -- but when I'm shopping for a bike that will last about 2 summers, I'm going to be pretty sensitive about price.

zonatandem

If Wallmart made an Airplane, would you fly in it???

gpsblake

Totally agree. And with that, your Walmart bike can last a very long time. Took one from Florida to Texas last year without any issue minus the usual flat tire and that was with 10,000+ prior miles on it.

gpsblake

Along with the fact you will see lots of those expensive bikes being repaired. Bike shops make most of their money repairing the bikes they sell. People who buy Walmart bikes tend to repair them ourselves. And if you go to China or even Japan, those aren't $1,000 bikes you see they are using for commuting.

TenSpeedV2

Wal-Mart is not a bike shop. They should not be selling bikes. Some parents will buy that for their kid not knowing any better, and inevitably the kid gets hurt.

jefnvk

Yep, because if they wanted that plane to fly, it'd have to be signed off by the FAA. Since even most Russian jets don't have that signoff, and fly safely around the world daily, I'dhave no issue with a Wal-Mart airplane certified in the US.

That said, Wal-Mart doesn't make anything they sell outside of the food area. They're the same bikes you'll find in many big box shops.

travbikeman

I actually didn't think it was that bad of bike for a Schwinn in WalMart. It was a $250 bike with Tourney groupset. It actually seems like it would be a great bike for someone whom only intends on riding in the neighborhood or light trail usage.

I sometimes like going through the bike section before buying groceries just to see how badly they're put together.

exmechanic89

Assembly is the whole problem at Walmart. If the bikes were assembled by competent mechanics and not just some random employee, they wouldn't be terrible bikes, imo. Imagine Walmart assembing an actual bike shop bike, it would be a disaster too despite it's better pedigree.

I'm really amazed Walmart sells bikes, actually. You'd think it would be a huge liability, as many of their builds seem downright dangerous.

puma1552

Some people just don't need/want anything more. When my wife and I moved here from Japan, when I started working and we were living at my parents and only had one car as we were just getting started (which I was driving to work), my wife wanted a cheap bike just to get around a bit on and explore so she wasn't stuck at my dad's house all day while I was at work. Enter: the $100 Target bike. Yeah I had to do some brake adjustments, but it did what she needed it to do. Eventually we got an apartment, she got a job, got a new car, and the bike rusted out on the balcony. When we moved into our house we just brought it downstairs into the bike section of the garage and left it, lol.

Scooty Puff Jr

Eh, it's called,"you get what you pay for". Come on.

Rollfast

Don't look at me, I bought another Rollfast project.

Rowan

It's entertaining in a way. Much is made about how there are more new bikes sold than cars in <insert country> each year, yet the vast majority of those bikes are (a) kids bikes and (b) from the big box stores. Also notable is that if you take a really close look at the cheapest bikes and the kids bikes on the floors of most LBSs, they are just as trashy as the Walmart ones... it's only that they hae a better class of sticker on the frame.

EnjoyinTheRide

Theres a Walmart in a city just north of me. They have a great selection of schwinn bikes there. I had the opportunity to speak to the local schwinn rep. He told me all schwinn bikes are made in the same plants with the same specs on the frame. The sub lines (other than signature line which is sold in lbs for now). have lower quality ancillary components like durailers , cables , break pads shifters etc.....but the main parts of the bike are the same mfg standards....

As other posters above and myself have said here. Its really important to take that bike home and fully check it out before riding it. I say this not because its a box store, I feel the exact same way about purchasing lbs bikes pre assembled.... I say this because at minimum you will learn your bike, know that its ready to ride and perhaps find some issues with the assembly. People are people, walmart, lbs....no difference overall...

AlexCyclistRoch

Wal-Mart doesn't "make" anything.

indyfabz

Subscribed.

_ForceD_

Several years ago, in the autumn, in a regional department store here in New England, there was a sign in the store window that said they were looking for people to assemble bikes for the holidays. I considered doing it to pick up a few extra $$$. So I asked the store manager about it. He said "You do as much or as little as you want. You're paid per bike. The more you assemble the more you earn." So, I'm thinking that many 'assemblers' (like the one of the bike pictured above) just throw the thing together as quickly as possible to get it out on the showroom floor. Why take the time to straighten the handlebars, or look for that bolt you dropped when you could be well into assemblage of the next bike?

Dan

jefnvk

When I worked at Office Max, the assembly of furniture simply went to whomever was available at that point, regardless of technical ability.

I-Like-To-Bike

Also, according to self-serving LBS personnel and LBS groupies who post on BF, an allegedly better class of bicyclists and store personnel can be found on the floors of most LBSs than those less worthy people who buy and sell bicycles at Big Box Stores.

unterhausen

they were advertising for a bike assembler locally. I could probably make pretty good money doing that, the problem would be assembling gas stoves and stuff like that