mrdelurk

I was talking to someone in a bike store (a competitor of Walmart, I guess) and was told that Walmart bikes are "dead end bikes", they are built in a way that if a Huffy's part XYZ (I forgot which) breaks from heavy daily use on our hilly trails, it costs more to replace than the value of the whole bike.

As opposed to, say the Cannondale or Specialist bikes which their shop sells which are much less prone to break, are repairable even after a bunch of years of use, etc. So for frequent hillside use without bike breakdowns, I'd need at least a $450 bike, not from Walmart or Target, but them.

The bike store gentleman sounded quite convincing, and his claim above might be totally true. As a novice I have a difficult time telling. So it hit me, perhaps I should confirm on a forum of experienced cyclists, are Walmart mountain bikes (like the Genesis GS29) indeed as bad as stated above? Dead end, breaking down 3x as often as, say, a 3x pricier Cannondale?

Thank you for all the insight

wphamilton

As they say, the devil is in the details. The cheap bike with standard parts can be repaired very cheaply. Those with sub-standard parts will break down more quickly.

You can replace the whole rear wheel for example, for less than your bike store will charge to replace the freewheel.

Wildwood 

here we go again.
search is your friend. if it's working
try - WalMart, Magna, dept store bike, etc


Edit: Welcome to Bike Forums. Good question. Very recently discussed topic. Look at thread titles only a few pages back for similar topics. Inexpensive vs High-end, Who Really Needs a $1,000 Bike?, My Huffy is better than your Italian!
You'll get the drift.

Seizedpost

If you want to get a Walmart bike, the Schwinn Varsity is actually halfway decent if you are mechanically inclined and can fix assembly errors. It has pretty good components.

Lucillle

I got my Schwinn Meridian from Walmart a year ago, and along with it an inexpensive extended warranty. I ride it all the time and it is fun to ride, and have two other bikes I ride also.
Recently some spokes broke on the right rear wheel of the Meridian which is the drive wheel. Because it was right before (days before) an actual year, Schwinn honored their warranty and sent me a new wheel, and the extended warranty sent me a courtesy check for $15 just in case Schwinn wanted me to return the old wheel which they didn't. So I actually made $15 off that repair.

MRT2

They aren't just blowing smoke. A decent bike competently assembled and well maintained will give you many years of service. I bought a Bianchi Advantage for $400 from a bike shop in 1997 to go on a charity ride with my future wife. I used that bike off and on for about 14 years, and the only thing I replaced on the bike was a chain, freewheel, tires, and brake pads. That bike still rides great and my 15 year old son uses it to get around town and back and forth from work, on road rides with me, and on road training rides with his mountain biking team. That bike has 20 years of use on it and there isn't any reason why it won't run for another 20 years with occasional maintenance.

By contrast department store bikes are pretty bad, and not much fun to ride. They are built to be disposable. Real world example. I was at my local bike shop a few months ago when a guy comes in with a Wal Mart bike. Front wheel is badly wobbling, really barely rideable as it looks like it is on the verge or completely failing. The problem was the cheap hub and bearings. Completely shot. The bike needs a new wheel. The bike shop basically told them a new wheel from them would cost around $45. The guy said he only paid $50 for the bike. And that is just one part. Even if he replaced the wheel, what does he do when the back wheel fails? Or some other part? If you start replacing the parts on a Wal Mart bike one component at a time, by the time you are done, you just spent what it would cost you to get something decent to begin with.

If you are on a tight budget and can't afford the $400 to $500 retail for a new entry level bike from a bike shop, you could look for a sale (in Northern climates, you can find good deals on floor models in the winter, maybe), or buy a lightly used bike for maybe half the cost of a new one. Or even go with something much older for a lot less, maybe $100 to $150 that is maybe 10 to 15 years old with the idea of replacing wear items like chain, cassette, chain and brake pads.

coney462

I recommend that you look at the Giant escape series. 4 model that run between $400- about $650. A lot of bike for the money

DaveQ24

Many products are cheaper to repurchase and replace than to repair. One reason so many products say "warranty" on the packaging - of course the consumer pays shipping and handling each way to get a repair or replacement on their $15 LED lightbulb or whatever - so it never actually happens.

Would I have my S-Works Roubaix repaired - absolutely. My $200 WM bike - I would be willing to spend $50/$60 tops on some part I could replace - otherwise adios.

IMHO - anyone who needs a reliable starter bike should stay away from mass merchandisers, go with a good brand bike from a real bike shop.

If you want to buy a cheap bike for amusement - the fun of seeing what you can get out of it for your minimal investment - go for it.

wphamilton

In that many shops don't want to service those bikes, it's a good example. Possibly a cone wrench and a couple of minutes would have taken care of the guy, and failing that $25-$30 on Amazon would get him a new wheel. I think a person needs to be somewhat mechanically inclined to make these bikes work long-term.

MRT2

I don't think so. According to the bike shop mechanic, the bearings were really bad, and the wheel needed to be replaced. The bike shop would have sold the guy a wheel if he really wanted one. Yes, you could buy a wheel for $30 on Amazon, and mount the tires yourself. To be honest, I think the guy was worried about getting home on the bike and was hoping the shop could service the hub on the spot, which is why he was coming to a bike shop. Maybe amazon was the guy's next stop.

wphamilton

Hopefully he'll add a buck or two more for bearings in his Amazon order, which might have taken bike shop guy another 10 minutes to replace. The only likely way the wheel was useless is if he'd worn ruts in the races, and even then tighten it up with new balls and ride home. Sorry but I am highly skeptical of the mechanic in this story.

Those cheap wheels can last for years, thousands and thousands of miles, with even minimal maintenance. The real issue here is that customers with Walmart bikes do tend to balk on repair prices, and many bike stores understandably don't appreciate it. There are some which will outright refuse to look at one, or exaggerate the issues. My take on that is that a person needs to be more self-reliant if he wants to ride the cheapest bikes he can get.

MRT2

Perhaps they can, but this one did not.

Just one more data point, again relating to my old Bianchi. A few years ago, I loaned it out to my cousin, who isn't a regular rider but sometimes rides with his wife in and around Chicago on his department store bike. When we get back from our ride he tells me how much more enjoyable it was riding when he wasn't constantly fighting the bike.

Doug5150

The department store bikes have a LOT of problems, most caused by really cheap parts (cheap bearings is one of them) and a few other problems caused by poor assembly (the cheap bearings are frequently over-tightened, causing them to fail even earlier than they normally would).

If a wal-mart bike costs $200 and the cheapest bike-store bike costs $400, you would have to spend at least $100 to fix the common problems with the cheap bike, plus it's gonna take at least a few hours of your time, which is worth something as well. If you want something reliable, you're much better off buying the low-end bike at a bike store than you are buying anything at wal-mart.

Also note: at Wal-Mart, the brand name has no bearing on the quality of expensive items, at all.
Wal-mart arranges with companies to product extra-cheap versions of their name-brand products, just to sell at Wal-Mart.I have no personal vendettas at all against Wal-Mart or evil capitalism or whatever, this is just a statement of fact. It's the reason that they usually have the lowest price on whatever they sell.
And Wal-mart is not the only company that does this. Most of the other big chain US stores do it as well.

I know for a fact that regarding bicycles: a number of bicycle manufacturers that sell bikes at private dealers and department stores have agreements with their private dealers that the highest quality level of bikes that the department-stores get to sell is still a lower-quality than the lowest quality level of bikes that the bike stores get.

mrdelurk

To add more detail to the original post, the purpose of the mountain bike I am looking to get is to be shared between a whole group of novices like me. Between all of us, it might get potentially 30 miles of use a day. Hence my concerns with the maintenance and reliability aspect.

EnjoyinTheRide

Hears a simple answer..If you need to do this...



Or this

Then go to the LBS.

Complete lie....the expensive lbs bikes break as well. These elite riders put bikes thru harder usage than say the avg individual....And when they break you will pay money to have it repaired...


Now if your an avg human being who enjoys a nice bike ride......



Then I wouldnt waste good money at a LBS.....A poster above is right. If you read down the forum list of threads you will see many topics on the same thing with the same results..If your a hardcore you love the lbs....Normal human being your walmart bike will be just fine....Again, they both break down..

If it warrants, pay your 100 bucks, enjoy it, take care of it, it will last long enough. Im on 3 years 400 miles no serious breakdowns.......Other than weather lol

If your an extreme hardcore I hope you have 10k lol

EnjoyinTheRide

If you are going to do mid to hardcore MTB with a group meet at lets say the Kingdom Trails in Vermont then yes spend the money..That is just as hardcore as the road rager's..

wphamilton

Personally I wouldn't select a Walmart MTB for this use, because they aren't really for MTB riding. Their shocks are typically a point of failure and I've seen issues with the headsets, bottom bracket and cranks. And with a group of novices sharing it, who knows what kind of abuse it will take.

mrdelurk

Thank you for the advice, I'll heed it. Does any of the brand name $450 bike handle gravel hill roads better than the rest? For non-acrobatic riding.

10 Wheels

Neighborhood rider Frank has enjoyed his for 3 years

MRT2

That bike looks way too small for that rider.

MRT2

It isn't about the brand name, but rather the model. All the major brands make bikes that are close in quality for the same price.

So, a group of people are going in together on the purchase of the bike, or are you buying it and planning on lending it out to a bunch of people?

VegasTriker

If they are still having garage sales in your area, go out looking to see what is available. Normally I wouldn't choose anything from WalMart but keep an eye out for used bikes that are within the limited price range for some friends who can't afford a bike store bike. I picked up a used Mongoose bike recently for $50. It had already survived 13 years and was still in excellent condition. The new owner put a pair of city tires on it and was ready to ride. It was probably not a bike shop bike new.

If you want the Genesis 29, you can read reviews here from people who ride bikes like it and like them: www.bigboxbikes.com ? View topic - Genesis GS29 and this pulled from a review on Amazon.
As stated above it was not put together professionally so you MUST go over every bolt and screw before you ride to ensure your bike doesn't fall apart when you ride. There aren't many bolts and screws so it takes less than 5 min to go over the entire bike with normal tools that I'm sure you already have in your tool box. Brakes are very "soft" and the lever practically goes all the way to the grip (again this is part of the tuning process since it was not from a pro shop). Gears aren't aligned so when gears are shifted it doesn't shift clean. Seat is considered soft but not soft enough for my taste plus it is narrower than what I like (this is purely a rider's preference). These "con's" should be expected from any bike purchased at ANY big box retail store so they aren't really "cons".
That person's experience is similar to what I saw with a kid whose father insisted on a WalMart bike in spite of his being able to buy an entry level bike at a store. The pedals fell off within a couple of miles on the first ride and stripped the cranks in the process. It took three tries to get one that had been assembled correctly so if you don't know bike mechanics add in the cost of having a legitimate bike shop at least check it over.

10 Wheels

This is not The Fitting Forum.
So go jump in Frank's lake.

MRT2

But it is a legitimate concern buying Wal Mart junk. A lot of times, department stores only stock one or two sizes of bikes, so unless you fit that size, you are riding a bike that is too small, or too big.

wphamilton

My wife rides a GT Aggressor from Performance Bikes and we're happy with it. It was around $300 IIRC. My son has a Dawes from bikesdirect, about $250, which has been great for around town.

Your specific use case of a whole group sharing it, it's hard enough to recommend a bike for just one person so I'm not going to touch it.