vimal85

Hi all. I am completely new to the world of biking and I am looking to purchase a bike just for casual biking on weekends along paved biked paths. I am a 34 year old male and almost 5.8. I just started researching and saw that there are road bikes, hybrids, mountain, etc and with the COVID thing, it is becoming virtually impossible to find any bike, forget a low cost one. However, I did find a couple of budget bikes and I have to choose between the two. The first one is a Schwinn Al Comp mountain bike 27.5 from Walmart and the other is a Schwinn Signature Men's Standpoint 27.5 from Dick's sporting goods. Links are below.
Not able to post links because of the awesomely logical rule of having to post 10 posts first ( limit of 5 per day ). Brilliant job moderators!!! Would love to have more draconian rules.

The AL comp from Walmart is $224 and the Standpoint from Dick's is $399. I tried to compare the specs and found some similarities and differences but I have absolutely no idea which bike is better for me as I do not understand all the technicalities. As I said before, I am a complete beginner and I don't want to spend too much for my first bike. At the same time, I do not want to spend money on a junk bike and end up spending more money on repairs if any. So kindly request you all to help out here and help me choose between the two! Why is the stand point priced almost $200 more than the AL comp? At face value, the obvious choice seems as if I should go for the AL comp but is the extra $200 for the standpoint really worth it? What am I missing here? Kindly help out !! I have ordered both and I have to cancel one of the two ASAP.

jpescatore

These are crazy times - both of those bikes are kind of pretender mountain bikes that no one would normally recommend for actual mountain biking. For paved riding, they are heavy and the shock forks are just added weight. Also, Walmart bike building is often pretty bad.

All that said, biking is better than not biking. If those are your only alternatives, (caveat: I have ridden neither of these bikes, just looked at the specs) I don't think you gain much for the $200 extra for the Standpoint, the components are nearly identical and not much difference wheel-wise.

One caveat: there is apparently a blue Comp AL with rear rim brake and a kind of funky derailleur hanger; and a silver model that has a disc brake in the rear and a "normal" derailleur hanger. Neither is really a deal breaker at that price but if you had a choice, go with the silver one.

dedhed

HOnestly for your purposes I'd be looking at hybrid bikes not mountain bikes

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p...nshkmntb15xfbb

Outrider1

A used hybrid on Facebook Marketplace or Craiglist would serve you better than either of those two selections.

Outrider1

A used hybrid on Facebook Marketplace or Craiglist would serve you better than either of those two selections.

Viich

I'd agree normally - but here the used market prices are completely wacky. Used bikes of this ilk are going for the same as new.

The Al Comp looks fine, honestly. Get a few tools if you don't have them and use the Park Tools website videos to do adjustments. At least it has threadless headset, isn't 1 piece cranks, so you can likely find replacement parts when needed. Make sure you bed in the brakes (drag them lightly before full stops - again, check out Park Tool), and don't pull the brake lever when the rotor isn't in the caliper...... you'll figure it out.

vimal85

Thank you!

dedhed

Depends on your market.
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...163348752.html

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...161538920.html

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...161083819.html

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...137249134.html

https://madison.craigslist.org/bik/d...162879750.html

vimal85

I started to look for hybrids only. All of these listings are awesome unfortunately there is virtually nothing near my area. I have spent countless hours scourging through Craigslist, Facebook market place, offer up and calling up every bike shop near me and far away from me as well. Nothing . Very few were there and most of them were either old or too small or very expensive. I got fed up and already nearly half of summer is over so I thought I will just go ahead with whatever is available

katsup

There is nothing wrong with old bikes, especially if they are maintained. Which major city are you near?

Bigbus

Me personally, I would pick a bike with wheels and pedals and at that price point be happy that they roll. Good luck with whatever you buy. Any day on a bike is almost certain to be a good day.

partyanimal

One caveat to buying cheap (wal-mart) bikes - if you're a total newbie to riding bikes and you buy a crappy bike, you may not have a great newbie experience and it may turn you off to biking. Not saying you should go right out and buy the best there is. Obviously you need to buy what you can realistically afford. But I've always found the thought of "i'm not sure if i'll like it so I'll just buy the cheapest one just in case" will more often than not guarantee you will not like it.

Do you live somewhere relatively flat? Might want to look into a single speed - less parts, less points of possible failure and maintenance = more time riding. You can usually find a lot of them used on craigslist fairly cheap and even the cheaper ones will be better than a cheaper, fully-geared bike.

fietsbob

Perhaps in this order.. # 1 Pick a Proper bike shop you like*, then # 2, get a bike from them..

In My LBS when the Wally opened up, days later the broken bike is brought in, the owner said 'got your sales receipt?'

Get your Money Back..

*service after the sale is what you get, included..


they have a 1 speed/fixie, still low end parts, just not very many of them.






...

Tpsfoto

I recently bought a used Specialized on bicyclebluebook.com ....it is kind of similar to a Carmax of bicycles
my purchase was great....fast delivery and a fair price for a quality ride...
think about that. You do have to do a bit of assembly....but you could pay someone to do it if you are not able. The big box store bikes are a waste of money if you start to really like biking

Toespeas

dont ever buy a bike from any department store , what ever your budget is , as 200 to 500 and thats a true budget bike , there are tons of bikes , take the time and invest in a decent bike with entry level parts like a 9 -11 speed sram or shimano , i would even say go on ebay and start with a frame , once you get a frame set its super easy to build up bike m there is no excuse for buying a wal mart bike in 2020 , you tube will literally force you to learn how to make a custom bike from scratch !

livedarklions

You're missing the point. The LBS everywhere have pretty much run out of stock at that price range. I've gone into a couple around here and I've never seen anything like it.

livedarklions

TBH, I think you are buying a bike for half a season and later you will decide whether you want to do more and be able to buy a better bike under normal market conditions. I wonder if you wouldn't be better off buying a cheap one speed for the kind of riding you're describing. A mtb is just so over equipped for it that I think you're just paying money to make the bike heavier.

Between the two, I'd rather buy from Dick's, and the Signature line is supposed to be a bit higher quality than the WM Schwinns. The WM website seems a bit vague on the actual components.

dedhed

No one looking at Walmart bikes is going to build a bike from a frame.

Thomas15

Vimal85,

Welcome to the world of biking and BikeForums! Feel free to browse the 1000s of threads where this same question is batted around and around and around! Be careful you don't get whiplash!

livedarklions

The Dick's in-store assembly seems to be a bit better than WM's, which is completely abysmal. Also, the Signature bike identifies the derailleurs as Tourney which, while not great, is at least identifiable. Shimano has non-names below that that often show up on WM bikes.

I have read in seemingly reputable sources that the Signature line actually uses somewhat better components. I'm not sure your statement that they are identical simply because they're no-name is true.

Have you bought a bike from Dick's? My impression from looking at their bikes is they seem to be pretty well put together at my local location, but I've never actually bought one.

VegasTriker

I understand your problem finding a decent bike these days with most of the entry level bikes from regular bike shops in very short supply. Just don't expect a whole lot from the Walmart bike. It has cheap nearly useless front suspension. That's a good selling point for the uninitiated but just adds weight and takes away from Pacific Cycles putting better components elsewhere on the bike. Pick it up and see if it is more suitable for weight lifting than for riding. Lots of very heavy bikes out there. Have someone who knows bikes look it over and see if it has been properly assembled. Walmart is so bad that they even sometimes send bikes out with the fork on backwards and the pedals not tightened. I saw that first hand with a boy who's pedals fell off the bike within a couple of miles on a Scout bike ride. I checked the brakes and steering but who would have thought to check the pedals? You might consider buying a second set of tires online. Ones with smoother tread (city tire) will make the ride a lot better if you are mostly riding roads.

Don't sell old bikes short. My two mountain bikes listed in my header are both 30 years old and light years ahead of an entry level bike or they would not have survived this long. Both were bought used. I lucked out and found the Cannondale SM800 for $20 at a local thrift store. There is also a good reason why you can not post pictures until you have 10 posts. That's to keep spammers away. Since you could not post it, here is a picture of the Schwinn.

fietsbob

Ours out here has taken deposits and Pre-sales, paid in advance on the next batch of bikes not yet in the container port.

Bigbus

I test rode an old Schwinn 10 spd 27" today at a thriftstore/ They were asking $30.US and it rode, shifted, air in the tires and surprisingly, no rust. All original paint but the badge was missing up front. It was definitely from the 80's. Tempting, but I don't need another road bike at this time. I'm sure it went quick.

Toespeas

a good option is recycle a bike they have tons of great old bikes you can buy for extra cheap !