Murray Missile 

Just became the "proud" owner of a NEXT full suspension 18 speed MTB. Why you ask? Welllll............... the price was right. I was coming out of WalMart in the next town and an older (than me) guy comes up to me. I recognized him as being from the same town as me, he comes into the store where my wife works and is one of her quirky but nice customers and I've seen him riding around town on an older BSO. After a short exchange of pleasantries he asked if I would haul a bike back to our town for him for $20. I told him "No, but I'll haul it for free." We argued about the fee and he seemed to concede. He went into W-M and came out with a new NEXT full suspension MTB, he insisted on paying me and finally wore me down and got me to accept $10 but I felt bad about it because I know he's on a fixed income.

On the way to his place the idea hit me to offer him $10 for his old bike thinking it was probably ready for the scrap heap. We unloaded his bike and I offered him some maintenance tips which he was happy to get. He mentioned his old bike so I took the opening and asked what he was going to do with it. He said "You want it?" and I replied "Sure, I'll give you ten bucks for it." He rolled out a Burgundy and Silver NEXT very similar to what he just bought and for having been stored under the outside stairs from Spring through Fall for 4 years it was actually in pretty decent shape, the paint is pretty good with no major scratches. There's some weathering on the decals and the decal on one fork leg is skinned up with just some minor rust here and there that will clean up easily. Mechanically it needs some definite TLC, new tires and brake pads and probably a new chain but otherwise not bad at all. The seat is in perfect condition, gripshifters move like they should ( derailleurs are WAY out of adjustment though ), hand grips are good and both wheels are actually true! He rolled it over to my truck and bluntly refused to take any money for it so basically I got paid $10 to haul it off and he was tickled to death to get rid of it.

I have everything in my takeoff pile I need to make it fully functional again and it will clean up nicely so I think I'll fix it up and keep it around for awhile. At her present rate of growth it will fit my Grand Daughter in about a week LOL so maybe she can use it when they visit. Then again I may flip it later or donate it, time will tell. Sad part is even if I had to buy all new parts I still could have fixed it for less than half what he paid for the new one. He asked me if he needed anything done on the new one if I would work on it and I told him I would. I am really surprised how well his old one held up with virtually no maintenance and being stored basically outdoors for so long, we're in the Midwest so it's seen some pretty wet weather. I have a slightly higher opinion of NEXT bikes now but then I didn't rate them too highly to begin with so it wouldn't take a whole lot.

Dave Horne

A great story!

Do you think if his older bike had been adjusted that he would have still wanted a new one?

NormanF

What kind of guy buys a new Wal-mart bike to replace a barely used one?

Murray Missile 

I really think so, he had it in his mind he wanted a NEW bike, as stubborn as he was on paying me I don't think there would have been any talking him out of it.


One with no mechanical inclination of any kind. Nice guy but I got the impression he may not remember the late 60's early 70's real well.

mustang1

Fantastic story!

Retro Grouch 

Somebody who doesn't want to pay $60.00 plus parts for a bike shop tune up.

Astrozombie

lol exactly, getting a new one can cost about the same as getting the old one fixed, pretty disposable

Is it aluminum at least? Only cool thing about these bikes is you can usually take off the stickers.

Murray Missile 

Yeah, even with the minimal repairs this one needs if you can't do the work yourself and don't already have parts laying around fixing it is pretty pointless. As to being aluminum, I hope not because if it is somebody filled the frame with lead! No it's steel LOL, it still feels like the frame might be filled with lead but at least the rims are aluminum. I have an old pair of steel MTB wheels I should clean up and throw on it to see how effective V-brakes are on wet chrome.

Retro Grouch 

Now see, before Obamacare people were afraid to try stuff like that.

Johnny Mullet

My friend got one of these Next bikes and it was the same color as yours. The suspension is nice for leasure riding.

Murray Missile 

Well, after a good bath, some decent used tires and a little TLC the NEXT will be going to a new home. A co-worker was looking for a CHEAP bike for his daughter that wouldn't be too attractive to thieves. I think this fits that requirement.

Murray Missile 

The NEXT is ready to go to new it's new home and it can't be soon enough, now I remember why I never liked working on WalMart bikes. All things considered it was in good shape, even better than I first thought, especially since I found out it sat outside 24/7 365 days a year for the past 4 years. He put it in the middle ring up front and the small cog in back the day he got it and NEVER shifted it again which explains why the shifters and derailleurs still work after a little lube and a trim adjustment on the rear. Brake pads were only worn on the corners because they were so far out of whack, 75% of the braking surface was untouched so I just realigned them, they'll stop my 230 Lbs. OK so they should be OK for a 98 Lb. teenager. I did have to replace the rear brake cable, the end had been rubbing his leg so instead of tie strapping it out of the way he cut it off flush with the brake arm and then mummified it with duct tape. Threw the old slicks off my TREK on it for tires, straightened the bars, leveled the seat and called it good to go.

The guy I got it from stopped by and wants me to fix some little annoyances on his new one. Same identical bike just a different color, he has it in the same gears and told me he'll never shift it again. I was going to ask why he didn't just buy a single speed but I wasn't sure I REALLY wanted to know the answer.