Do consumer grade Walmart bikes need disc brakes?
 

Let's agree that people riding $2000 bikes are the small elite segment of serious bike market compared to the millions of bikes sold at Walmart.
What is the state of basic consumer bikes? Do most still have traditional rim pad brake? Do you think consumer grade Walmart bikes need disc brakes? Or is that overkill and traditional 100 year old brake system is more Cost effective and fine for casual bikers and will be for a long time?.

:popcorn

Yup!

OK, to the first statement, I definitely agree.
What's the state of basic consumer bikes? If by basic consumer bikes you mean the ones sold at Walmart, then the state is poor.

So do Walmart bikes need disc brakes? My answer is No, it's overkill and the production cost should be spent elsewhere, like making sure the bike actually functions properly and can be adjusted effectively. Rim brakes will be easier and cheaper to maintain and adjust for most riders of Walmart bikes.

The only reason Walmart bikes would need disc brakes is if people are actually using them in conditions which benefit from disc brake use; some amusing Youtube videos aside, I don't think many people are using them much for actual downhill MTB trails or fast road descents, or at high speed in the rain. [I may be missing other scenarios when discs are super beneficial, but I think the point stands.]

If riding a $2,000 bike puts one in the "elite segment of of serious bike market" than I must be a .1%-er. My frame would cost probably more than twice as much as that to replace today, not to mention the fork and everything else. But don't hate me for it.

WalMart wants to sell bikes. Disc brakes, just like suspensions, helps WalMart sell those bikes. It really doesn't matter to WalMart whether these items are beneficial or not.

Exactly. They are just sales features to grab peoples attention and create a desire to buy the bike.
For decades I have considered that cheap suspension systems are worse than useless but what do I know as they sell tens of thousands of them.

Maybe a way to say it would be simply "serious or committed cyclist market compared to the millions of bikes sold at Walmart." Right, it's not elite, but it's not the preponderance of the market, which is what the OP is contrasting it with...

Agreed on replacements - I have an NOS S-Works frame, and I sure didn't buy it new retail and wouldn't want to have to walk in and replace it from off the wall at an LBS. We know how to take advantage of a good value!

cb400bill makes a very good point, but I wonder whether a lot of shoppers are having a desire to buy created by the presence of discs. Suspension is super-obvious and understandable to noobs... other advancements, maybe not so much

I am talking new custom ti. Actually a great value when you consider how much time the builder spent designing and building the frame. He's building one for my ex. We are supposed to go see it Saturday. Always fun to visit. Amazing place. He's got a machine for each tube/piece of the frame. One of them is a lathe from the 50s that was used by the Department of the Navy. And now that he has his own CNC mille he even makes his own dropouts.

When I ordered my frame he was not quite ready to offer disc brakes. I didn't want to wait another 4 months so I went with rim brakes.

“Hey man I got me a bike from Walmart. It’s got disc brakes and a shock absorber.” The fact that 10,000+ people can say that annually is why their BSO’s have disc brakes, “shocks,” and while we’re at it sometimes paint jobs and logo’s that evoke actual bicycles.

So you are wanting to make a law as to what can be sold by Walmart?

Why just Walmart? Target, Dick's, Academy Sports and many others sell inexpensive bike too. Just because I've grown beyond them doesn't mean they aren't right for some that don't ride seriously or often.

Maybe we can ban them from selling Kingsford charcoal too! <grin>

Not sure why you think we'd have access to Walmart's sale figures, but judging from their website, they have a lot more bike models with coaster brakes than disc brakes, and the vast majority are rim brakes.


I don't think anyone cares what I think about whether anyone "needs" disc brakes. I'd need to know how good the rim brakes are on these bikes and how much better/worse/no difference the disc brakes they'd replace them with would be to have any sort of informed opinion on this.

If I had to guess, though, I'd say that the disc brake would be inferior to a rim brake if they were both costing Walmart the same price.

The simple fact is that disc brakes are a better brake, and the industry is moving to make discs standard. Read up on the subject economies of scale.

BTW what is wrong with a cyclist that dont have a ton of money having a bike with discs that are safer in the rain? Should only rich people be safe???

No, they don't "need" disc brakes. $2000+ bikes don't "need" them either.

Pump your brakes, so to speak. My new gravel bike has disc brakes. I am far from rich.

If I step back for a moment...

The person who just finished the clean-up in aisle 10 is now going to bleed the brakes on a bike I ride through downtown traffic.

John

That could be a good thing, or a bad thing. What was being cleaned up? A spilled bag of marshmallows? Bad. Oil of some sort? Probably good.

But I'm thinking the Walmart bikes with disks probably aren't hydraulic anyway.

You are probably right.

John

No bike "needs" disc brakes.

How much does a ton of money weigh?

You are old, yet you post like a young adult who is constantly trying to feel slighted.

Cheap disc brakes work poorly. Rotors are easily bent, and come bent, dropouts arent straight, etc. If the disc brakes are well made and work- then great, they should be on all levels of bike.
And to answer your sad question- no, rich people arent the only ones who should be safe.

if Nike wasnt a registered trademark name, walmart would have already replicated that well known logo for use on there Great Value gym shoes. Comes down to business, not functionality.

Two Walmart-related threads started by the OP within 7 minutes of each other. One about disc brakes.

Come on, peoples.

I have to disagree with you on that one....A $ 2000 bike is not even close to being elite or very high end.....$2000 today gets you a mid - level bike that is of good quality but far from being high-end or elite....Bikes which cost around $2000 are probably the most common types of bikes sold out there.
..