Chuck M 

This thread makes me wonder what happened to the shimaNO guy.

Troul 

if you're asking it, it's likely a thing.

veganbikes

Ok way to point things out from far back in the conversation. I am not going to call Tourney quality in any sense and lie to anyone. You want to do that, fine, go for it. I choose to be truthful and not be an apologist for their bottom and below stuff. We are allowed to have differing opinions, that is the whole fun of this forum.

DangerousDanR

The "Official Story" of John Deere bicycles:
https://www.deere.com/en/publication...2/pedal-power/

Maelochs

I think it is something like this: Even the lowest-level Shimano stuff is going to work, which is unsurprising, seeing as derailleurs have been around for so long ..... Sure, the quality of materials is pretty low, but no one is buying anything Really Shimano and finding it doesn't work at all.

Of course, given that derailleur tech is so old, pretty much any derailleur is going to work a t least passably. However .... For the tiny percentage of people who know the name, the Shimano decal is more a graphic, just decoration .... Look how many ProTour bikes (and mass-market expensive bikes) have the manufacturer's name in big letters down the down tube----but since no one has ever heard of whichever random Chinese Communist factory produced the frame for whatever Taiwanese corporation was contracted to produce the frames .... so "Shimano" is mostly just a flashy imitation of "Look" or "Cervelo" or something .... but it is a real "bike company" name.

icemilkcoffee 

Of course it is the same brand. GM licensed their GMC brand name out to these cheapy bikes. Hence my question: why would GM do such a dumb move?

Maelochs

Yes ... I understand that the GMC Denali bike and the GMC Hummer fat bike are both cross-commercializing with the respective cars .... but how many people, when the see a Denali in a Walmart, think "This is the same company that produces Chevrolets?"

spelger

i responded to your post on the same day the OP's post was made. you are now responding 2 days later. talk about far back in the conversation.

i'm not defending Tourney by the way, just your oblivious way of poking the OP in the eye.

seypat

I think the Denali name was first offered to Cadillac, but they turned it down. We could be talking about Cadillac Denali bikes.

OldTryGuy

Or St. Helens, cause they're bound to asplode if ridden too ruff

wheelreason

Cadi is part of GM...

seypat

Yes, but more upscale than GMC. GM's flagship brand.

tomato coupe

There was a very good Cadillac branded bike frame produced about 15 years ago. It utilized Dedacciai Black Pearl carbon tubing, and appeared to be the same as a Van Dessel Solstice. (It may have also been the same as frames sold under the Viner and Guerciotti names.)

Maelochs

I think it was Mongoose that decided it could make a ton of money selling Bib-box-sized bikes under its already-established brand ... which brand has now lost its luster, despite the real Mongeese never declining in quality.

veganbikes

It wasn't a timing issue I was mentioning. It was how far back in the conversation in postings not time.

I mean it seems like at least a slight defense of Tourney but yeah I don't really care about trashing Tourney. You seem to have the issue and that is fine but I don't and not really concerned with saying the truth out loud if the OP has an issue they can have an issue it is not changing my mind on Tourney or changing what I say about it.

unterhausen

In my experience, Shimano's garbage derailleurs work pretty well. I actually had one on my backup road bike for a while, I forget why exactly. It came off a hybrid that got hit by a motorist. But the crummy Shimano derailleur shifted just fine. I have a couple of ultegra derailleurs that would have worked in my box of spares.

Turnin_Wrenches

I agree that the Shimano name and products on WM bikes is not a good look for Shimano. I've had to work on some of those bikes and they are garbage! The first time I saw one come into the shop I was like "WtF is this?". The Shimano components are far worse than Tourney-level. I have to assume Shimano is making a profit from the partnership, but the bikes are an abomination. Buyer beware.

indyfabz

mstateglfr 

How is it not a good look for Shimano?

Nobody that is going to buy bike shop level bikes would refuse to buy a bike with a Shimano drivetrain based on bikes sold at Walmart having low end Shimano parts.

mstateglfr 

Mongoose as a brand went the cheap product route because it was sold multiple times between 1985 and 2000. The owning groups chose that fate for Mongoose.
Just clarifying since I see that as different from Mongoose choosing to go that route.

blue192

Advertising that a bicycle has Shimano components is like advertising that a bicycle has wheels. Shimano has several lines of components at different quality/price points.

indyfabz

Yep. Like a sports car lover refusing to buy a Corvette because the Chevy name is also on things like the Volt.

Turnin_Wrenches

You have totally missed the point.... or perhaps you intentionally ignored it altogether .

Chuck M 

Perhaps you should explain the point, because I think a lot of us assumed there wasn't one when the OP opened this with saying he "puttered back to look at bikes at Walmart".

Trakhak

Your point seems to have been that, because some bike shop mechanics have found the Shimano parts on Walmart-sourced bikes difficult to work on, Walmart shoppers will therefore be inclined to avoid Shimano-equipped bikes, both in Walmart and in bike shops. I think I've got that slightly wrong; not sure how, exactly.

By the way, the following is absolutely not to be taken as impugning your skills (although that disclaimer doesn't necessarily apply to all bike shop mechanics who post on Bike Forums; I have my doubts about some of them). The topic simply reminded me that, in my days of running bike shops, the mechanics who made the most noise about inferior bike components were always the least skilled, tending to fix things by rote, with questionable problem-solving instincts.