cudak888 

I hoard all the four-bolt 7/8" stems from trashed kids BMX bikes for this purpose, and buy a 7/8" bar to go along with them. Solves the problem in short order.

I don't even waste my time with the originals anymore - they get chucked out the moment I start working on the bike, and I won't service one that I don't own unless this modification is included in the repairs.

-Kurt

unterhausen

People would be so much better off buying bikes from the LBS. I suspect there are very few people that do not have an LBS within a reasonable distance that can't sell them a reliable bike for under $300. My son's bike was a rental, like new, and we got it for $130. It's probably a better mountain bike than mine. The $70 bikes from the big box are BLO (bike like objects) meant to fill up people's garages. If used, they will quickly exceed the price of a decent bike from the LBS.

Be careful rehabbing old murrays and huffys. I saw the front wheel and fork collapse on one on the mup, and I can't count the number of times I tried to true one of those wheels and could tell it was on the verge of tacoing. Some of those bikes were almost acceptable. But I remember seeing one in the early '80s that had a headset that wasn't adjustable. Everything was so cheap on that bike that it probably wouldn't stand up as a ghost bike.

riva

Just weld them up.

banjo_mole 

Taiwan, China... Oh gee, I failed my geographic knowledge.

The intent of my statement was thus: Schwinns today are now made in a country other than the US with very low standards of quality under a nice name.

Not all foreign made bikes (a la rivendell or giant, [i don't care for giant]) are junk, my bad.

However, I was bummed to find that Masi bikes are made in some Asiatic country now.

So much for rustic italian craftsmanship.

Just wait until Campy outsources to, say, Ethiopia or Mexico.


-Nick

Grim

Couple guys like that around here. I laugh at some of the JUNK he has big price tags on but they do sell apparently because the Ad's disappear after a couple weeks. This guy is ruthless and I think this is his full time gig. I see great bike cheap listed on CL and that guy has beat me to several. A Fuji sagres showed up for $65 I tried to get it. He got it has it listed for $250 now. https://atlanta.craigslist.org/bik/1073211239.html He is actually having trouble moving it. He seems to be better at moving bikes priced around $100.
Some good bikes come out of Taiwan but like anything you can buy in grades. Same factory that is putting out a fantastic bike out one door of the factory is pushing a complete bottom of the line bike out the door on the other end of the building. Giant built a LOT of Schwinns. Frames were good but a lot of lower end parts. I just picked up a nice World Sport with a double butted 4130 frame that is very nice but some low end derailleurs. Its about to become a single speed.

Low end step through bikes sell well enough here but I'm only getting around $50 in that range of bikes you listed. Like I posted before they are just not worth my time to play with if they need anything other then minor adjustments.
I can get those sorts of prices for 80's Japanese and Taiwan built bikes of mid quality. A good condition 70's Schwinn road bike will fetch about $100 here on average.


Yep I am quite impressed with the 1988 World sport I just picked up. Looking forward to riding it once I get done cleaning it up.

mickey85

Because China and Taiwan are the same...

Don't get me wrong, between most European and most Asian bikes, I'd pick the European in a heartbeat, but I don't have a problem with Asian bikes...well, except Chinese bikes. There are very few Chinese bikes that I would feel safe or comfortable riding.

StephenH

One thing that's deceptive is you see some of these bikes that are 40 years old, and you think "What a great bike! It lasted 40 years!" In reality, it got used 6 months, sat in a garage for 39 years, and now it's out again. I would bet that most of those old cheap bikes are long gone if they were actually used more or less continually. Ditto for the expensive ones, for that matter. I've got a Free Spirit 3-speed that is maybe 30 years old. But I bought it from the 2nd owner, who had stored it unridden for ten years, after buying it from the first owner, who never rode it, etc.

I had a couple of bikes as a kid, which are gone. When I was in junior high or high school, I got a new bike, maybe a Murray, and rode it regularly for several years. It seemed like I did a lot of bicycling, but it was only about a mile to the high school, so at most, I was riding 3 miles a day. Anyway, that bike started rusting and otherwise looking bad, and I tossed it out quite a few years back.

The $100 mountain bike I had from Academy seldom had fully functional gears. Brakes were not too good to begin with, and got progressively worse in the year I owned it. I don't know how old 10-speeds compared, but they couldn't have been much worse. I replaced the rear wheel on that bike twice in a year, too.

banjo_mole 

I sometimes see dept. store bikes today (Like my brother's Jeep brand bike) with deraileurs that are simpler than the cheap simplex deraileurs from years ago.

I saw one that was almost a point-for-point copy of the $18 simplex at Velo Orange.
My camera is lost, so I can't show.

krems81 

Put it this way, i'd rather taiwanese than french. Sheesh. (I know I'm gonna catch some flack for that on this board , but deep down in your heart you know I'm right. )

krems81 

Most of the old free spirits had the same components as chicago schwinns, and those can last a very long time if maintained. Can't blame a bike for rusting. Gotta blame nature, and the owner. Even a Hetchins will rust, its just very unlikely to be left out.

Blue Order

Works for me. One less person wanting to beat me to all those great French bikes...

jeebusaurousrex

Sort of ironic considering how bicycles are one of them major sources of transportation in China!

wahoonc

I don't buy that. A better quality bike will last even when used heavily. I have a 1972 Raleigh Sports Standard that has seen well over 30,000 miles of riding, it is rusty, butt ugly, and has been abused. It is still rideable and usable today. It currently needs brakes pads and new tires and I bet it would be good for another 30k. FWIW the bike was purchased in 1982 with low miles on it and then had the crap ridden out of it for the next 10 years.

I doubt any of the lesser brands would have taken that kind of mileage or abuse for that length of time.

Aaron

krems81 

You can have em! Points for style, but heck if I want to go crazy fixing them. I'll go japan and taiwan all the way! How bout this. You take the frenchies, I'll take the asians. We can trade Miyatas and Univegas for Puchs and Peugots all summer!

Blue Order

Er, except I just found the Lotus I'd been wanting...

krems81 

I won't deprive you of the Lotus. They're beautiful, but you already know I like asian steel. Maybe I can just keep the next vintage Mercier I run across and we'll call it even.

Blue Order

Deal.

krems81 

you got it brudda

Caferacernoc

I think a major problem that leads to these WM bikes getting tossed instead of fixed is the huge gap between available parts and service for a LBS bike compared to the WM bike. In the '70's a Schwinn was sold at a LBS. Free Spirit was sold at Sears. But they had the same or similar replacement parts. You could get cheap stuff at the hardware store or decent stuff at the LBS. But nowdays, people need a wheel for their "so called" $69 mountain bike and the LBS quotes more than that just for the wheel so the bike ends up tossed. It's too hard to find stuff cheap enough to warrent fixing them up. I know Niagara Cycles has $6 tires and $4 thumb shifters and $4 brake levers and 88 cent cables but most people don't.
Also, more and more people just can't fix anything themselves so the gap widens. Big box stores sell disposable junk and no replacement parts because that's what the people want. Try buying a lawnmower at Home Depot and then go back two years later for a new blade and see what you find.

Caferacernoc

I wonder too about the fact that in China, people do use Chinese bikes as basic transportation. But I imagine that they get cheaps parts no problem. If our $800 bike has a replacement wheel cost of $80, they probably can get an $8 wheel for an $80 bike.

jamesl

I've been swapping back and forth recently between my 70s Schwinn Varsity single-speed and a Cannondale M300 I bought new in the mid 90s. I can't compare components, but when it comes to ride quality the 35lb Schwinn wins on the road, hands down.

MrSpacely

There are several generalizations in this thread which may be confusing things. First, I consider department store bikes as being bikes manufactured for department stores such as Sears, Montgomery Ward and JCPenney. Sears had their Free Spirit line, Wards had Open Road, and so on. If you look at a Sears catalog from the mid-1970s you will find 10-speed bikes (drop bars, front and rear derailers) ranging from perhaps $65 up to $150 or so. That's a huge spread. Sure, many were made by Huffy, Murray, and AMF but some of the top of the line bikes were quite good. Today, that spread would be similar to a top of the line WM bike on the low end to a low-end LBS brand bike such as an entry level Fuji or Trek. Seriously. The difference was back in the mid-'70s those bikes were all made in the US. I know a person could maintain and ride these bikes regularly because I did for several years.

Sure, WM, K-Mart, Venture and similar stores sold bikes but everyone knew they were the cheaper AMF, Murray and Huffy bikes. No big deal - you got what you paid for. Those bikes were also decent but they wouldn't last as long under what I consider to be normal, careful use.

I think many people assume the bicycle manufacturers decided at some point to start building nothing by crappy bikes but the truth is the realitive quality of low end bikes has been on a steady decline for several decades, 50 years perhaps. My brother's cheap 1970 Western Flyer was a much nicer bike than my cheap 1975 AMF. My nice 1978 Free Spirit 10-speed was a wonderful bike whereas the 1990 Free Spirit 12-speed I purchased was returned to Sears before I completely removed it from the box.

There have always been cheap POS bicycles. There was a time when a person could buy a good quality bicycle at Sears. Sure, my 1990 Fuji is a better bike than my 1978 Free Spirit but I rode the latter for 12 years without any problems.

beefTLR

Why?...

Bicycle Magazine Article

mickey85

Yeah, but this:




is a whole lot different than this:

jamesl

That was a very interesting article. Thanks for posting....