tomato coupe

No, let's call it what it really is -- pure speculation based on nothing.

PDKL45

It's called Shimano A050, the sub-Tourney stuff, that is. It's right there in the line up: 2023-2024 SHIMANO Product Information Web They used to do sub-Tourney road stuff, but they've rolled it into Tourney I guess. It's genuine Shimano and you see Shimano branding on a lot of frames, like BSOs here in Korea. You even see it on okay quality 29er frames etc., from Taiwan at times. It's just a marketing thing, and hell, it works with me. I buy genuine Shimano crap over Sunshine crap on kids bikes, mainly for shifting. The cheapest Shimano components just shift better than the awful Chinese stuff you see on other kids bikes.

Troul 

my expectations of 99.9% for things that WM sells are set to the lowest standards. Even the name brand items that they might sell are to those lowest expectations. Chances are high that if it required attention from a WM worker, it might be suffering in quality.
That 9" dutch apple pie found at WM might be also sold at a niche pâtisserie & be perfect, but at WM, it will likely have that special broken edged crust & the box contain a random spritz of orange duplicolor paint on it.
It'll be cheaper at WM tho!

indyfabz

What makes you think Walmart is putting logos on anything? Seriously.

Either you’re clueless about the way things work or you need to work on your game. Which is it?

Chuck M 

About this time last year, ALDI was selling apple pies I could not stay away from. I think they may have had crack in them, but no Shimano stickers.

Troul 

oh, they still sell them.
That lil bump in energy could be a nice head start before a twitchy ride.

ScottCommutes

I have some of the bottles of brand-name motor oil (I think it's Quaker State) from Walmart mentioned earlier in this thread, and they have special labels on them with the Walmart logo. I have no doubt that Walmart makes requests from their suppliers, especially easy stuff like a corporate logo here or there.

seypat

I'm partial to the little individual pies/cakes WM sells. So many flavors, all tasty! They're about the size of a Shimano MEGA RANGE freewheel.

mstateglfr 

Why do you continue to claim that Shimano is the one making decisions in these Big Box store bikes?
Shimano isn't engaging in antics or anything similar to what you describe.

Maelochs

Okay ..... yes, Walmart does indeed buy bulk parts/fluids/whatever and have them packaged in Walmart-logo containers. Walmart is not doing that ... they are paying the distributor/ manufacturers to put products in different containers .... Pennzoil or whatever puts x thousand gallons in Pennzoil bottles, then switches the assembly line over to Walmart bottles. The manufacturer is buying bottles from whichever source and then having having the Walmart bottles printed at the same place it has its Pennzoil (or whoever) bottles printed .... (Walmart does not own wells and refineries .....or factories .... )

There is no guy in the back of Walmart pouring oil from Pennzoil bottles into Walmart bottles.

When Walmart contracts with some CCP factory for however many million cheap MTBs or whatever it is likely buying the bikes as sold by that bike factory ... big as it is Walmart possibly cannot get as good a deal from Shimano as the bike manufacturer can (obviously the bike manufacturer is buying bigger bulk.) The stickers are probably licensed from Shimano and printed and applied at the factory. There is no guy in the back of Walmart putting stickers on frames (we know this because none of the stickers or upside down or backwards, like some of the forks and brake levers will be.)

Seriously, why would Walmart hire people to put stickers on bikes, or any other product, when whichever factory makes the product already puts stickers on the products (or portions them into logo containers)? Walmart might request special branding, but just as likely the cheezy Chinese factory making cheezy Chinese bikes applies the Shimano stickers (just as it applies the Shimano parts) because no matter who the end user, if it is any nation which uses the English alphabet, "Shimano" will be a recognized brand.

A quick search shows Wallybikes labeled Titan, Hyper, Genesis, Huffy, Kent, Mongoose, and Dynacraft, among others. I doubt any of those carry any particular weight among Walmart shoppers ... and I bet Walmart shoppers who have never heard of Shimano think it is a big deal that their bikes have Shimano parts .... just because the decal is so visible ("They wouldn't advertise it if it weren't special.")

Anyway ... the initial issue seemed to be a claim that somehow those Shimano stickers were hurting Shimano. I have yet to see even a shred of evidence.

indyfabz

Folks:

Maelochs

Well .... I made a heavy investment in horse-jelly futures, and I need to protect that investment ....

indyfabz

Walmart is low hanging fruit.

seypat

WM has some competition in cheap athletic goods. I have one of these in my area. I'm sure Dick's carries bikes with Shimano components. If it didn't sell at Dick's it goes to these stores.

https://www.goinggoinggone.com/

dedhed

Shimano has been making low end components for almost a century, they seem to be doing just fine.

loky1179

I bought a Shimano Tourney rear derailleur off Amazon for $12 a few years back for my son's bike. It shifted better than my Deore LX that came on my very expensive 1996 Bianchi Reparto Corse mountain bike.

Trakhak

Barring damage or wear (the Bianchi's derailleur would be decades old at this point), any Shimano indexing-compatible rear derailleur ever designed will shift pretty much as well as any other, thanks to their Centron floating jockey wheel.

As a writer put it in a Bicycle Guide issue decades ago, Shimano derailleurs work for you by the hour. Pay more, and you get greater longevity, with lighter weight as a bonus. But even the cheapest shift very well.

seypat

If only Suntour could have gotten around that Centron patent......

indyfabz

And no one is manufacturing bikes with the name slapped on them without a trademark license from Shimano.

Keyboard titans of industry here on BF are funny. They act like they know what’s best for a multi-gozillion dollar company.

Trakhak

Or had been able to wait long enough for the design to pass into the public domain. Shimano pounced on Suntour's slant parallelogram the minute that patent expired.

veganbikes

I have to imagine there was something mal-adjusted with the LX or old cables or something.

ScottCommutes

I was riding home today and I saw a school kid on a "Columbia" bike with a Shimano sticker on the chainstay that looked identical to the ones I saw at Walmart.

tomato coupe

Wow.

smd4

Typical Shimano marketing hype…

indyfabz

Pay more attention to the road.