htdavidht

Following advice to just get a cheap one for starting and eventually can get into nicer ones... I got me my first bike... since 20 or so years.

It is not that fancy of a bike, it is the Huffy 26 Inch Cranbrook. and i got a second hand one. I can't post pictures, but... it is a common bike sold at Walmart so finding pictures is not that hard. it is the black one with green accents.

This is the things I like about it:
- Step trough. I know it is consider a design for women, but no everybody is interested in constantly performing karate kicks to show how manly they are.
- Single gear. My intended use for this bike is to ride in town, and I live in Pampa, Texas... in native Indian language "pampa" means "flat land". So I think I can get away with single gear, and that means 1 less thing that can break (I hope).
- I was concern about the size, but in my ride the size feels about right, I was in straight position and it was a pleasant ride, even with this hot temperatures.

The thing I don't like is the quality materials... it is cheap materials all around. Aluminum frame, plastic pedals, rubber seat... the list just goes on. I think it is good enough to start me up. I can try getting into the mindset of using more bicycle and less car, at the same time I didn't do a big economical investment in case it does not work out.

Now i need to look into what kind of equipment and upgrades would be good to do in this bike... I thinking for sure a grill to carry stuff... and maybe some basic tools... ?

Also, I was not able to find any bicycle shop in this town... so maybe there is an opportunity there, as we are seeing more and more bikes in the road... anybody have any experience or advice in this kind of business?

I'm really exited about my bicycle and wanted to share.

SkinGriz

Just ride it and replace things as they break.

Plastic pedals aren’t necessarily bad. I still enjoy a bike with one piece cranks and it has the Odyssey Twisted pedals.

Have you put a magnet to the frame? I thought cranbrooks were hi tensile steel, but I could be wrong.

htdavidht

Hi,

I took a magnet to it, and it did stick. I check the info on the huffybikes.com website and it does say: "Perfect Fit steel frame means More Comfort for a More Fun Ride!"

So the frame is steel, that is really great, because that is what I wanted.

I check the bad reviews in the Walmart website, to see what is the worse that can happens... most of the bad reviews seem to be related to damage during shipping, so that is not my worried now... then there is the reviews talking about the pedals breaking and there is the reviews talking about the tires breaking at the point where the 2 colors are glued together. So at least I kinda have an idea what I should be thinking upgrading.

SkinGriz

The industry standard moved away from one piece cranks. Consequently the one piece cranks now are inferior to what would have come on a bike from the 70’s or the BMX one piece cranks of the 80’s.

So… I bet if you weigh a lot and jump your cranbrook off curbs you can probably bend the pedals and cranks.

I wouldn’t worry about tires delaminating. I wouldn’t look at it as upgrading, rather changing things to suit you in fit or riding style.

htdavidht

Hi,

The previous owner did replace the pedals and the seat... I'm no sure what else they replace. But size wise, it does fit me well I guess they where about my same height.

I weight 235 pounds, but have being loosing weight so I expect to weight less than that by the end of the year. A year ago I was 300 pounds. My goal is 170.

I don't really know much about what is good accessories ideas... I got a set of LED lights for the night, and i order a cargo rack thing... but i don't really know what is good idea and what is not.

I have a chihuahua mix, so I have being thinking what can be a good way to bring him with me... probably one of those baskets on the front?

I also would like to go shopping for groceries using my bike. I don't know if having a basket or something on the rack will do, or I should consider one of those trailer things... or if that trailer thing is overkill, I don't buy that many groceries anyway.

Google was able to produce a route that I consider safe, for commuting to work... but it is 30 minutes long, so that means total 1 hour a day... top that with 12 hours working... it is a bit too much... maybe in the future when i am in better physical shape i can adventure to go to work in the bike.

zookster 

Congratulations on the weight loss. Keep up the good work!

SkinGriz

Def. congrats on the weight loss.

futtockpaintbal

Congrats!

htdavidht

Thanks all for the support.

JehD

The biggest issue Ive seen (and its well documented on many websites) is that a lot of Huffy’s and many Walmarty bikes in general has been poor assembly and lack of lubrication on many of the bearings. I’ve purchased 2 from Walmart in the last few years and had an older one my wife found and ended up doing complete tear downs to regressed and reassemble the bikes before use.

These things are generally inexpensive enough to warrant a few upgrades at least on things like seats, pedals and grips so they are nicer to ride and like you said in your case to be used as a starter bike until you see if you want something a little nicer.