VegasTriker

The type of person who buys a bike at Walmart just takes it back and picks another one when it proves to be so badly assembled it falls apart. That's the experience of someone I know who bought one of those obese fully-suspended Walmart MTBs for his 12 year old kid. By the third week, the poor kid was on his 3rd bike which apparently was put together well enough to hold up more than a few miles.

coffeesnob

people buy bicycles from walmart because of price

Chuck Naill

I got a Mongoose child's fat tire for my 5 year old grandson @ Walmart. It's a very nice little product with metal crank and chain guard for $70. We've bought several bikes for the children over the years from the LBS and handed them down to the younger children as they grow. While I would never buy the older children's bikes from Walmart, I also would not spend $400 on a bike for a 9 year old unless they were into more than just casual riding.

Hardrock23

Like VegasTriker said, Iv seen the same thing. You'll see that in the reviews of WM bikes, or how they just returned it to just go to another department store for a bike. I like the ones where they say how easy it was to assemble at home and how nice the bike is, while sharing a photo with the fork installed backwards, or cables wrapped awkwardly around the bike...

I bought my son a bike this Christmas from WM, though I had it shipped so I could assemble it myself. The kids bikes are usually okay, more so if you either check or do the assembly yourself.
Target, Walmart, and Toys-r-us have some overlap in the kids bikes they sell, with just different prices...but when it comes to the adult bikes, Target usually has a much nicer selection.

Milton Keynes

The thing is that you should always check a bike before you buy it, and if anything seems put together incorrectly, either pick a different one or fix it when you get home. It wouldn't be a bad idea to loosen screws and bolts and then retighten them just to make sure everything's torqued correctly. I'm pretty handy with a set of tools, so I can make sure everything's put together right.

Phil_gretz

I like bike shops. I like WalMart. And I like the internet. I use all three sources for things.


What this discussion comes down to, is that we would expect the consumer to have the minimum sophistication to judge whether or not a purchase meets his or her needs. Some things, like pharmaceuticals, require additional input for safety and efficacy. Other things, like light bulbs...well. Should simply work or not. The market takes care of whether the brand sells for a second time. Bicycles are in the "consumer should know" bucket for some of us, and in the "consumer must be protected" bucket for others of us.


I'm not sure where I come down. Accident and fatality statistics might help, but then again, no one is paying for bike fatality forensics.


I've tried very carefully not to make any political statements in this post...

Stucky

Walmart bikes for little kids: Fine. They can't appreciate the difference, and more expensive bikes aren't much different in that category.
Walmart bikes for older kids and teens: Fine (just check assembly). Kids have lots of energy, and teens can do their own maintenance.
Adults: Average Joes: (Buys bike on impulse; rides around the block once, and never touches bike again): Fine.
Exercise Rider: Probably needs something a little better.
Commuter: Definitely wants something better.
Serious Cyclist: Yeah, like they'd even consider a Walmart bike!

Personally, all of the adults whom I personally know who bought Walmart bikes, fall into the Average Joe category: They buy a bike with the idea of getting some exercise and taking pleasant rides; ride around the block or to the park once, and discover that riding a bike when you're 45 and 70 lbs overweight is a lot harder than you remembered it being when you 12 and weighed 98 lbs. So they park the bike in the garage, where it sits untouched for 5 or 10 years, and then ends up being sold at their yard sale.

jefnvk

Meh, that goes for all shops. There is an LBS (well, a small business that passes themselves off as one anyhow) near me who has a nice selection of vintage and new stock, that I'd never suggest to someone who doesn't know what they are doing. I've seen vintage bikes in there, which have supposedly been "fully refurbished", with holes through housing and rusty cables showing through. They have some interesting bikes, decent prices (even considering they still need overhauled), I'd buy from them just because I can inspect and do the work, but I'd never recommend them to an unexperienced buyer.

bruce19

The question should be..."Could you fly in it?"

bruce19

IMO, if you are buying a bicycle from Walmart you are not a "cyclist" you are a bicycle rider. And, one that cannot afford or chooses not to buy a decent bike. It is what it is. And, you live with that.

EnjoyinTheRide

Your pretty much correct on that. However you should also add "mountain biker" to that list as well. (I think sometimes we forget about the red headed step brother called Mountain Biker around here lol)

The true experiences of MTB and "cycling" fully require that you have the proper most technically advanced equipment along with the intense, competitive and life risking knowledgeable etiquette(and in some cases the clique of friends) in order to get the fulfillment of the ego one desires lol....(Im trying to be as elitist as I can here lol)

This being said lol, you will not find that any of that crap at a box store lol.. What will one find at a box store...A nice riding bike for the average normal recreational rider.

Stucky

Hmmmmmm. I wonder what would happen if one to actually ride a Walmart MTB like a real MTB? (I'm picturing parts scattered for several hundred feet along the trail, and ambulances. Of course....the ambulance is obligatory, regardless of the brand of bike, when MTBing....)

Johnny Mullet

I currently own 7 bikes and all but one are Huffy brand Walmart or "big box" bikes. I rode 900 miles in 2014, 1600 miles in 2015, and 2400 miles last year all on Huffy bikes. I got my bikes used on craigslist for cheaper than some of you spend on a water bottle and have zero complaints.

I have customized or personalized each and every one of my bikes according to it's purpose...........

Commuter.............



Touring..........



BMX.............



Group Rides...........



And the list goes on. The point here is that these bikes may have been assembled at a store at one time, but they survived and are still going strong.

cbrstar

There's something said for Walmart...Today I went into my LBS, and they had helmets on sale for $120-$390. Considering you can buy a helmet at Walmart for $40 or less these prices felt like a complete scam. No wonder why Walmarts are putting LBS out of business. No one new to cycling is going to pay that for a piece of foam.

EnjoyinTheRide

Lol here you go lol


The bike actually made it lol.

Milton Keynes

Well when it comes to bikes, at least with a bike shop they can adjust the bike for proper fit, and I'd like to think that they'd assemble it properly to begin with. With a Walmart bike, the consumer has to do all their own adjustments (if they even know how or know to do them in the first place), so I would hope that someone buying a Walmart bike would have the tools and knowledge of how to do that, as well as check it over to make sure it's been put together properly. Of course, the average consumer likely doesn't and won't. So it does leave the question as to who's responsible. When it comes to proper assembly, it should be on the shoulders of the seller, but since you can't always rely on that, best to check it yourself.

athrowawaynic

Which store? Do they still do it? I love putting bikes together, and if a properly assembled BSO helps someone get into bicycling, I'm all for it.

I assume the rate is pretty low. I wonder if I can write off the difference between that and my hourly rate as a business loss (or maybe a charitable deduction)?

I-Like-To-Bike

That's what the LBS personnel and their club member friends who post gratuitous slams on BF about "unworthy" bicycle outlets would like everybody to think; that and bikes without an LBS provenance are the Spawn of Satan.

I-Like-To-Bike

What hourly rate do you take home assembling bicycles for an LBS?

Do you include on your taxes the $ value of the beer and cookies received from LBS groupie-Fan Boys?

ClydeTim

Walmart? Ha, I've had some pretty shady work done at so called "high end shops" around here, and we have a lot of them!

I don't let Walmart touch my bikes and I don't let the LBS touch my bikes either.

_ForceD_

It was at a Benny's store (https://hellobennys.com, and there are job listing under the "About" tab. But you probably won't see the assembly jobs announced until the fall)...this particular store is in Middletown, RI.

Dan

athrowawaynic

Obviously not serious. Time given to charity is not tax deductible. This would be similar.

I-Like-To-Bike

I am serious about pay rates for typical LBS full time personnel, are they paid any better or receive better benefits than the typical full time employees of Big Box stores? In fact, do they receive any benefits besides a shop discount and perhaps the occasional cookies and beer donations from happy customers?

Rowan

The way things have gone with LBS -- especially those attached to brands such as Trek and Specalized -- they will charge you up to or more than $300 for a bike fit. Any other "bike fit" on a new bike is a gratuitous "you'll be right" adjustment to make the customer feel happy. It's then up to the customer to make the fine adjustments later as they find the act of riding a bicycle is so painful.

Just look at all the threads that have been started here over the years about (a) LBS and poor service and (b) pain while riding a new LBS bike.

Stucky

The sound of those "brakes" is one of the funniest things I have ever heard!!!!!

The guy was extremely lucky to have escaped unscathed!