Walmart bikes cracks me up!!!

I did my taxes the other day and the accountant saw my bike from his window on my roof rack. We started chatting a bit about bikes. He loves riding but he doesn't believe in buying expensive bikes. His son needed a bike for his mission (they're Mormon) but his dad didn't want to spend big bucks on a bike. He told him to buy at Walmart. The bike only lasted ONE MONTH!! It was a mountain bike that only saw pavement. #-o

 

I have always yearned on seeing a Mormon on a bad ass push bike. But I know they give 25% to the Mormon church. If one More Mormon comes to my door with a suck ass Walmart bike I'm going to throw a wadded up Decline magazine at them.

 

I bought a Costco full suspension bike almost 7 years ago and it weights more than double of my new F4.:lol:

 

I'm going to quit riding after reading this thread. After all I own three Mongooses which must make oh so un-cool.:lol:

 

That Carbon Fiber road bike... am I the only one who is afraid of catostrophic failure and/or the carbon fiber peeling after a couple of weeks?

 

Maybe, but they have a long reputation for being poorly assembled.

 

I agree they are very poorly assembled.most screws don't have lock-tight,bearings usually have little or no grease,and everything is usually poorly adjusted or put together.Most of the bikes are built/adjusted by staff at the store hired for the position and don't have years of bike service, that most good bike shops have.If the bikes were built properly they would not be as crappy as they are.But then think about what the innovators of MTB started out with,old steel bikes that weighed as much as 2 wal-mart bikes probably,and broke,and failed alot,yet they had fun and were about the ride and surroundings then how much their bike cost,obviously you want a reliable bike that won't fail miles into a ride,but if built right any bike can be reliable.:beer:

 

Just an FYI -- there are Mormons (probably more than you think -- I know at least five) who frequent these boards. And a lot of us have actually done the door to door thing, and let me tell you it ain't fun having stuff thrown at us. It isn't easy offering to share something that means a lot to you with 99.9% of people who don't want to hear it. By in large, Mormon's don't do much of the door to door thing in CA -- but if they do knock on your door, either don't answer it or answer it, politely decline their message, and ask them if they mountain biked before their missions. An Elder in my congregation about a year ago was from the Pacific Northwest and had quite a bit of North Shore experience.

BTW - it is 10%. And the church doesn't pay for your mission (or get you a bike), you pay for it out of your own pocket for two years. Which means you save a lot of money to live for two years (or your family helps you), and buy the best bike you can if you are in a bike area. I actually rode a pretty nice fat tire bike on my mission, but I also did a lot of touring when I was in high school.

I know you comment was said tongue-and-cheek, but I figured I would forestall further comments that move to less-tongue-and-cheeky realms.

Is this appropriate? :drunkthe Mormon on the right has root beer).

 

Lol, I know, a bike is a bike, but just look at this suspension:



Thats just asking for failure.

 

that is a strange one for sure!!

Isn't there was a sticker on department store mountain bikes that say 'not for off road use'?? I thought I saw this at Costco??

I remember there was a carcass of one at cocktail rock for a while, not sure what ever happened to it.......

 

I should work at Walmart part time just to build their bikes, I have built several nice bikes for myself and buddies. I am not too bad. I probably have more experience than the wal mart employees anyway. If it wasn't for Wal Mart, I would probably be more broke than I already am. True that they don't have the best bikes but they do have a lot of good other things there.

 

I must add BMX to the mix. Donny Robinson sold his soul...

 

But! The bike sells for $99 and includes a 30 day ABA membership. For kids considering starting BMX racing, that's a great deal! Although it's not shown in the advertisement, the membership paperwork is included with the bike.

Lots of discussion here: http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/index.php?showtopic=27043669

 

This is the Walmart bike I truly wish I could have bought. They were available in December, and stock was limited. At $274, they sold out in 30 minutes. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12554957#

My wife and I would have had a lot of fun on this. The fun factor would have been well worth the price.

 

This is one of the geared bikes that I'd also really like to have. Workmanship and assembly is top notch! #-o

But I was serious on the previous one.

 

Hey its got 2 wheels, gets somebody from point A to Point B, maybe they have fun or maybe they go to work and they don't create pollution...seems ok to me :?:

 

I think they call those sidehacks.......we used to make those when I was a kid. Pretty cool

 

Oh yeah, I'm very familiar with them...I used to race 'hacks at the La Mirada Regional track back in the early 80s. Those were good times. There are a couple other STR members who raced 'hacks back then as well (some photos have been posted here somewhere).

 

Reliable,... maybe. Enjoyable, no.
My mom has a rigid Target Magna bike I've tried to tune the derailleurs, granted its a little old but its pretty much a fixed gear bike now.

 

Funny. I see some of these at school.