debunking myths about walmart bikes

Don't have any Walmart bikes, has nothing to do with wally world or their merchandise. I looked there but found a better deal elsewhere. By better deal I don't mean less expensive in initial cost but rather what I got for my money.
Still, I had the money, if I hadn't, wally world here we come.

S o today doin about 30mph i hit a dip in the side walk went almost a foot in the air landed made it to work and realized i cracked the frame pile o crap huffy nel lusso from wal-mart lol though i attribute most of it to me ridin like a ****** i have since welded the crack i hope i dont get hurt tommorow

FOURBARRELBEAST said:

S o today doin about 30mph i hit a dip in the side walk went almost a foot in the air landed made it to work and realized i cracked the frame pile o crap huffy nel lusso from wal-mart lol though i attribute most of it to me ridin like a ****** i have since welded the crack i hope i dont get hurt tommorow

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30 mph down a sidewalk, man you are a wild ride.

AMEN...........!

Greed is what has destroyed Wal-Mart and just about everything else that was ever good in this Country, and it aint getting any better..........

Peace

Allen_Wrench said:

I didn't want to bring up my Walmart days, because this'll surely show my age, but since some parts of this thread seem to be talking about "American made" vs "Cheap Chinese" I just thought I'd mention how - with Walmart - it didn't always used to be that way.

I remember when Sam Walton was still alive. I remember being in a store shopping when suddenly word went out that Sam was here, he was walking up toward the doors. And the employees couldn't be happier about it. I didn't linger to see him, I should have. I really should have. He tried to make his stores a haven for all things American Made. The Stars and Stripes were everywhere, in Walmarts & Sam's Clubs both, hanging up and painted on and printed on the signs.

I was a green employee, and I was standing right there to watch this event unfold: our store general manager, Dean, looked over a box from a shipment of American flags and, when he saw the words "Made in China" on those flags, he said to the manager of Receiving "Send them back" because he explained that it felt wrong to sell American flags that were made in China.

After Sam died, just a few years later, those Chinese flags and others of different sizes, were all up and down our shelves. Where could you get American made ones? At that time in Cleveland, I hadn't a clue. What happened to the haven of American made goods? Sam died. That's what happened. What did Walmart employees look forward to, after he was gone. From what this former employee could tell, not very much. When the Walmart I got hired into stopped being the Walmart I felt good about working for, I left. After ol' Sam died, a lot of his personal business ethics and methods died with him, and a degree of Walmart's integrity too. I feel bad about sometimes shopping there nowadays, but lately it's been the only game in town for what I need.

But I'll never forget the REAL Walmart. The one Sam made.

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Yeah, it's all going to h**l, same as it ever was.

mapbike said:

AMEN...........!

Greed is what has destroyed Wal-Mart and just about everything else that was ever good in this Country, and it aint getting any better..........

Peace

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What is WaMart doing that makes you call them "greedy"?

kerf said:

What is WaMart doing that makes you call them "greedy"?

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The greed of making more money at the expense of quality.......and just flat out being dishonest with some.


I know people personally that wal-mart contracted with on a product and then after that person invested a small fortune in machinery to manufacture the product wal-mart breached the contract and got out of the entire deal and then took the guys idea and had it put into production by a Chinese company and then next thing ya know wal-mart had this guys idea on the shelves made by the chinese factories...... this isnt a made up story and it happened in the early 90's

Dang near bankrupted the guy and took hims everal years to recover from it, Wal-Mart and there high powered lawyers give this fella the royal shaft.....

is that not what you would call Greed........?

I do.....


No offense intended here kerf, you ask the question so I answered it honestly with a few details.

I dont think Wal-Mart is all bad or all the people associated with Wally world are all bad, but they have been known to pull the rug out from under people like the fella I just described for the purpose of making more money at the cost of American inventors and Made in America goods.......

Sam Walton woul droll over in his grave if he could see what it has become, not what he ever intended I'll guarantee ya that.....

Peace

its not just walmart , all companies are greedy as H@ll , dorel bought cannondale the last big USA bike maker , and moved all production to taiwan because they projected they could make a extra 4 million dollars a year by putting Americans out of work ...

Isn't it funny. Humans will destroy their own future to pad their pockets for a while. What goes through the big guys' heads(if anything but $$$) I'll never understand.

My Walmart Schwinn Jaquar turn lots of heads at the beach and has a nice smooth ride since the suspension fork went on the front end.

Again this is getting out off hand. Everyone has the right to shop wherever they like. We all have our own budget we can spend. Enough is enough. This forum is about modifying and building motorized bicycles not the good, bad and ugly about walmart. We all know we get what we pay for but we also buy what we can afford. Please lets cool it. People are getting offended that are not even responding to this thread

paul said:

People are getting offended that are not even responding to this thread

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I seem to have that effect, once again may I offer my apologies.

Ok back on topic. Wal-Mart doesn't produce their bicycles they buy them from manufactures that do build them. Wal-Mart is in business as a low price leader and to that end they are at the top of the pile. I wouldn't expect a serious bike racer to buy from Wally because they sell inexpensive entry level bikes for the casual rider. Bikes that were never designed to be operated under mechanical power, if they were they would come with motor mounts welded to the frame.

There's nothing wrong with the bikes they sell, they're designed to be pedaled around the block once a week by Barbie & Ken. There a couple of truism that everyone needs to be aware of:

1. You get what you pay for.

2. The best price may not the the lowest price.

There, I'm done. You can hate them or you can love them, as for me, "If it neither breaks my leg or picks my pocket, why should I care".

paul said:

Again this is getting out off hand. Everyone has the right to shop wherever they like. We all have our own budget we can spend. Enough is enough. This forum is about modifying and building motorized bicycles not the good, bad and ugly about walmart. We all know we get what we pay for but we also buy what we can afford. Please lets cool it. People are getting offended that are not even responding to this thread

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I have built many motorized bikes using Walmart bikes.

After wrecking a couple of wheels I decided I needed to learn how to build wheels.

The rear wheels on bikes with a freewheel are dished and the more gears the more they are dished.

The spokes are tighter on the freewheel side.

When you bolt the motor sprocket onto the spokes the dish changes because the clamping action against the spokes makes them tighter.

It's important to redish the wheel and adjust the spokes after bolting the sprocket to the spokes.

I look at the bikes at Walmart almost every time I am there.

I spin the wheels and feel the spokes.

The spokes on Walmart bikes are adjusted by a machine in most cases and are not adjusted right.

Bolting a sprocket onto a wheel with the spokes already out of adjustment will make for a weak wheel that could cause a bad wreck.

Walmart bikes need extra care with the wheels when putting a motor on one.

Some people go for extra thick spokes and heavy duty wheels.

Sorry for not being clear about this.

I was standing at the Walmart in Brandon when a lady and a little girl picked out bikes.

The little girl was rolling her bike away and the handlebars came loose.

The lady and the little girl put the bikes back. Walmart lost the sale.

I asked the manager in Brandon who was putting the bikes together.

He told me the bicycles were put together by subcontractors that use air tools to put the bikes together and they are on piece work.

kerf said:

Ok back on topic. Wal-Mart doesn't produce their bicycles they buy them from manufactures that do build them. Wal-Mart is in business as a low price leader and to that end they are at the top of the pile. I wouldn't expect a serious bike racer to buy from Wally because they sell inexpensive entry level bikes for the casual rider. Bikes that were never designed to be operated under mechanical power, if they were they would come with motor mounts welded to the frame.

There's nothing wrong with the bikes they sell, they're designed to be pedaled around the block once a week by Barbie & Ken. There a couple of truism that everyone needs to be aware of:

1. You get what you pay for.

2. The best price may not the the lowest price.

There, I'm done. You can hate them or you can love them, as for me, "If it neither breaks my leg or picks my pocket, why should I care".

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Walmart sells bikes with motors and the frames are much more heavy duty than the bikes they sell without motors.

The trailz ezip motorized bike they sell is the most reliable motorized bike I have ever owned ! ! !

http://www.walmart.com/search/searc...bicycle&ic=48_0&Find=Find&search_constraint=0

motorbiker said:

Walmart sells bikes with motors and the frames are much more heavy duty than the bikes they sell without motors.

The trailz ezip motorized bike they sell is the most reliable motorized bike I have ever owned ! ! !

Walmart.com: Search Results for "electric bicycle"

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Interesting! I couldn't help but notice some of the prices were pushing a grand, still probably pretty good for what you get. Who would have thunk it!

I have been building Bikes and selling them since the early 70's. The junk yard was my source when I was very young picking only Schwinn Sting Ray frames, solid Steel Goose and Tractor Grip tires, Heavy Duty Steel rims and more.. These were the pioneering MX Bikes of the day.. Then on to road bikes, Shimano Crane, Phil Wood, Hi e. and more.. Ok.. Saying this leads me to the Walmart thing or any place you can buy a bike. It takes some knowlege and even with that, you are taking a chance. There are some General rules but do not always apply. Single piece cranks cheap bike, Steel suspension forks, cheap bike. Steel pressed brakes, cheap bike. But.. are you building a motor assisted bike? or going racing? or what? When this rule applies, then a 1 piece steel crank bike can be a good bike. Look for good Brakes,spokes and hubs, No front brake? Look for a bike that allows for one to be installed such a drilled fork. And on and on and on.. Bottom line of what I want to say is that it takes experience to know what to look for in a bike and even at that, you can get a bummer. Best method is to talk to others that may own such a bike and get reviews from them on the bike. New bikes come out every 6 months or so and the only way to really tell is to ask others. OP Roller was mentioned in here as a good bike. I too agree with this assement. You only need to add a front brake to this bike and it will be made good. I was able to get mine for 70 bucks and had a alloy side pull laying around and installed it into the pre drilled fork and presto !! Super bike. At 1/5th the cost of Electra. Welds are not a pretty and the Electra name is missing. But.. The Roller is holding up well putting 65 miles or more a day on this bike and doing well. WalMart has some really good bikes for adding motor assist. They also have some junk too. If you go to Walmart.com and look at the bike parts, it is unreal the high quality parts they are selling on line. Some parts are junk, some are high end. Walmart started offering these really high end parts a few years ago. I have not checked recently to see if they still sell these parts, but I was shocked to see them offered. Since I no longer race or build bikes for a living, I do not go after such bikes and parts any longer. I have my Condor, Pinarello, Swallow, Frejus, and a few others That I enjoy riding, but mostly I prefer the less expensive good ones to apply motor assist. And.. Enjoy the ride..

Again....(though seemingly un-noticed)
I love my walmart Jag...
rode on the beach today at the waters edge.

Road my Walmart bike today also...this was with a side pull brake installed on the rear also...very little pressure applied at anytime to coaster.


Bottom line...Cranbrook frame good so far. Wheelset/brakes bad so far.

Broke 5 spokes on my target scwhinn jag today...