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..
