debunking myths about walmart bikes

[machiasmort]

I love DB and mine is a Curacoa with an HT motor on it. I think Kerf's was one of the first off-shore productions in Japan? They were still nice then!

DB signed contract w/ WM and they are now available there. I think the newer ones are made in China?

With China, comes weaker steel, quick production and cheaper price. Plain and simple!

Not bashing WM bikes, because they give great value to people who pedal, but I wouldn't put a motor on one! If you do, as many have suggested earlier, go through it and stay on it!

-- Bicycles, Bike parts, Mountain Bikes, BMX, Road Bikes, Haro Bikes, KHS Bikes, Felt Bikes at Niagara Cycle Works is a great source for parts! They are right around the corner from me!

If our Government would do the right thing and impose tariff upon foreign goods equal to what foreign governments do to our stuff, we might witness the return of an American made bicycle.

Spad wrote in an earlier post, "Bush killed the economy". It wasn't just Bush Brother! It was Gingrich and Clinton that signed us into the unfair trade agreements we have today! Bush's tax cuts just allowed companies to move off shore while unfairly giving them tax breaks and Coroporate welfare for saying they were US based!

 

[Goat Herder]

Its not from Wallys so I guess it don't count.

http://motorbicycling.com/f41/frame-reinforcement-issue-31382.html

 

[junkdog]

what's the best frame to use if you are building with a 2 stroke engine?

 

[douglasseattle]

Avoid department store bikes! There are tons of good used hybrid bikes with 700c aluminum wheels on them. I think that would give you a faster and lighter bike for the money. I have a univega hybrid that works pretty well. Also, do not be afraid about aluminum. I think it is fine

 

[r00t4rd3d]

Cruising a Cranbrook for about a year now. No complaints.

 

[motorbiker]

what's the best frame to use if you are building with a 2 stroke engine?

An older heavy steel frame that will fit the motor without adding a bracket on the front.

The motor will fit tight and not put so much stress on the front studs caused by using a bracket.

A frame with horizontal dropouts in the rear.

That way you can adjust the chain and throw away the chain tensioner.

 

[KCvale]

An older heavy steel frame that will fit the motor without adding a bracket on the front.
The motor will fit tight and not put so much stress on the front studs caused by using a bracket.

Ya, there is a trade-off using a front bracket, that being the screws job so you need good ones, but I am partial to the fatter down tubes and the mounting point of the brackets clamp.

A down tube the diameter of a seat post (the motors size) is pretty thin, especially with today's budget Chinese bikes thin metal. Besides being more prone to bending or breaking, I find that the low mount point makes the motor more prone to 'leaning' to the left without constant attention to the mounting nuts.
With a SBP front mount the size of the fatter down tube and pointed upwards, besides having the much better muffler clamp gripping the fatter down tube, you move the motors mount point higher up the motor and farther away from the seat post clamp thus (in my cases anyway) doing away with motor lean.

A frame with horizontal dropouts in the rear.
That way you can adjust the chain and throw away the chain tensioner.

I do love no drive side tensioner.
Ideally the bike would be a 5 speed derailleur with horizontal drop outs.
You can adjust the drive chain by moving the wheel back, and with the 5-speed you have a nice low end gear plus a built in pedal chain tensioner.

But back to Wally World Bikes.

I have done some research into bike manufacturers the last few weeks to see who to talk to about assembling a bicycle model that would be a fine bicycle for just pedaling, but super friendly to motorizing in the $150 - $200 price range and found what I was looking for.

The Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, and Iron Horse brand bikes are all owned and made by Dorel Industries, Inc. and made in China.

Dorel's biggest customer is of course Wally, the king of super mass produced disposable goods for sale.

I am out of time to go into my plan to get us an ideal motorizing bicyle at Wally's for a good price, but if you want to see what I considered the key to get in you can look at Dorel's 2010 Finical Report
http://www.dorel.com/press/2010/DII_2010_AR_ENG.pdf

Specifically look at what this guy had to say.

Robert P. Baird Jr.
Group President & CEO
Recreational/Leisure Segment

 

[donutguy]

Jots of interesting reading in this post......I've probably owned at least 2 dozen bikes over the last 40 years.

It was true 40 years ago and it's true today-you get what you pay for.

My advice concerning Wal-Marts is that if you only have 100 bucks to spend on a bike and you're planning to motorize it- try to find something on Craigslist that is made out of steel.

That way when it breaks and cracks-it can be repaired fairly easy.

 

[Acraze]

I have nothing whimsy walmart bikes, my next build will be a Wally bike. I do hate that next brand though. I went there tonight to look at welds and the next bikes were crap. I picked at the front suspension weld and a piece cracked off under my finger nail.

 

[douglasseattle]

What I want to know is why bother with a walmart bike when you can easily get a quality used bike of craigslist for the same price.

 

[Wm Holden]

some of us like new.....its a sickness...

 

[ferball]

I just put together a nice 20inch BMX bike for my son all made from free stuff assembled from craigs list. I would say it is good as any walmart bike, and I did not pay a thing for it. I will be putting a motor on it before the week is out.

 

[ScreamingCruiser]

Am using Wal-mart bikes-- Huffy version-- such as the Cranbrook and Karaoke style and am well pleased with the performance of the bikes as MB's. Color scheme looks appealing and road tests show a sturdy set-up, will see as customers respond with passing time. Besides the cost of the bikes are very reasonable , publically known and socially accepted.

 

[mapbike]

Am using Wal-mart bikes-- Huffy version-- such as the Cranbrook and Karaoke style and am well pleased with the performance of the bikes as MB's. Color scheme looks appealing and road tests show a sturdy set-up, will see as customers respond with passing time. Besides the cost of the bikes are very reasonable , publically known and socially accepted.

I have a Huffy Karaoke and love riding that bike very comfortable bike and handles very nice, it has 700+ miles on it now without a single issue with the bike and it gets most of it's miles on extremely rough dusty dirty roads, I did remove factory grease and add a very high grade tacky grease in the wheels and such before I put an engine on mine, it has held up perfectly so far, I'm really serious when I say this bike has taken a beating.......

Peace

 

[Goat Herder]

http://motorbicycling.com/f3/panama-jack-failure-26626-3.html

Another read...

 

[richirich]

I have a wal-mart bike, the 29" genesis mtb. Believe me before i boughtr the bike for my build i looked everywhere( ebay, amazon, online bike stores, local bike shops) and found for the money and quality i really could not find better. Really any thing better was $450 up. And i couldnt see trying to modify a over 500$ bike. Maby i just got lucky and got a good bike. If you feel like taking a look at it go to my profile and check it out.
When it comes down to it you just have to go with what you can afford i guess..

Ride Hard..
Ride Safe...

 

[Roadapple]

name-brand stuff sold at Wal-mart is a sub-standard quality than what you would get through other channels.

Wal-Mart competes on price alone and they want the lowest-priced product that looks acceptable.

It's common to associate a name-brand with an expected level of quality, but that doesn't work at big box stores, and especially at Wal-Mart. Many manufacturers agree to produce very low quality-and-price products just for Wal-Mart to sell.

All the big retailers do this. Home Depot & Loew's are prime examples. If you compair Costco's model numpers with the same product supplied to a "regular" store, the Costco model number has a "C" designation.

 

[Roadapple]

Are there any bikes not made in China?

Worksman, built in the good ol' USA!

 

[kerf]

I don't understand why anyone's still discussing this subject, it's just personal opinion anyway. WalMart is open for business, thousands of bike shops are also open as well as countless garage sales. The point is, there is a bike out there for everyones wallet and/or preference so just get what you want and don't worry about what someone else thinks.

Opinions are like......well, you know what they're like.

 

[Goat Herder]

http://motorbicycling.com/f41/not-worth-building-bike-32196.html