Anyone poor and riding Walmart bikes?

[Bike Writer]

I love the title of this thread and your gutsy and forthright style. I ride a Schwinn that I bought used on craigslist and I am pretty certain it came from a department store, maybe Target. I wanted something to give me a non impact exercise workout and I always loved bike riding in my youth and as a young adult but fell out of the patten of bike riding until recently. I also was raised on Schwinn's and had several of them over the years.

Anything with wheels that go round and round, a set of handle bars to hang onto and a seat to watch the world go by is a ticket to freedom and the great outdoors. It's your passport to a most lovely time.

That cheapie little bike has taken me to parts unknown and I've put loads of miles on it this summer and even signed up for an organized ride and showed up just as proud as punch with this bike among hundreds of fancy roadies. I've had the most adventursome summer in many years on this bike and it makes me feel like a kid again. I love my bike.

Txdoc I second that motion to vote this the best ever post! It made my day.

By average cyclist standard, it was for sure one ugly bike - but it took me back and forth to the hospital and anywhere for almost a year, night or day, rain or shine, sometimes with loads of groceries or with a few huge and heavy pathology books in the backpack.

A year later life was normalizing, sort of, I purchased a car and a used Bianchi that I knew how to ride and put the Wally-World bike in the garage and pretty much forgot about it.
At some point, we had someone remodel our outside stairwell, and for a couple of weeks we had workers all around the house. One day, moving tools in and out of the garage I re-discovered the Wal-Mart bike. One of the carpenters looked at it and said 'oh I wish I had a bike to ride to work in the morning instead of waiting for the bus'. I put some air in the tires and gave him the bike. Next thing you know, he was riding around the block with the happiest smile.

So yeah, it may have been one ugly cheap walmart bike - but it made life better for at least two people, and maybe more if he will also pay it forward someday. Making two people happy - that's a lot of good work done by just one bike.