Another reason NOT to buy a Wal Mart bike..

[7rider]

But the kicker was the comfort bike that had it's suspension fork mounted BACKWARDS!!! Yes, completely backwards!!

Tony's mechanic eye also noted some other potential safety issues. It was actually kinda scary.

Yes, we will work on the wal mart bikes, but it will cost you. So in the end you may actually end up spending MORE than you would if you had bought from a bike shop.

You should take pix (on the sly?) of these shoddy bikes as photographic evidence for folks who come in and say "Why should I buy a $300 bike from you, when I can walk into Wal-mart and get one for $89?" Also, show the difference b/t junk components and plastic bits, vs. the better components of "real" bikes. Better yet, BUY one of them and display it in the shop with a sign on it: "Do you really want to RIDE this bike??? Ask me about it." And tell them point-for-point the difference b/t "their" bike and "your" bike.

Also, can you work on box store bikes? Our LBS recently said "no" because of the liability issues associated with those clunkers. They will sell you the parts, but they're not allowed to touch them.

[Trek420]

You could post some articles on your window while waiting to open ie: why you should wait to buy your bike here rather than Big Box Store

[Fredwina]

I'll agree with Regina - some type of presentation that show the differnce could come in handy

[alpinerabbit]

I second (third) the undercover report plus pictures. Just don't mention names I guess.

[mimitabby]

I wish you luck combatting the walmart shoppers. For christmas at my office we buy gifts for children. Someone bought a kid's bike from walmart. It sat next to my desk for a week and all the bike guys came around and looked at it.
The most disturbing thing about it was that the brakes didn't work. They couldn't. they were mounted crooked so the pads were just floating in air.
Then my neighbor's kid got a walmart bike too. It broke the first day. He brought it over to my husband to fix. What could he do? it was a piece of junk.

I am sure you will carve a nice niche with people that like customer service and want bikes that last for more than a week.

[Bad JuJu]

If you have time, you might even work up a little cost-comparison chart: your bike vs. Wally bike
cost of adjustments after 30 days and so on
cost of repairs
cost of new parts
cost of medical bills when crummy brakes fail to work

OK, that might be overdoing it a bit, but people seem to like comparison charts with info in small, easily digestible bites.

[Wahine]

Here's an interesting article meant as a guide for buying bikes:

http://www.abbysguide.com/bike/guide/where-to-buy.html

You could quote it. I don't know if I would want to include the bit about how it's OK to buy a big box bike if the child will grow out of it quickly.

I also really like Juju's suggestion.

As for purchasing a bike for display or taking photos, it's a good idea but I'd be really careful about stepping on toes. The last thing you want is a corporation like Wally World breathing down your neck.