Quote Originally Posted by Running Mommy View Post
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.