Another reason NOT to buy a Wal Mart bike..

[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.

[Mr. SR500]

Let the WM crowd buy cheap crappy bikes, while you'll convince a few, many are too cheap to care or will drive you crazy thinking they need to get that extra $200 in service.

For the most part many big box bikes seems ok for the intended purpose. Kids bikes, cruisers, etc... If someone gets serious about riding or wants a quality bike they will come see you. I doubt many box store bikes see many miles.

We by kids bikes from bike stores, because I ride and look for certain things in all bikes. Not many people will buy a kids size road bike, but I'll likely buy one in a couple years.

It's good to have your facts, but don't invest to much time on that demographic, you'll be fair better off selling hybirds, road, and mountain bikes to people who are looking for a quality experience from product, sales, and service.

[Mr. SR500]

One more comment. My cousin and his wife each received $200 for a bike from his parents. They have 2 kids, and while she stays home, he owns a successful business in a larger city. They have a very nice house, daughter goes to private school, and have new cars.

So I said a Trek 7100 (entry level hybrid) would be a good bike to look at. We gave one to my sister for Christmas. Comfortable to ride, well built, overall a very good value for your money. Anyway they run $325 - $350. My cousins said that was too much, they wouldn't be able to spend more then the $200 they had been given.

So for $200 they can buy a WM bike, helmet, and pair of short. But the bike will likely be a POS, and perform poorly, so how much will they really ride it.

But for another $200, they could have a nice quality bike from a shop that would take good care of them, and my guess is really enjoy biking.

These are people that could easily afford it, but I doubt they will ever get it. That is fine, but shows the mine set of some customers.

They were asking about what I got for Christmas. I just said some wheels, if I explained a new set of Bontrager Aero wheels with a PowerTap hub, they would die Mrs. spent that much on anything bike related. Better to just say some new wheels

[7rider]

So I said a Trek 7100 (entry level hybrid) would be a good bike to look at. We gave one to my sister for Christmas. Comfortable to ride, well built, overall a very good value for your money. Anyway they run $325 - $350. My cousins said that was too much, they wouldn't be able to spend more then the $200 they had been given.

So for $200 they can buy a WM bike, helmet, and pair of short. But the bike will likely be a POS, and perform poorly, so how much will they really ride it.

So, instead of putting in an extra $200 for a bike they might enjoy and continue riding, the piss away the $200 on a POS that will sit in the garage and gather dust. Wise use of their gift money!

RunningMommy will likely only ever see in her store those who are "on the fence" with respect to real vs. box bikes.

[sundial]

Let the WM crowd buy cheap crappy bikes, while you'll convince a few.....

Around here families work in factories, many of which have closed or will close to go overseas. Many do not have the resources or knowledge to buy a proper bike, so for our town, Wal-Mart has a good market.

[Mr. SR500]

Around here families work in factories, many of which have closed or will close to go overseas. Many do not have the resources or knowledge to buy a proper bike, so for our town, Wal-Mart has a good market.

Same here, but used bikes are often very reasonable. If someone takes time, they can often find a quality used bike for a fraction of the new cost. Just another option for some people.