Another reason NOT to buy a Wal Mart bike..

[Melalvai]

I have purchased 9 bikes from Wal-Mart for my kids...
Now that my kids are older (10 and 11) I will most likely not purchase a Wal-Bike.

I believe Walmart bikes have gotten a lot worse in the past couple years. Walmart in general has deteriorated since Sam died.

[Tuckervill]

I have to say my son bought a WM bike with his own money when he was 6 ($40). A 20" bike, he still rides it (he's 14) to the pool in the summer. It has held up fine, especially for the way it's been treated. It's the bike that stays out in the rain when he forgets it. It's the one he leaves in the front yard when he goes to the neighbor kid's house, etc. He treats his mountain and road bikes like gold, though. I'd much rather he have a bike to neglect like that one, than have his expensive bikes stolen or misused in his youthful carelessness. Just having that bike has been a good learning experience for him.

What's funny is he's ridden it since he was 6 and the seat has never been raised!

Karen

[Grog]

I'm with Mr. Silver. Focus on what YOU have to offer: bikes that are guaranteed to be properly assembled, customer care and service, good tips, etc.

I also find it dubious when a store operator takes too much time and energy criticizing the competition.

[Mr. SR500]

I'm with Mr. Silver. Focus on what YOU have to offer: bikes that are guaranteed to be properly assembled, customer care and service, good tips, etc.

I also find it dubious when a store operator takes too much time and energy criticizing the competition.

+1, also +1 on the Sam comment above (I sure he is rolling over...)

[Eden]

+1, also +1 on the Sam comment above (I sure he is rolling over...)

I'm sure!

I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart, I think the way they are running the business is wrong on so many levels.... but I also live in a large city where I have plenty of options.

I do however remember when Wal-Mart first opened and there were many large signs proclaiming "Proudly made in the USA", so sad that the company did not continue with its founder's philosophies.

[Aggie_Ama]

I agree with the statements that you cannot change people's minds. I have a good friend who wanted to take up cycling leisurely. She only wanted to spend around $100 so the local bike shop was out. I told her I would help her search Craiglist because we could find something for $100. I found a practically new hardtail for $200, it retailed for close to $600. She went to Academy and spent $59 on a bike and was excited. It hasn't broken yet and I hope it doesn't but I can't imagine the durability of a $59 bike.

She is a person who is good at finding a bargain but this is one case where she doesn't know enough to find value.

[Beane]

.... but I also live in a large city where I have plenty of options.

I think this is the key. Often Wal-Marts ( aka Mall Warts) are in rural/suburban areas where running errands could require lots of relatively long drives to multiple small shops.. people like to get all their junk in one place. (obviously this is in addition to generally finding lower prices at MW rather than at smaller locally owned shops).

[Eden]

I think this is the key. Often Wal-Marts ( aka Mall Warts) are in rural/suburban areas where running errands could require lots of relatively long drives to multiple small shops.. people like to get all their junk in one place. (obviously this is in addition to generally finding lower prices at MW rather than at smaller locally owned shops).

It's almost funny -I can walk to most of the shops I need to in my neighborhood, but I would actually have to drive a relatively far distance to get to a Wal-Mart here... I just realized that there are none in the Seattle city limits and I live pretty much smack in the middle of the city.

What a Wal-Mart can do to a small town is pretty depressing. Sure in the short run there's all this cheap stuff, but in the long run it can ruin a small town's business district and disrupt the economy pretty badly. They even use ugly tactics to keep from paying all of the property and other business taxes that they use as bait to get into some of those small communities. (like moving the whole store to just outside the city limits right before the tax breaks they were given are over)

To bring this a tiny bit more back to the original topic - they aren't the only ones guilty of poor bike assembly. Someone over at the other forum posted an actual photo from one of those online (or maybe E-bay?) bike shops selling cheap bikes. It was a road bike and it too had the fork installed backwards.

[Flybye]

I believe Walmart bikes have gotten a lot worse in the past couple years. Walmart in general has deteriorated since Sam died.

That's funny that you should mention that because I was thinking the same thing last night as I was TRYING to sleep

I don't think that we can blame Wal-Mart for the deteriorating bikes, just the manufacturers - Next, Huffy, etc. for cutting costs on the bikes they produce.

Are any of the second rate brands sold off-shoots of bigger companies - for example, does Trek also mfgr. brand X??

Another thing that really blows me out of the water is that a company that wants a reputation as being quality like Shimano would allow low end bikes to have their components. I guess it is all about the buck for them, too.

[Tuckervill]

Another thing that really blows me out of the water is that a company that wants a reputation as being quality like Shimano would allow low end bikes to have their components. I guess it is all about the buck for them, too.

Shimano makes all kinds of things in Wal-Mart, like fishing reels and rods, etc. They're a for-profit company, so I imagine they're trying to get into every market segment they can.

Karen

[Mr. Bloom]

Walmart in general has deteriorated since Sam died.

Funny thing happened when Sam died...real estate in Bentonville boomed. Since Sam lived in the same ranch house and drove the same old truck, none of the Wal-Mart mgmt felt that they could live in a manner than their accumulated wealth could support...since Sam would view it negatively.

So, when Sam died, it triggered a building boom of huge mansions on newly built golf courses. It was amazing to see!

Tuckervill, would you agree?

[Tuckervill]

Funny thing happened when Sam died...real estate in Bentonville boomed. Since Sam lived in the same ranch house and drove the same old truck, none of the Wal-Mart mgmt felt that they could live in a manner than their accumulated wealth could support...since Sam would view it negatively.

So, when Sam died, it triggered a building boom of huge mansions on newly built golf courses. It was amazing to see!

Tuckervill, would you agree?

Nah, I'm thinking that's giving 'Ol Sam's positive regard a little too much power. He died in 1992, which happens to coincide with a boom in the stock market. Remember there is more than just Wal-Mart up here. Tyson, JB Hunt, Jones Truck Lines, and all the millionaires that were made by getting in on the ground floor of those companies before they went public. There are a number of lesser players in the real estate biz, too, (Lindsey) who drive the massive development.

Same thing was happening in Memphis in the '90s...

Bentonville/Rogers is still booming, but it's more along the retail segment. We've had a number of big developers get overextended around here, though. Building has slowed, but people are still optimistic.

Karen

[kat_h]

I deal with Walmart toys practically every day. I teach guitar for a living and expecially at this time of year there's a lot of new kids starting up because somebody bought them a guitar for Christmas. Unfortunately Santa shopped at Walmart and just got them a toy guitar. The parents always say "Well, she can start on this and we'll get her something better if she sticks with it." That's usually the point where I explain that first of all she won't stick with it because it's unplayable - not just hard to play but the frets are spaced incorrectly so it's not possible to play in tune, and then point out that they could have bought a real guitar (not a good one, but at least a real one) for $50 at a music store and it would have a warranty with it.

Whenever parents talk to me before buying a guitar I simply say that the Walmart/Radio-Shack/Giant Tiger guitars are just toys, not guitars, and they seem to understand that.

[Eden]

Whenever parents talk to me before buying a guitar I simply say that the Walmart/Radio-Shack/Giant Tiger guitars are just toys, not guitars, and they seem to understand that.

Unfortunately most people already view bicycles as toys.