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Might not be possible in the current supply chain of "built to fail" bicycles. You may wish for a Toyota Corolla, but what we get is more like a Yugo. https:/

Might not be possible in the current supply chain of "built to fail" bicycles. You may wish for a Toyota Corolla, but what we get is more like a Yugo. https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxdgq9/mechanics-ask-walmart-major-bike-manufacturers-to-stop-making-and-selling-built-to-fail-bikes https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxdgq9/mechanics-ask-walmart...

to11mtm 5y ago
It's absolutely possible, consumers just have to be willing to pay more. The situation with 'cheap' bikes is the same as it was almost 20 years ago when I worked at a shop; If you spend less than X$ on a bike, it's almost certain to require repairs down the road and there's a good chance (i.e. if it's a 'full suspension' cheapie) you won't even be able to find the parts to do it. If you spend more than X$ (while still using common sense and realizing cheapies exist at higher dollar amounts,) you're probably going to get something between a Corolla and an Elantra. (Elantras -have- gotten better over the years and do last -longer, but do often need more TLC and perhaps wear a bit harder.) Many bike shops, at least the ones in seasonal parts of the US barely make money on their cheapest bikes (When you factor in free tune ups, etc,) and will at best make money on accessories. The shop I worked at, sometimes we'd take someones broken wal-mart bike on a trade-in for one of our base models. Nine times out of ten though we would just part out what was good after a month or so (cool-off in case the bike was hot, but I never recalled seeing a hot wal-mart bike, let alone a broken one.)
drewzero1 5y ago
I've dabbled in vintage/nicer bikes and used to think it was snobism when people on the forums described bikes from walmart etc. as BSOs. Then I owned a few bike-shaped objects and tried to fix/update them and realized they were just a few steps removed from junk to begin with. It's sad that you have to get up into the few hundred dollar range to get a usable bike, because around here that's actual (very used) corolla money. I don't want to have to be an enthusiast (and spend enthusiast money) to get a bike I can reliably commute on.

to11mtm 5y ago

It's absolutely possible, consumers just have to be willing to pay more. The situation with 'cheap' bikes is the same as it was almost 20 years ago when I worked at a shop; If you spend less than X$ on a bike, it's almost certain to require repairs down the road and there's a good chance (i.e. if it's a 'full suspension' cheapie) you won't even be able to find the parts to do it. If you spend more than X$ (while still using common sense and realizing cheapies exist at higher dollar amounts,) you're probably going to get something between a Corolla and an Elantra. (Elantras -have- gotten better over the years and do last -longer, but do often need more TLC and perhaps wear a bit harder.) Many bike shops, at least the ones in seasonal parts of the US barely make money on their cheapest bikes (When you factor in free tune ups, etc,) and will at best make money on accessories. The shop I worked at, sometimes we'd take someones broken wal-mart bike on a trade-in for one of our base models. Nine times out of ten though we would just part out what was good after a month or so (cool-off in case the bike was hot, but I never recalled seeing a hot wal-mart bike, let alone a broken one.)

drewzero1 5y ago

I've dabbled in vintage/nicer bikes and used to think it was snobism when people on the forums described bikes from walmart etc. as BSOs. Then I owned a few bike-shaped objects and tried to fix/update them and realized they were just a few steps removed from junk to begin with. It's sad that you have to get up into the few hundred dollar range to get a usable bike, because around here that's actual (very used) corolla money. I don't want to have to be an enthusiast (and spend enthusiast money) to get a bike I can reliably commute on.