Target Schwinn, why not?

I went to the french store of archery Target' yesterday and some of the new Schwinns caught my eye.

I know that everyone says don't buy box store bikes but from what I can tell there is no difference between those Schwinns and TREKS/Ralieghs/insert expensive bike shop brand here.

Now I walk into walmart and see a huge difference in build quality (substandard components, crappy welds, heavier weight etc) between a Huffy/Mongoose and the Schwinn but I can not tell a difference in the Target Schwinn and the double priced bike shop brands.

Now we are talking within reason here.

So what am I missing or have I just found a really good deal on a bike.

Schwinn was bought out by Pacific some years back. Find a bike with the Pacific label on it, and you'll start to get a sense. In a lot of cases, it's the things you CAN'T see. Inferior materials, poorly penetrated welds, E36 M3ty joins, etc. Then there's the components, they're still running bargain basement SR Suntour shocks (those were junk 20 years ago, they're junk now) E36 M3ty deraileurs, E36 M3ty shifters, etc. The problem with bikes you really DO get what you pay for. The walgoose bike manufacturers (DK, Goose, Schwinn) are so huge they can afford to pay for slightly better equipment to make it APPEAR like you're getting a solid deal when you're really not. I mean, I can paint 5 colored circles on my ass, doesn't mean I'm the next Usain Bolt. Same goes for bikes.

I see the same crap SR Suntour shocks on $1000 bikes from the bike store. And yes they are crap.

I actually threw away a Raleigh because of the them. Stem was too long and they couldn't get a replacement fork or a rebuild kit for it, without doubling the price of a bike.

I checked the welds they looked good not overdone. The joints are cut properly, they are running the exact same components as the bike shop bikes below $800 bucks for the most part. A properly welded frame is no excuse. That is a setting on knob for the process engineer. There is no cost of quality at that level.

Materials, I am 240 lbs at 6'4" and felt very little flex in this thing so material specs seemed to be correct.

IMHO bike prices are the most absurd thing on the planet. I don't want 99% of what they are selling, and 100% aren't worth what they are asking.

I like the new hybrid style without the front shocks. I just want a solid front fork, give me a comfy seat, I could settle with 6/8/10 speeds instead of 24x10^9 and a center pull brake with decent pads.

How hard is it to build that bike?

Once again IMHO there are zero bikes on this planet that are worth more than $1000. zero. There are entire countries that run bicycles, I know they don't pay what we do and they put more load and more miles than 99.9% of Americans ever will on a bike. Give me one of those and I will change the handle bars.

I enjoy my single speed schwinn that I got at Costco about 5 years ago

I know some people that have bought big box store bikes and put miles on it that would just shame even most of the high millage riders I know... I know of some that have done full cross country rides and around the world rides on them... honestly I've been quite amazed at how much better the big box store bikes have gotten in the last 15 or so years (started largely with Pacific bikes honestly)...

that being said... I take a peek at the bikes at most stores I goto... it's something I've always done... 9.9 times out of 10 the assembly is horrid... i've yet to find one that has the brakes properly adjusted, I've seen forks mounted backwards etc...

I ran into an acquaintance a few weeks ago at a local sporting goods store, he and his wife where looking at bikes, her for a cruiser and him at a MTB ($700 range) honestly what he was looking at wasn't a bad bike... but the setup was awful... she was looking at cruisers and any time I know someone is looking at that type of bike I recommend checking out a pedal forward style bike (specifically the Electra Townie series)... my wife had back surgery 2 weeks ago, we bought her the townie this last spring as it was the only bike she could comfortably ride with her back issues... the lady scoffed a little when I told her the price and with that I flatly told her to NOT ride one... the next morning she texted my wife excited that they'd checked out the LBS I'd suggested and was the proud new owner of the most comfortable bike she's ever ridden... and he spent less on a bike at the LBS then he would have on his own bike at the sports store... both serviced for life for free... and properly setup...

a person on a comfortable/working bike rides more then someone on a bike that doesn't fit or doesn't work properly... you're much more likely to get both of those things at a LBS.

that being said... I'm currently riding a 30 year old trek road bike that I built up with odds and ends in a saddle that most people see and thing of something more along the lines of S&M then comfy (in fact I got that exact comment from someone on my ride last friday).

I've got almost 1000 miles on it now and it's great :)... I'm putting one of these on my touring bike here soon and expect it to be even better

also... @ 6'4... you aren't going to find a bike that fits you right at at the big box store... I'm your height... I have a difficult enough time finding them at a proper bike shop or in one of the largest craigslist markets in the country

which is part of the reason my road bike is a 30 year old frame, it is the 25.5"/64cm frame that fits me

I already own an early 1980's Schwinn LeTour Road bike, a basic Trek mountain bike, and now I am interested in this larger size beach cruiser. Whatcha think about these?

looks vaguely beach cruiserish shaped... and the green is fun :)... beyond that I couldn't tell ya with what I can see haha

Bicycles are best bought secondhand.

Most fixes are cheap.

I just got a Trek 5500 frame-and-fork for $220 on eBay. I'll be able to get the whole bike together for <$1000 and it'll be a rocketship.

donalson wrote: that being said... I take a peek at the bikes at most stores I goto... it's something I've always done... 9.9 times out of 10 the assembly is horrid... i've yet to find one that has the brakes properly adjusted, I've seen forks mounted backwards etc...

I got fired from a store where I assembled bikes for a living do to that. Had dozens all built and ready to go. used to take my time and build one a day, take it for a spin, and put it in the warehouse. Come July 4th they wanted all the bikes outside with flags on the handlebars. They gave me a day's notice.

One of the bikes had the handlebars come loose and dump the kid. I argued with my boss about putting a flag holder beneath the nut that held the handlebars upright. I lost and had almost no time to do it.. so I missed tightening one completely and got canned when it fell apart.

I personally love my C/F Trek. yes, it is an older bike, but I have everything updated on it. Lightweight, Comfy, and reliable.

Somebody mentioned cantilevered brakes. Why would you want such horrid pieces of E36 M3? The centrepull stuff is simple, reliable, and much easier to work on

mad_machine wrote: Somebody mentioned cantilevered brakes. Why would you want such horrid pieces of E36 M3? The centrepull stuff is simple, reliable, and much easier to work on

Meant center pull, my bad.

chaparral wrote: Bicycles are best bought secondhand. Most fixes are cheap. I just got a Trek 5500 frame-and-fork for $220 on eBay. I'll be able to get the whole bike together for <$1000 and it'll be a rocketship.

I'm right with you... you can find $1500 bikes for a few hundred on CL/ebay all day long... the problem is that most people that are looking for their first time couple hundred dollar bike don't know what they are looking at, replacing cables, a cassette, chain, grips and tires can easily double the price of a used bike and even moreso if they can't/won't work on the bike

no worries.. my favourite brakes are ones that are no longer seen. Cam pull brakes. Tough to set up, held dirt and crud like nobody's business, but the cams allowed for a very adjustable pull.. The more you pulled, the more the brakes did

@ mad_machine it sounds like about every other story of people who try to do a good job for building bikes at a big box store... you're not fast and cost efficient enough so you can't stay...

as for cantileavers... I think you are mixing up Canti's, V (liner pull) and side pull... there where centerpulls but they pretty much died with the 70's http://sheldonbrown.com/calipers.html

canti's are the center pull type that where used on MTB though the mid 90's when they went to V's... well set up with a good pad they are can be great... there is a reason that even today many tandems and loaded touring bikes still use them over discs... the problem is that they aren't easy to setup... V's are super easy to setup.

mad_machine wrote: no worries.. my favourite brakes are ones that are no longer seen. Cam pull brakes. Tough to set up, held dirt and crud like nobody's business, but the cams allowed for a very adjustable pull.. The more you pulled, the more the brakes did

you're talking the roller cam brakes right?...

never had the chance to mess with em... but they make my inner geek happy :)

There is a large difference between them and higher end bikes, but ask yourself this question: will you ride enough, hard enough, to notice or care enough to pay many times more for a good bike? My observation is that most people don't. I got an expensive carbon road bike about 10 years ago, and it has thousands of miles on it. Worth it. I have a cousin with a nearly-as-expensive mountain bike with -maybe- 100 miles on it. His great cross country mountain bike wasn't worth the cost for him, my road bike was for me. That isn't saying his bike sucks, just that he didn't need to shell out the cash. He could've put 100 miles on a huffy, they'll easily last that long (and much longer).

With box store bikes you'll find adjustments difficult, an extra 50% of weight, your ultimate performance will suffer, you will get tired easier, and it may not be as comfortable. If you're going to really get into it, get soemthing nice. If you just want something to ride around once in a while, save your cash. Just my opinion.

donalson wrote: that being said... I take a peek at the bikes at most stores I goto... it's something I've always done... 9.9 times out of 10 the assembly is horrid... i've yet to find one that has the brakes properly adjusted, I've seen forks mounted backwards etc...

Some time ago, while working @ a certain big box store that really likes the color blue, bike assembly was done by whoever had nothing else to do regardless of their actual job. And if something came up for your "real" job, you just stopped working the bike right then and there and left it in some unknown state. Makes it next to impossible to even get one together with most of the relevant parts, forget getting it together in a safe and moderately functional manner.

donalson wrote:

mad_machine wrote: no worries.. my favourite brakes are ones that are no longer seen. Cam pull brakes. Tough to set up, held dirt and crud like nobody's business, but the cams allowed for a very adjustable pull.. The more you pulled, the more the brakes did

you're talking the roller cam brakes right?... never had the chance to mess with em... but they make my inner geek happy :)

that is them.. great brakes

I think it is safe to say I would assemble my own bike.

I got a schwinn in 95. Built much better than the modern ones. Its a bit rusty tho, and im too cheap to replace the cables.

my first "real" bike was a '95 schwinn S[9 five].6 sadly cracked the frame in a crash 7 or so years later :(

mad_machine wrote:

donalson wrote:

mad_machine wrote: no worries.. my favourite brakes are ones that are no longer seen. Cam pull brakes. Tough to set up, held dirt and crud like nobody's business, but the cams allowed for a very adjustable pull.. The more you pulled, the more the brakes did

you're talking the roller cam brakes right?... never had the chance to mess with em... but they make my inner geek happy :)

that is them.. great brakes

I upgraded my old GT Ricochet trials bike to the Odyssey roller-cam setup, and they were a huge improvement over the original Lee-Chi calipers, though nothing compared to V-brakes, let alone discs.

Cables can be had for just over $10 if you're ok with basic stuff. Most cable performance issues are from poor setup, not an issue with the cable itself. I buy used and toss pads, cables, and maybe a saddle at it, then ride it forever. Or until I get bored and want to change it up, in which case I always run into something that I'm not willing to spend the money on.

My '73 Schwinn Super Sport needs wheels (spokes are crusty, the rims have some stress cracks, and the spoke holes in the hubs look like they've had spokes installed in 2 different directions.

The Raleigh Twenty I picked up just needed tires. While I was in there, why not change the rims out for some aluminium wheels? Well, I have them laced, but I haven't bothered to bring them into tension and true them.

My beater bike is a 2005 Diamondback Outlook from a sporting goods store. While I did purchase it second hand, it had almost no miles on it. The woman that bought it for her son bought a small frame bike, not knowing that frames could differ in size but still use the same wheel size. Anyway, that bike was so far out of adjustment that it sucked to ride. After an hour or so giving it a good tune up, it's been a damned good bike since. I'd put the quality of that bike on par with the Pacific Schwinn bikes. Perfectly serviceable, but more than likely requiring everything to be adjusted to be a good bike.

i've got a Schwinn aluminum mountain bike that was a $175 impulse buy at Wal Mart in the spring of '02... i honestly don't ride it that much, but my motocross riding 13 year old nephew has take it over a few sweet jumps and nothing has broken on it.. the only thing i don't like is the shifter setup that is too easy to twist when i accidentally twist my wrist a little bit..

I bought a Schwinn full suspension mountain bike a few years back at Target. I was looking to get back into riding and I figured that if I bought a shiny new bike, it would make me go out and ride it. Within a month or so, the thing was skipping and shifting like crap, and I was back on my 20 year old pre-buyout Mongoose mountain bike I bought with my paper route money. I moved 3 years ago out of my parents' place, and the Schwinn got left there as I took the 'Goose instead.

Of course, I could probably fix the Schwinn if I had any idea what I was doing, but it says a lot that my old bike shop-bought 20 year old Mongoose is still fully functional with zero issues and has never been in a shop.