Superman1984
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
I understand everything you're saying BUT 24" might account for the wonky not quite right dimensions?My suspicion is it's worse than that. I have one of them here, and I just remembered I left it outside. Oops. Last week we got 3 feet on snow. It had been parked in my neighborhood with a "free" sign on it for a few days.
Watching bike mechanics rail against them on youtube, you might think the main problem is the assembly. Things like no grease, misadjusted or misassembled bearings, forks on backwards, etc. Maybe at some point I will figure whether it is just terrible assembly or if it is rotten to the core. I have a sample here. It is a 24" full suspension mountain bike.
I had never heard of the brand, and I can't remember in now. At the time I got it home I looked it up. It turns out to be a Walmart exclusive from around 2008(?), and IIRC some of them were part of a CPSC recall for fork breakage. Mine was not part of the recall, either a little too new or too old.
At first glance it looks OK. I figured I would true the wheels, grease the bearings, etc and see what its like, find out if they are really that bad for myself. One obvious flaw, the saddle is a spandex one in shreds, no big deal.
When you look closer, some things are a bit off. The front wheel just looks too far back. The rear suspension at first glance did not appear to have a good enough pivot to be stable under weight and in motion. The suspension fork does not look terribly stable either. I think it's bent. Maybe the frame too. If the fork is bent, I wouldn't expect it to still move up and down, but it does. The bike has twist shifters. That's bad enough, but they are crappy ones and I have my doubts they can even be made to work. As I recall, nothing about the gearing was functional. I probably won't find out any more until spring. Maybe I'll get some pictures then.
Apparently this one was too cheap for Walmart to even put a Huffy badge on, but at least it doesn't have a plastic stem.
I bought an ex 1 which was clearanced out; I think it was a 24" something in a baby blue/teal color. Disc brakes & decent looking bike for like $80 or less on sale. Normal price was probably around $139+. I rode it, I even did light wood trail riding with it, jumped a few downed limbs/trees & it seemed to be decent for a Walmart bike. Only real quirk I found was the gears didn't quite like shifting during motion & they were off some on the twist shifters. Of course then I don't think I was a CABE'r so I didn't check for grease etc. Just jumped on it to ride. Now I bought a Specialized Hot Rock I think it was for $8 in 24". Had the front tire off but it just needed seated / aired to ride. It had the same issues of shifting but rode the same. Not Horrible for a smaller framed MTN bike.
There's a BIG Difference in a Bike Owner, a Bike Mechanic, & of course neglect.
I mean I see ordinary people selling bikes with the forks turned around backwards (I even tell them on FB Market) so that bike just p!ss poorly buyer assembled vs a bike mechanic (trueing, lubed, greasing & torquing) makes a big difference once it sets outside in the almighty weather. New vs pre-owned as well. I guarantee you can't take 1 of your well loved up but not expensive bikes vintage or not out & they won't succumb to rust or issues.
I don't agree with using plastic for stems etc but he'll I don't even like plastic pedals anymore. I'd be weary of carbon wheels but I never owned something expensive like that new.