Back in January there was a thread @Sven posted about a headline on Vice that was as follows:
Well that thread covered all the issues and angles you would expect it to cover, with opinions all over the place as you might expect. The thread is here if anyone is interested in adding to it, though I believe it has run it's course:
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/walmart-asked-not-to-sell-bikes.202522/
Several pages in the discussion turned to what is actually wrong with them. We have all seen the clips on youtube and pictures on the internet showing the crappy assembly, forks on backwards, bearing failures because of no grease, etc. Opinions varied about whether assembly was the main problem or whether they are crap to the core. Well, I have a free one I drug home last fall. In that other thread I promised to tear it apart and document what it is really made of as soon as the snow was gone.
Without further ado, Here is the Walmart bike. It is a Next Power Climber. This thread will be about the teardown.
I had never heard of this brand. It sat out with a huge "FREE" sign on it for several days by some garbage cans last fall. It wouldn't roll. I had to carry it. I was thinking there could be some good parts. Maybe some 26" alloy rims (nope, it's a 24"), maybe some 7 speed indexing parts (nope, its a 3x6). Googling lead directly to Walmart, although it is possible this brand could have been sold elsewhere too. It is a sub-$100 bike. Time to tear it down and see what is inside.
Mechanics Ask Walmart, Major Bike Manufacturers to Stop Making and Selling ‘Built-to-Fail’ Bikes “The problem with budget bikes is everything. They’re literally built to fail.”
Well that thread covered all the issues and angles you would expect it to cover, with opinions all over the place as you might expect. The thread is here if anyone is interested in adding to it, though I believe it has run it's course:
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/walmart-asked-not-to-sell-bikes.202522/
Several pages in the discussion turned to what is actually wrong with them. We have all seen the clips on youtube and pictures on the internet showing the crappy assembly, forks on backwards, bearing failures because of no grease, etc. Opinions varied about whether assembly was the main problem or whether they are crap to the core. Well, I have a free one I drug home last fall. In that other thread I promised to tear it apart and document what it is really made of as soon as the snow was gone.
Without further ado, Here is the Walmart bike. It is a Next Power Climber. This thread will be about the teardown.
I had never heard of this brand. It sat out with a huge "FREE" sign on it for several days by some garbage cans last fall. It wouldn't roll. I had to carry it. I was thinking there could be some good parts. Maybe some 26" alloy rims (nope, it's a 24"), maybe some 7 speed indexing parts (nope, its a 3x6). Googling lead directly to Walmart, although it is possible this brand could have been sold elsewhere too. It is a sub-$100 bike. Time to tear it down and see what is inside.