When I was a kid, a Huffy would last you for years. Nowadays Huffy rusts, the chain falls off, etc. My son had a NEXT when he was little, it was crap. Even Mongoose does not seem as great as it was in the 80's. I am in the market for a new bike for Thing I. I am looking on cl for a newer, excellent condition bike. So I am thinking upper end, bike shop brand bikes. Which I know nothing about. Suggestions? Advice? This bike will be passed down to Thing II one day. It needs to be 20 in, and I will have to install training wheels.
I saw where Smithfield now has a bike shop, and they advertise on this site. http://www.rivertownoutfitters.com/bicycles.html
I like this one, it has an aluminum frame - http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/youth/lily-11/ I bet that joker is at least 200.00... No can do. I saw a Trek on cl but it has a steel frame, it probably weighs a ton. I also think 80.00 is kind of high for what looks to be a ten year old bike, even in excellent condition. What's better do you think? Aluminum frame or steel? She's a big tough girl, but still learning.
Seems most of the Walmart/Target bikes nowadays are made by one or two manufacturers, but you can find some pretty good ones. Also depends on how well you take care of them with rust and all. My bike is a 26" Next all-aluminum seven speed that I bought from Wal-Mart and I've probably put about 5,000 miles on it and the only thing I've had to replace is the head unit that mounts the handlebars to the bike itself (stripped the head bolt). That bike is actually made by Kent and they sell a very similar model for three times the price. My son's bike is a Schwinn (built by Pacific Bicycles, I think) that came from Target. He was having a problem with his chain getting loose and coming off. What I did was simply loosen the bolts on the rear wheel and slid it back a quarter inch, taking out the slack in the chain. Certainly, most of the time you get what you pay for, but some of the 'store' bikes are still pretty good and can take considerable abuse.
:facepalm: I should know that about the chain, we took our bikes apart and put them back together for fun when I was a kid. Which is good to know, because that one will get some new training wheels and be handed down. Maybe it's just different models that are better than others. But I have really not had good luck with big box store bikes.
