Modern Buddy

I havent been on here in a while, but you guys are such a great group of people so i thought I would ask, I sold my scooter and am looking to buy a bike for recreation and fitness and wanted your guys opinions. I have looked at walmart and target bikes, as well as entry level treks, I think I have found the one I like though. Its an order only from target: the Forge M-Steet. from what I have read the components are pretty close the the Trek FX 7.1 and its about 200 dollars cheaper? What do you guys think.

http://forgebikes.com/urban-bike-mstreet.php

Have you checked out the local 'bike guy' or CL? You could probably pick up a good used bike on the cheap.

There were some good suggestions in this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=20742

i've owned a few walmart/target mountain bikes and they never hold up,

my friend has a handful of bikes off craigslist that are good quality road bikes but priced cheaper than anything in walmart..

CL, freecycle, garage sales are your best bet for quality bikes

Stay away from tartget/walmart bikes, they are awful, like buying a drop shipped chinese scoot. Craigslist is a great place to find a bike, get a vintage road bike with 105 components or simular(will cost around the same as the one you linked)

that pretty much confirms what i thought, I think im going to hold out till i get my tax return and get a trek. Thanks guys

It can be hard to get started with bicycling when you're starting from scratch. By the time you've priced out a decent bike and all the little things you're supposed to have with it, it ends up being a big chunk of change for something that was supposed to be cheap fun.

Looking for good used bikes on cl, or any other place where they might be found in your area, is a way to get a good value. It may even be possible to borrow a bike from a friend (so many garages have a cobwebbed bike or two) and get a few revolutions in while you figure out what you like about riding and figure out where you'd like to put your money.

Department store bikes and bike shop bikes are completely different animals.

If you plan to actually ride the bike, and not just haul it out of the garage twice a year, do not buy a mass market big box store bike. Go to a reputable bike shop - even the cheapest bike you find there will be far far better than anything you can find at Wal-Mart, Target or their ilk.

You can't even go by the brands. The major bike makers sell great quality bikes at bike shops, and have cheap crap made on contract by Asian factories under their name for the big box stores. (I'm not knocking Asian factories - most of them build their good bikes in their own Asian factories, as it is against the law to make anything in the USA anymore).

If you can't afford even the cheapest Bike Shop bike - buy one used, it is still better than anything you'll find new at the big stores.

BlueMark wrote:If you can't afford even the cheapest Bike Shop bike - buy one used, it is still better than anything you'll find new at the big stores.

If you do this make sure you are actually buying a "bike shop" quality bike. You may have to do research to be able to tell the bike shop bike apart from used big box bikes of the same brand.

I have a 2008 Trek FX 7.3 and I love that bike. I only have about 4k miles on it but it's been an amazing bike for the $500 I paid for it new.

Chilly wrote:Stay away from tartget/walmart bikes, they are awful, like buying a drop shipped chinese scoot. Craigslist is a great place to find a bike, get a vintage road bike with 105 components or simular(will cost around the same as the one you linked)

I agree with stay away from Walmart/Target for bikes. Why? Bike come totally disassembled when they arrive at the retailers. It's their job to put the bikes together. A local bike shop has the skills to do this. Target and box stores don't typically.

teabow1 wrote:

Chilly wrote:Stay away from tartget/walmart bikes, they are awful, like buying a drop shipped chinese scoot. Craigslist is a great place to find a bike, get a vintage road bike with 105 components or simular(will cost around the same as the one you linked)

I agree with stay away from Walmart/Target for bikes. Why? Bike come totally disassembled when they arrive at the retailers. It's their job to put the bikes together. A local bike shop has the skills to do this. Target and box stores don't typically.

And once you get the big box bike home and find out how poorly assembled/adjusted it is you'll find out a lot of bike shops won't work on big box store bikes.