Actually the bikes are made by CCM under the name of Evox. As the bikes
were only $88 they sold out fairly fast up here in Canada. I rode one at a
velodrome and they were pretty comfortable little bikes, but even with the
plush seat, my butt was used to a more reclined position. They were
reasonably fast too despite the low PSI tires.
I went into Walmart today, and found that tyhey were selling two
flavours of
semi-recumbents called Quetzels
(http://www.mikadobicycles.ca/en/rand...bikes.asp?id=4). The bikes
in
Walmart are branded CCM and come with the same quality of grouppo that
most
department store bikes come with.
Yesterday I went to a new Wal-Mart Super Center that had just opened in
the next town over from mine; actually the store had just opened the
day before. Everything was shiny and new. Of course I checked out the
bikes and accessories. . . They had quite a few, but they were
practically all mountain bikes. I saw no Quetzels, nothing resembling
a recumbent bike.
While I was there they made an announcement over the intercoms about
May being National Bike Month. They didn't mention this being
Bike-to-Work Week, though.
As is typical of Wal-Mart, the biking section of the store offered all
the basic necessities of life for mainstream tastes, nothing exotic.
Where others lead, Wal-Mart follows, and I suppose that's all we can
realistically expect from their business model.
--
Tony Belding, Hamilton Texas