"Donald Gillies" wrote in message
...
I took a close look at a department store Schwinn a month ago,


http://search.bikelist.org/query.asp...MsgDate%5Ba%5D

Specifically, the $108 schwinn hybrid at Target. Unlike earlier
department store bikes that had obvious manufacturing compromises
(e.g. cheap soft steel brakes that bent every time they were used,
steel rims, lead-pipe frames, suicide extension levers), modern
dept. store bikes have closed a tremendous gap with bike shop bikes.


I bought one of those for my kid. Heck of a deal, IMHO. Frame seems fine,
components are the same as on low end LBS bikes. My kid (like a lot of
13-year-olds) doesn't take care of things very well, leaves the bike out in
the rain, often forgets to take a lock, etc, so I was happy to be able to
get a pretty decent bike for such a small sum.

If you compare the Schwinns to the Huffys, though, there are some pretty
significant differences -- the Huffys I've seen do *not* use the same
components as low-end LBS bikes. You'll see stamped-steel caliper brakes
instead of aluminum linear brakes, a single piece crank instead of a
3-piece, possibly steel wheels instead of alloy, and so on.

Although I don't own one, these bikes are probably not fun or
practical to work on or tune. They are designed to be manufactured
cheaply, used until the parts fail or go out of the adjustment, and
then thrown away. Don't expect to get it fixed cheaply at a normal
bike shop. Work on it yourself, if at all.


Nah, really no better or worse than a low-end LBS bike--the components are
the same. I didn't have any trouble adjusting it after I bought it.

Mark