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Schwinn vs Huffy



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 28th 04, 10:47 PM
PSB
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Default Schwinn vs Huffy

Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle. I
know what to look for when it comes to assembling them. The bike is
going to be used as a commuter. The Huffy's are about 30 dollars cheaper
and both have Shamino gears. Just curious if I should spend the 30 bucks
more for a Schwinn or not. If you are going to reply that I should buy
from an LBS, save your bandwidth.

So which would you recommend?
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  #2  
Old December 28th 04, 11:03 PM
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PSB wrote:
Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle.

I
know what to look for when it comes to assembling them. The bike is
going to be used as a commuter. The Huffy's are about 30 dollars

cheaper
and both have Shamino gears. Just curious if I should spend the 30

bucks
more for a Schwinn or not. If you are going to reply that I should

buy
from an LBS, save your bandwidth.

So which would you recommend?


Neither. As commuters, they would probably do OK. But they are cheap
junk, and possibly like throwing money away. If you search in this
newsgroup for "Carl Fogel" "Roadmaster" and "Fury", you will find the
saga of a cheap dept. store bike.

You /should/ buy from your LBS. But not a new bike. A used one. A
decent, well-maintained, used bike can cost only a bit more than a new
dept. store bike-shaped toy, and is likely to have better components.
This means that you might get more life out of your used bike than you
would out of a new bike-shaped toy from some *Mart.

Locally, the LBSs have quite a bit of used inventory that they are
willing to make deals on because in our corner of North America, it's
winter, and bikes don't sell well here in the winter.
Good luck.

HAND,

E.P.

  #3  
Old December 28th 04, 11:23 PM
Ron Hardin
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My Huffy has 6 years = 48k miles of commuting on it. I haven't
tried a Schwinn, either the original brand or the current one.

You can order parts from Huffy for it as well, when they wear out.
Or if enough wear out at once, just buy a whole new Huffy.

I generally get 6 years before that happens, and the current one
looks to be going strong for more years yet.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.
  #4  
Old December 29th 04, 12:13 AM
Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles
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Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle. I
know what to look for when it comes to assembling them. The bike is going
to be used as a commuter. The Huffy's are about 30 dollars cheaper and
both have Shamino gears. Just curious if I should spend the 30 bucks more
for a Schwinn or not. If you are going to reply that I should buy from an
LBS, save your bandwidth.

So which would you recommend?


Bandwith is cheap, sorry. Look for a decent used bike. You could probably
find one for nearly free at a garage sale or thrift shop that would be far
better than the Huffy or Schwinn from a department store. If you have the
skills to properly assemble a bike, you can probably easily deal with a used
bike, and recognize a real gem that's there for the taking.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member


  #5  
Old December 29th 04, 12:34 AM
Gooserider
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Bicycling did a comparison of a bike shop Schwinn and a WalMart Schwinn.
Their consensus was the Wal-Schwinn wasn't nearly as nice as a low end LBS
Schwinn, but it was still the best department store bike ever. Caveat
emptor!


  #6  
Old December 29th 04, 01:42 AM
PSB
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Ron Hardin wrote:
I generally get 6 years before that happens, and the current one
looks to be going strong for more years yet.


I was hoping you would ring in Ron.

The thing about the Huffy I was looking at has knobby tires. The Schwinn
didn't have knobbies.

What do you recommend Ron, knobbies or slicks?

Thanks.
  #7  
Old December 29th 04, 02:26 AM
Kenny
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PSB wrote:
Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle. I
know what to look for when it comes to assembling them. The bike is
going to be used as a commuter. The Huffy's are about 30 dollars cheaper
and both have Shamino gears. Just curious if I should spend the 30 bucks
more for a Schwinn or not. If you are going to reply that I should buy
from an LBS, save your bandwidth.

So which would you recommend?


For my commuter (two chainring 5 speed) I bought the cheapest one I
could find. It cost me $50 and for 4 bucks more I put a shopping basket
on it. It also came with a rear rack for panniers. Been using it for 4
years. For low, low end go on price.

Kenny
  #8  
Old December 29th 04, 02:34 AM
Tom Sherman
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Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles wrote:

Bandwith is cheap, sorry. Look for a decent used bike. You could probably
find one for nearly free at a garage sale or thrift shop that would be far
better than the Huffy or Schwinn from a department store. If you have the
skills to properly assemble a bike, you can probably easily deal with a used
bike, and recognize a real gem that's there for the taking.


I know someone who purchased a lugged steel frame Trek with near perfect
paint for $10 at a yard sale.

--
Tom Sherman - Near Rock Island

  #9  
Old December 29th 04, 03:25 AM
Werehatrack
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On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 16:47:35 -0500, PSB wrote:

Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle. I
know what to look for when it comes to assembling them. The bike is
going to be used as a commuter. The Huffy's are about 30 dollars cheaper
and both have Shamino gears. Just curious if I should spend the 30 bucks
more for a Schwinn or not. If you are going to reply that I should buy
from an LBS, save your bandwidth.

So which would you recommend?


Schwinn, because Huffy's in bankruptcy at the moment.

For a commuter bike, though, I'd look at the rest of the Pacific bike
lines as well. (Schwinn got borged by Pacific a while back, as did
Mongoose and several other brands.)

One of the regulars here may chime in with an observation that a $60
Roadmaster Mt Fury may very well serve your purposes just as well; the
empirical evidence here pretty much confirms the observation that even
the cheapest of the Mall-Wart units will stand up well under a daily
commute of a reasonable distance...as long as your demands in terms of
comfort and performance are modest[1]. (The former issue can often be
addressed by swapping seats, and the latter is presumed not to be a
concern given the parameters that you appear to be applying.)



[1] I will add one caveat of my own from direct experience, though;
if you weigh more than 180 lbs, and you buy a cheap unit, expect to
have to change the seat immediately due to the absolutely abysmal
mounting clamps used on most of the Marianas-trench-level bikes as
original equipment. Oh, and have Captain Overtorque tighten the seat
mounting clamp if you value your baritone singing voice.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.
  #10  
Old December 29th 04, 03:28 AM
Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles
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Bandwith is cheap, sorry. Look for a decent used bike. You could probably
find one for nearly free at a garage sale or thrift shop that would be
far better than the Huffy or Schwinn from a department store. If you have
the skills to properly assemble a bike, you can probably easily deal with
a used bike, and recognize a real gem that's there for the taking.


I know someone who purchased a lugged steel frame Trek with near perfect
paint for $10 at a yard sale.


And isn't there something noble about giving a bike like that a new lease on
life? But I'm beginning to suspect this is a troll, given the recent remark
from the original poster regarding knobby vs slick tires for a "commute"
bike.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member


 




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