#31
|
|||
|
|||
Mike Jacoubowsky Dec 29, 12:00 am show options
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech From: "Mike Jacoubowsky" - Find messages by this author So which would you recommend? What's wrong with American Flyer? --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReactionBicycles.com Maggie Dec 29 Isn't that a wooden sled. Wasn't my old sled an American Flyer? Maggie. Maybe I am getting senile. Reply |
Ads |
#32
|
|||
|
|||
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
Get one that fits. Open bearing assemblies, grease them and adjust properly. Spend a bit of time lubricating and adjusting the brake and gear systems. Tension the wheels and ride it. Visions of Dave Stoller in his garage go dancing through my head... With the dramatic "BIG" music playing in the background, coming to a crescendo just as the scene cuts to the little 500... ah, yes. Mark Janeba |
#33
|
|||
|
|||
On 29 Dec 2004 09:38:06 -0800, "Maggie"
wrote: Mike Jacoubowsky Dec 29, 12:00 am show options Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech From: "Mike Jacoubowsky" - Find messages by this author So which would you recommend? What's wrong with American Flyer? --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReactionBicycles.com Maggie Dec 29 Isn't that a wooden sled. Wasn't my old sled an American Flyer? Maggie. Maybe I am getting senile. Reply Dear Maggie, Yes, there was an American Flyer sled, as well as the bicycle brand. Let's not tell anyone what "Rosebud" really meant to Hearst. The sled explanation is much better suited to the children, and Marion might sue us. Orson Welles |
#34
|
|||
|
|||
Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle.
Buy a much better used bike for the same amount of money, out of the local newpaper ads. -- "Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877) |
#35
|
|||
|
|||
--at 10k miles it's time to put Huffy to pasture and get a new
Huffy/roadmaster/schwinn-- Probably, but so what? A Giant (for example) costs 5-6 times more. So in theory, the Giant will get 50-60,000 miles without major repairs? I don't think so. |
#36
|
|||
|
|||
Wow. Just for fun, i'm gonna reply to this one. Even tho i am
completely a roadie, and everything I own now is fitted to a T, I believe there is a place for dept store mass production machines. Caveat - they are mostly wear-em-out-and-throw-em-away. Don't worry about Huffy or Schwinn, go for price. Don't get fancy shocks. Don't do stunts on it. Avoid potholes and riding off curbs. Make sure it fits, and the instant the saddle gets uncomfortable, replace it with a better one. Experiment with saddles. If your commute is 5 miles, maybe you'll never have a problem. When I was a child my parents bought me a few various "English" 3-speeds. I didn't like em and always wanted what the other kids had - Sting-Rays. The first bike I had I considered to be mine I stole from my sister - she had moved out of the house and left it. That was a humongously heavy Schwinn girls cruiser - but it had a basket, and I had a newspaper route that I had to deliver to make money, and there was no other bike in the house at the time. My second bike I got after high school, and once again used to commute to work - it was a dept store cheapo 10-speed, and it saw a couple of hard summers of commuting to work, and even some non-summer commutes. The bike held up long enough, and served its purpose. At that time I had no spare parts bin to rebuild a used bike, and didn't have the knowledge or desire to do so either. It worked, I worked, and we got along just fine. When the seat stay (part of the frame) broke away from the rest of the frame, my kid brother braised it back, and 'inherited' the bike that way. Overall miles, it didn't go that far, but it went far enough, and the price was right. Knobbies vs. slicks? Unless you're doing sloppy dirt, do the slicks. The skinniest lightest tire that will give you a ride without going flat or sinking into your "road" surface is a good way to think about it. Riding roads in Africa or Mongolia? Get fat thick tires. Not going there? hmmm. You know, Ron H doesn't get a lot of respect around here, but on this topic I agree with him. Have a great day; Mark |
#37
|
|||
|
|||
meb wrote:
Every 10k miles or so, replace BB chainwheel chain and freewheel together, when the chain finally starts popping off the chainwheel startups. Huffy sells replacements over the phone. Uh, when you replace that many parts at once isn't that approaching the price of a comparable new bike? Sounds like unless you've got a cheap source of parts, at 10k miles it's time to put Huffy to pasture and get a new Huffy/roadmaster/schwinn unless the faithfull steed has become part of the family. Might even be cheaper to buy a second as a parts bike. Parts from Huffy are pretty cheap. I'd guess from memory that it's about $40 for all that. If you're replacing a wheel as well, then go for the new bike, I guess. You tend to favor the old one, because it's set up with your add-on fenders and favorite saddle and bike rack and milk crate arrangement. -- Ron Hardin On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk. |
#38
|
|||
|
|||
Isn't that a wooden sled. Wasn't my old sled an American Flyer?
Maggie. Maybe I am getting senile. Maybe, but I might be getting there first. Might have been American Eagle. --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member "Maggie" wrote in message oups.com... Mike Jacoubowsky Dec 29, 12:00 am show options Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech From: "Mike Jacoubowsky" - Find messages by this author So which would you recommend? What's wrong with American Flyer? --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReactionBicycles.com Maggie Dec 29 Isn't that a wooden sled. Wasn't my old sled an American Flyer? Maggie. Maybe I am getting senile. Reply |
#39
|
|||
|
|||
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:08:49 GMT, Little Meow wrote:
Mike Jacoubowsky Dec 29, 12:00 am show options Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech From: "Mike Jacoubowsky" - Find messages by this author So which would you recommend? What's wrong with American Flyer? http://americanflyerbicycle.com/ Hmmm. Interesting. They claim that their road bike is equipped with "Kenda Kontender Ceramic Tires". That should yield some novel rebound rates on bumps. -- Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to reply via email. Words processed in a facility that contains nuts. |
#40
|
|||
|
|||
"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 |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Schwinn vs Huffy | PSB | General | 55 | January 6th 05 04:36 AM |
Bicycle maker Huffy seeks shield | Garrison Hilliard | General | 4 | October 22nd 04 02:25 PM |
Low end schwinn... | rick | General | 14 | August 11th 04 03:59 PM |
Schwinn Backpedaling | Garrison Hilliard | General | 11 | March 24th 04 01:27 PM |
Schwinn Backpedaling | Garrison Hilliard | Techniques | 9 | March 22nd 04 04:31 AM |