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Thanks! My friend's 3 year old son is apparently really picky about bikes. When I told her I was getting this one, she mentioned that the only bikes he calls out as bikes (since age 2) were bikes like mine ones. Lol! Little kids are totally fascinated.
Prior thread was advocating buying at Walmart vs. a local shop.
Do you feel better supporting a small, local business or a giant corporation that was instrumental in the "Chinese Import Wave" that still can't "afford" to pay their people what they deserve?
Will you go to WalMart to have your bike serviced, adjusted and to get advice?
Do you trust WalMart to properly fit you?
If you are a regular, do you think WalMart will recognize this and provide "baker's Dozen" type of service?
dude...
we went to local stores looking for a particular kind of bathroom scale--no luck
ordered from WalMart.com and had delivered to local store
what we got looks like a display model but apparently works so we kept it
would have been happy to buy locally but didn't have what we wanted--
same with this situation--
WalMart doesn't carry Electra bikes...
I bought a single speed from this place called bikes direct.
They are for the lack of a better term 'knock offs.'
The best thing about them is the frame everything else well, isn't the best...but it isn't the worst either. For a beginner I think they're more than adequate.
And of course these bikes are ONLINE ONLY so you'll have to do some measuring to get your correct size.
A lot of the bikes are relatively cheap (starting at $300) and have free shipping.
I just bought a Mirage SLX road bike from this site for $499. The frame, shifters, crank, etc seem to be comparable to bikes that cost around $700 at local bike shops. They have crap, good stuff and excellent stuff at bikesdirect.
Support the independent bike shop not because it is locally owned or because Wal-Mart is a huge corporation but because the bikes, and more importantly the components, are BETTER at the IBS. I used to run a bike rental business and the bikes at large retailers look fine but the maintenance is a nightmare on these cheap bikes with components that are even cheaper and not at all dependable. Do you want to frequently have to adjust the braking and shifting systems with tools you probably do not own? Also, I visited a frame manufacturer in Taiwan, under the name, "Advanced" and there I saw many frames with different brands being made by the same workers using the same carbon fiber. My point, don't get hung up on brand, go to the IBS, pay more but get great service as needed.
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