I used to be an assembler for Huffy at department stores in high school, came from an XC race background, Huffy literally taught assemble quick, not perfect. You get paid per bike you assembled, nothing more. I used to get flack for being slower at assembly, but my bikes were perfect. I only stayed for 4 months, didn't like the idea they were pushing unsafe assembly.
I was an assembler at Walmart in Jackson Michigan and took alot of pride knowing I did them right, unlike the other 2 assemblers they had. use too see so much nonsense strait out of the box. I got in so much trouble for re-doing what the factory did and eventually got fired for not putting poor assembled bikes out on the floor as fast as they wanted.
Capitalism done right, profits over safety. Its in all our jobs. Nurses work 24 hr shifts so do EMTs and then they get ticked for driving sleepy. But oh the police also have long shifts. But hey fuck logic. Productivity is more important than safety.
@Wake Vulture As an ex-assembler myself, I want to let you know that, as far as walmart bikes are concerned, we don't fuss with the chain drive at all. Out of box, we put on the front wheel, handlebars, seat, some parts of the brakes/brake lines if applicable, which is rare, and pedals, with only bikes like cruisers getting extra parts in the fenders and other accessories like cupholders or baskets. If you find some fault in the bike that wasn't blatantly obvious, it's more than likely a manufacturing issue.
I Transferred out of assembly into truck unloading for the same reason. I would pull the bikes TLE had assembled with loose pedals off the rack and fix them, and get static for it. Kent bikes had lots of bad parts at that point, mostly the 20" freestyle bikes.
@@heavyearly2232 Kent bikes were some of the worst when I worked, too. Even some of their cruiser options were garbage. I think some of their larger stuff is much better now but the small 20" bikes still look kinda jank from what I've seen
Well yes, it was part of the experience because you had no choice. LOL But hey, you learn a lot about repairs and maintenance growing up this way. I’ll bet you don’t have to pay a professional bike shop to fix things on your bikes.
Same or any bike imagine just getting on bike and ramping and end up in hospital not good i think i may have heard or even seen wheels come off funny when nobody hurt but theyre lucky some have got serious injuries.
I happen to work at one of these big department stores as a janitor, and as someone who depends on her bike to get around town most of the time I go out, I'm often shocked and appalled how often I find little parts (usually bearings, bearing balls, bolts, nuts, etc) on the floor in and around the bike assembler station. My expectations were low, but this department store still manages to disappoint.
I used to assemble products for a company that worked with major US retailers. We really do not care about the end result of the product as long as it got assembled. You get paid per item assembled, so the faster you work the more you get paid. It was very bad pay too. We were always busting bolts on with impact until it was tight. After working for them for a short period, I won't buy pre assembled things from stores
I work at Target as a bike assembler and I understand what you are saying. The bolts and nuts may have been from a box of spares, at my store if we get a bike in that is messed up beyond repair from the factory we strip it of all usable parts and defect the frame out that way we will have extra parts to fix little things that may be wrong on other bikes. Just 2 days ago i was assembling 2 Schwinn's and each of them had a ball bearing in the front wheel axle hole, I only realized it was in there when i slipped the QR skewer through it and the ball bearing came rolling out. I took apart the hub and sure enough each one was missing a ball bearing. I put the ball bearings back in and it was good to go. I love working on bikes so I actually take the time to do it correctly especially knowing that this is something that a person is going to ride on.
chances are the barring's are from kids bikes they fall right out you have to take the balls put them back in and grease it to keep it in place while you install the stem. its mostly going to be small kids riding those bikes its insane to me they dont take it more seriously
I picked one of these bikes up, and as a teen with very little money, this thing blew me away! All the minor inconveniences don't bother me, and it is one of the nicest quality things I have owned 👍
@@schofell84 He wouldn't have been involved in the decision to put the disclaimer on the bike. And welding on the kickstand like that seems pretty reasonable; it probably reduces costs and increases reliability, the kickstand coming loose is so incredibly common and nobody who just needs a bike to get around wants to take off their kickstand.
This bike is PERFECT for someone who wants to get into mountain biking as long as you have a friend or a shop who can tune it up for you. It doesn't break the bank and if you decide mountain biking isn't for you anymore you didn't hurt your pockets too much and can sell it off the next rider at an affordable price. This is seriously awesome to see.
That was my thought as well. I also bought a bike for the same amount of money here in Sweden back in 2018. Now I ride a Trek Slash 8 2021 :D And I love MTB.
@@mikeFPS1980 You would already have to be into mountain biking to know what is good and what is not good and what is worth it in the used market. And even then good used bikes are still more expensive then this. This bike avoids all of that for a new rider who wants to try out the sport.
Seth, as a former lead mechanic, I feel you have an obligation to those that watch your videos to let them know, that for any bike of suspect origin, they should put a wrench on every nut and bolt and make sure that nothing is loose. I have wrenched on some of the best brands in the industry and have found that every one makes mistakes. A simple check fixes so many gremlins later on and keeps new riders in the game. What you said about checking the brakes and other components is "spot on". Thank you for what you do.
As a former production manager for a big brand, Cape Epic mechanic and current warranty manager for 25 cycling brands in our region, I can confirm that on even the most premium brands, out of the box all most every bolt will not be torqued and most parts needing grease won't have grease. The only brand that has blown me away consistently has been Orbea. Oh, and I've been to most of the factories in Asia and have seen what brands are produced at what factories
Hell, I just brought home a Specialized for $4200 and I torque checked every single nut and bolt on the bike. Most were good, but it's peace of mind. As an equipment tech, I trust no one.
Even my RIbble R872 didn't have fully tightened chainring bolts, giving the occasionally very loud clang that took me a while to diagnose. Donno if Shimano or Ribble is to blame there, maybe both.
I rode street BMX for over 20 years. I haven't been on a mountain bike since I was a kid. So when I saw this video, I decided to get one given the price point. Been 10 years since I rode (40 now). During my 20's I was also big into 4x4 offroading in my Troopers. So getting into mountain biking just seems like a natural step at this point. I have zero regrets, I love this bike. I don't need anything fancy right now. I just want something to get me back into riding, and out into the woods. Honestly, having a budget starter bike will give me a great understanding of modern MTB technology compared to what it was back in the 90's. I'll be able to get a good feel for where I need more from the bike, and where It works well. So I can upgrade accordingly over time.
So after watching this, I decided to pick one of these up. Price was reasonable, so for an entry level bike it made sense. My local store didn’t have this in stock, but it was available online. It came boxed and about 2/3rds assembled. Every issue you found,except the stripped grips, was present on my bike straight out of the box. This means every single bike assembled at the factory/packaging factory was done wrong… After confirming the chain routing, I rewatched this to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Great video.
Horrible idea. You should have spent slightly more and got a GT aggressor from Dick's sporting goods. If I was you I would take that bike back and get an aggressor. Much better bike for a little more money.
@Jamie Smith wrong. The GT aggressor expert is $600 when not on sale. The GT aggressor pro with mechanical brakes is just under $500 and I think around 400 flat went on sale. I know it used to go on sale very frequently and it's way ahead of that Walmart junk with no kickstand to cut off. 🤣
I worked at a department store, and I mentioned during my interview I could definitely assemble a bike. Well, I got my chance and my boss offered me 1 hour of overtime to build some bikes and I only got 2 done. I'm not sure the first one was really good to go, and the 2nd wasn't set up at all really and I was rushing. It was 'together' My boss came in and saw that I only had 1 'done' and was working on another, and he stopped me and that was the last time I got to. I did not meet his quota, he expected 10 bikes to be unboxed and ready for shelves in an hour. It is a rough world, minimum wage jobs.
He was just recruiting for army rangers the position gets vacated often 10 chutes. 1 bike builder, 9 max usually watch from cover. They refuse to use foldable or electric bikes they could be like chuck Norris Delta force but silent and frugal like some Amish with missiles. Itll always be one guy they're like frat boys initiating and just mourn and move if another bike pro is trying wheels out in the middle of a field and the team is playing Parcheesi or taking black powder ale bombs like an Amish spring break. Strange I've never known an Amish ranger just 82nd airborne they're full of the beard exemptions and they look goofy ah after diving from 30k feet, like a wispy octopus mounted Rambo's head. Yeah you dodged a bullet, that manager probably took a bullet for you he probably didn't want you to mourn his death and be in a cosmic kharma loop overcompensating in each reincarnation until you get another shot for valor at the gates of Valhalla. Don't be so hard on yourself I can do 5 in that same time iit just take a little skill that you have to build from a foundation of skill you are born with. I just saved you the vanquish of going through that timeline and doubling down on the slow toxic accumulation and prophetic failure which peaks early before that sharp parabolic drop a selfie with a tad of moonwalk makes for a graceful half swan dive. Is what's it is maybe mercy was going out at the beginning, everyone is different but we're all linked by the shared hindsight of wishing we had died earlier because suicide is awkward now it's only natural to want to end an empty life, I can totally relate to that, after having accomplished everything ive set out to do I feel so content I feel like why not go out on my terms, the criminal amounts of vanity I've expressed would have sent my soul into that of a small rodent or mammal, another challenge I would intent to take head on if I were so inclined. Best wishes you got this forward backward they both suck enjoy yourself today in the service of fellow man let the rudder go let the love flow you're right where you need to be, the best position to allow yourself to get lucky, you're like a swarmy speed after running a numbers game but you're not cringe you're just the perfect singularity of inward and outward perception, and no shame being a beacon of positivity. You got this, and thank you I feel like my tendency to lie pathologically was gone yesterday and all this truth is like a clean firmware install, no corruption whatsoever and that is humbling seeing I purposely took on the persona out of intellectual curiosity of being forced into a criminal life by myself as the future megachurch pastor who struggled then gave his heart to God after many feints which led to frustration and a scrap down at the junkyard level where God was so humbled or embarrassed he made me an honorary demigod likely to save face, which reaffirms my word as bond above and furthermore I told everyone about our bonding over our completive and Irish blood, I just couldn't hold the truth back especially when its not something to hide god can be proud of his human nature. Have a blessed one, not like in a god like Steven Segall dali Lama way, the humble way. All the balance brother, -Burt Tmarcus McGillicutty II
I'm going to agree with your video, as a Walmart shopper myself it's a fact that 90% of Walmart shoppers don't put high value on their own lives which makes this bike perfect.
I recognise those rear dropouts and seat-stays, as well as that headtube. I'd put money on it that it comes from XDS. Reid Cycles used a variant of this frame on their $1600 XC bike, which was equipped with a full XT drivetrain and a Fox 32 fork, with an updated version later getting through axles at both ends!
Pinkbike went and tried to make their own bike once, and found that Chinese frame manufacturers have catalogs of pre-made frame you pick from and throw your logo on
I grew up riding Walmart bikes as it was all my parents could afford. I learned to work on my bike as well. I used to get teased by even adults during rides for riding my pride and joy. I rode a 168 mile ride on my Walmart bike and got to the end before some of the adults on their expensive road bikes. I made sure to let the ones that teased me about my bike know that it isn't just the bike that makes the difference when I was standing at the finish line when they eventually got there. I still enjoy biking and have a few bikes from the late 90s that I ride often but never judge other people's bikes.
same with me, except I knew nothing about fixing or modifying the bike. Rode it how it came for several years, even completing 60-70 mile rides averaging
I can relate to that. I'm a roadie, but now I'm interested in getting into some bikepacking. None of my road bikes are up to that task, there all race bikes that can't handle anything over a 700 x 28 tire. But I do have a old 1980s Murray ATB that runs great, so that's going to be my starter for some dirt/gravel bikepacking overnighters, can't wait to hear the criticism, but the bike was a freebie from a friend, I've serviced it, and have been riding it, just as a commuter bike, for the past 10 years! So gonna give it a try, I figure why not? At about 40 years old and still riding good, it can't be all that bad on beginner dirt, and gravel roads.
Hey I'm a trainer for an assembly company that builds for Walmart and I do apologize for the build quality but recognize that we get paid by the piece as an assembler. I pride myself on quality but they pay roughly $5 a bike for assembley so if I want to make $20 an hour that only gives me 15 min per bike. The headset shouldn't have been loose and the handlebars should've been straight but we don't touch the grips, nor do we rerout the chain if it comes wrong from the factory. We assemble a wide variety of products ranging from grills, wheelbarrows, furniture, and everything in between. Trust me I know a lot of assemblers are sub par because I'm the one that has to deal with them. If you want a top quality bike, go to a bike shop or find a Wal-Mart in western PA where I work and find me. It's a tough gig and it isn't easy work. You'll literally only make $5 an hour if you spend an hour making a bike perfect. Don't expect top shelf quality from Wal-Mart. If you want to check some other decent bikes try checking out the Schwinn Boundary or Axum. That bike you have is the Kent Trouvaille and I do agree I think it's the best Wal-Mart has to offer. Not all assemblers are bad I put my heart and soul into this job every day. One thing I've learned as an assembler is there's no such thing as a perfect bike. I wish I could whip out the calipers to find a millimeter off but you're not being asked to build 50 bikes a day. You're getting paid lord knows how much to shit on the poor sucker that got paid $5 to build that one. It's easy to be a critic I guess. It's hard to get paid for it, so for that, I do give you props.
I’m not here to just to defend seth, but tbh, until this comment section I had no *idea* how little you guys get paid per bike, I wouldn’t think seth did either.
Damn bro i used to go all the way out to Michigan from arkansas to build bikes for Walmart for a company called ecs with my homeboy named connor we used to build 100+ bikes a day work 12 hours a day will the racks up build what ever office chair grill or dresser travel 2 hrs to different store each day and get paid 700 dollars for it hell they even made us go back to lousiana for free unpaid all because walmart wanted they bikes out on the patio during the summer and the heat made all the tubes get less than 15 psi. And the whole time working i was dreaming of riding the bikes all day. now i work at sonic and dont even work as near many hours see my family more and get paid way more have way more time to ride and do what ever i want and have a flexible schedule
Thank you for writing this. Love your attitude. The fact that you took the time to write this comment explaining the trade off between doing things well and getting value for money. I don't live in the USA so I'll never buy a Walmart bike. Don't undersell yourself to employers. You should be building rockets for Space X or something like that.
The sudden, dramatic music, the camera shifting between the bike and Seth’s eyes, the immediate clip change to Seth with a saw. The kickstand scene was cinematography at it’s highest level. Oscar worthy. 😂
It’s actually crazy to me that I’ve been watching your content for 5+ years now you are super consistent and very funny in my opinion. I’ve enjoyed learning more and more about bikes and RC “toys” and cried learning about Drama (he’s in a better place now) but over all I’m very glad to have found your channel and to have been with you during your journey from that old shed in Florida to the wonderful place we call Berm Peak.
thank you, I'm almost 40years old and I used to race downhill back in the days. now with kids and life happen I don't have sponsorship to give me 3k bike so your video help me alot to get something reasonable. can't wait for part 2 !
For two generations, I started my Children and my Grandchildren with basic store bought bikes. I have had good luck with KENT Branded bikes over the years. It does help if you know what you are looking at. Too many people (kids) want 21+ gears and Full Suspension MTB’s. But at the Big Box Store pricing these bikes weigh in at 50+ lbs and I would say for most riders, they never use the full range of gears. One reason for this is lousy assembly. Just recently I found two bicycles at Walmart made by KENT under their Genesis Line. 26 inch tire bikes with front suspension, Aluminum frames and a 1x8 Microshift Gearing. For the price point, $229 for a Male frame and $179 for a properly Downsized Female frame set, they were a great deal at a great price. Now both of these bikes I tore down personally and did MY person adjustment and lubrication routine on them. There was not ONE properly lubricated or adjusted bearing set on the whole bike. I try and get my Kids/Grandkids involved with the process, and when the bike is just basically a bare frame, I have them clean and wax the frame. When I get to a bearing that is really bad, I have them rotate the axle to get a feel for what is wrong. I show them how I lubricate and then adjust the bearings and then have them spin the bearing to see the difference. Best way to get some understanding of why it takes Gramps, 2-3 hours to get the new bikes out of the box. One HUGE complaint I have is the Shifter Housings on many of these bikes is actually brake housing which will cause shifting problems. Thankfully I have a Box of new Shifter cables and the ends to make new pieces and if needed better quality cables. I also always use a quick link on these bikes so we can strip them down to clean chains off the bike and to get those frames cleaned back up. I could never be a Big Box Mechanic, too much I would be tinkering around with to make these bikes right. But for the ones I love, I have the time and it’s always good to pass down your knowledge to another generation.
A stoned thought popped into my head while I was reading this, reminding me of something that Not Just Bikes said in one of his videos. The so-called "men's" bikes are the only ones that you can smack your nuts on when getting on or off. No idea why we're still categorizing them like that. I find it hilarious.
Reminds of my first Walmart bike back in 1995. Bought for commuting to college. Worked great until I went to pull back on the handle bars to get the front end up to clear a curb.....handle bars came up alright. Left the rest of bike like booster rockets on the space shuttle. Got well acquainted with the sidewalk.
@@TwinShards not sure if you are tarded. normal people ride up ramps near the sidewalk instead of trying to hump their bike to go over it. 2 wheelers arent meant for whatever you tards seem to believe
I used to assemble bikes at target. I loved it I would take my time listen to music and then really test the bikes before I put it on the shelf. The only bummer was you barely had the right tools for the job. Sometimes a bike would come in broken or something would be just slightly out of wack, and with more tools could be easily adjusted, but we had the bare minimum and there wasn’t even a tool box to put them in. Just loose in a basket lol…😅
Go to Harbor-Fright or other and purchase. Spray paint them to establish ownership and allow you to do your best job for personal satisfaction. You'll always have the tools.
Jewelers are required to bring all of their own hand tools, torches, tanks, pliers, mandrel, molds, bench pin, etc. The stores provide the big equipment, polishing, ultra sonics, steamers, buddy burners, etc. You can move faster when you are used to your own tools.
The frame is 16.25.. The two main issues to be addressed are - The brakes are one pot, whose caliper, bends the disk towards another stationary caliper for break engagement, so there’s a lost in breaking power because it has to do the job of flexing/bending the rotor first. Mine came with either the front wheel not true or the rotor a bit bent because when I set the break about .5mm away from the stationary caliper, (so the pot doesn’t have to do so punch work bending the disk) I get a bit of the rotor rubbing on the stationary caliper for about 2-3 spokes.. Don’t mind because I’ll putting Shimano hydraulic on the bike. The second issue which is of more concern is the hub engagement, it’s so bad that my feet bounces of the pedals when down shifting. So I need to either upgrade the hub (learn to lace and true) or buy a new rear rim. All that said, I really love this bike. Yes the tires are big but the frame fits my 30” inseam, with about 2” clearance when standing. The Axum frames are 18-19 with a top tube that’s not as aggressive an angle. Trouvaille is one of the best entry level bikes on the market for budget builders - in price, components, features and geometry..
@@justu2bnit17 Yes it’s pathetic.. When Kent first listed the bike (pre Walmart) to the budget builder community, they had hydraulic (Tektro) breaks in the feature list along with a 1x10 drivetrain. That was bait and switch but for clarity sake, the budget big box community called them out so I kind of was aware that the break had to be upgraded eventually. What I wasn’t aware of is the type of mechanical breaks that required bending the rotor to come in contact with the stationary (non pot) caliper.. That’s a massive loss of breaking energy to push the rotor about 2mm to the other side of the break. It also means that the rotor will be, not optimal for upgrading to say Deore breaks. Kent made the changes to the Trouvaille’s big brother, the Intrepid which cost $250 more but a better deal for budget builders that do upgrades over a longer period..
I bought the Huffy Rock Creek 29 from Walmart for under $200 about five months ago. Of course the first thing I did was go over it (including changing the tire pressure from 10psi to 55psi). I got it as an inexpensive way for me to get around without a car, and don't plan on really going off road with it. I am quite happy with it so far.
I recently came across ( second hand) a Huffy Rock Creek 29" mountain bike.Brakes are bad. Left pedal crank is stripped. Because I don't yet know if the pedal crank itself is bad or if it's the pedal assembly going through the frame, I'm replacing the whole thing. I'll be honest, the bike looks abused, but some things just should not be.
I have the same bike, just got it like a month ago and there's a place here in Allentown Pennsylvania called, trexler national preserve and it has some harsh trails and jumps, so far it has upheld it all, however I do plan to get knobbier tires and better rims.
Worked as an assembler as a teenager. I'll admit I was being paid per unit assembled so it was enticing to get them finished quickly. That being said, I basically lived on a mtb from the time I could ride and did my own maintenance so I was always keen to dial everything in before putting a bike on the shelf.
Haha. I haven't been watching his videos enough to get it at first..... But when I saw he actually fabricated the thing right off, it all made sense 😄. Recent watcher of your videos and they're very entertaining and enlightening! Cheers from Vancouver
You're spot on in the beginning, most bikes sold at Walmart are of questionable quality, but they field a few budget gems from time to time. The Mongoose Cachet and the Impakt Sidehack come to mind. The Cachet was a single speed road bike with a flip flop hub that retailed for about $150 and was comparable to $400-500 range entry single speeds at the time. The Sidehack was more an oddity than anything, but it was still super cool they stocked a bike like that. Also, as a former bike builder for Target, I'll echo some of the other comments here. It's a crapshoot who built your bike in store (we had some dudes who were huge into bikes, some had no experience and just wanted more hours) and even the best builder will be hampered by tool availability, available time, and the general state they come to the store in. No one wants you to leave the store with an unsafe bike, but we had about 20 minutes to get it all put together and tuned the best we can. If you can't go over it yourself, budget in a trip to a local bike store so they can do it for you.
The real Mom and Pop bike shops factor in their time spent assembling and tuning bike THE RIGHT WAY! Definitely something that’s worth paying extra money for.
Hint to all who don't have a chain link remover tool. That little piece of metal is just a bent over tab that is not connected at the other end. Grab a medium size phillips head screw, insert it into the hole and bend it up. The chain will slip past and you can use a hammer and a small block of wood to tap it down into place.
Thank you!!!! Just picked one up tonight, saw this in the video and thought I'd have to leave it for now since this bike wiped out my budget. This tip will save me a lot of extra wear on my chain.
You’d be amazed the number of bikes we get from GT and Cannondale now days with chains routed the same way. Among several other issues caused by rushed assembly at the plants. They’re trying to get them out as fast as possible with limited worker’s therefore quality control goes way down. New bike assemblies take us a lot longer now to make them perfect and safe.
I got my wife a GT a few years ago and almost every component had been installed wrong somehow. A great bike, but only after having a mechanic do a tune up
Hello Seth,am hooked up from Nairobi Kenya 🇰🇪 and i must say i am packed with hacks and tips and mechanics to strengthen my bond between my bikes.i have a 29er and a roadie and your videos from both channels have been invaluable in helping me maintain them…although am not able to get most gears and tools..but i manage well what i have here..🥂.cheers to many more educative and entertaining videos👊👊🙌🙌
I just bought this bike yesterday, my first bicycle since I was a teenager, and the chain routing issue was present on mine, I've never rerouted a chain before but it wasn't very hard. Glad I watched this before buying it, or I might not have even noticed the issue.
I remember riding walmart bikes growing up, they weren't too great. Enough to get me wherever I was going as a teen, but I recently bought my first "real bike" from a bike store, and the quality difference is mind blowing. Of course you get what you pay for, but still.
The thing is, the quality of the Walmart bikes, at least on the upper end, has also gone way up. I thought for sure he'd be looking at a Schwinn, since they're putting out some fantastic bikes right now too, but I see that Kent is also finally getting into making good bikes. The real trick with these bikes, though, is in how you can buy one cheap, then upgrade it later. Better fork, better wheels, better this, better that, and over time you can end up with a real killer bike, while growing and riding with it the whole time, instead of saving up for months without a bike at all!
Axum came out a few years ago and had sized frames, a dropper seat post, 29er 2.6 tires, wide bars, short stem, tapered head tube... If you know how to do some bike mechanic work or have the drive to learn, these are better than low end treks or giants. Name brand bikes under 800 rarely have tapered head tubes. PS- Seth should collab with KevCentral!
I was about to say the same thing. There's so many great bikes out at Walmart that it makes you want to buy each one. I have 2 atm, Axum and Ledge X1. Both are fully upgraded and punches well above there reputation and price range. I also had the Hyper Hydroform and upgraded it to Kevcentral specs but sold it to buy the Axum. I'll get one of the Kents when the larger frames drop later
@@Bobe_Kyrant.42 I own the axum dp, it is incredible, best 500 dollars ever spent. And I'm not normally this positive either, but when it comes to this bike, I sure as hell am lol
0:03 I remember that video, and Commented that I was an in house assembler employed for walmart and started greasing pedals and the older quill stems because of it. well, about 3 years ago, some pencil pusher at the Home Office in Bentonville got the "Bright" idea of outsourcing bicycle assembly (as well as any other in store assembly work) to third party companies like Assemblers Incorporated, Apollo Assembly, and other companies which they thought was cheaper than retaining the in house assemblers like me (in reality, those savings have been eaten up by the massive amount of bikes that have been returned BECAUSE of poor assembly or manufacturer defects, that have to be claimed out and destroyed.) those companies are paid by the item, so their incentive is to assemble as many items as quickly as possible, which is why you had the braking and shifting issues at 1:27; I'm still with Walmart, but i've graduated to being a service technician in their Auto Care Center with MUCH higher pay than I was making back then, and being able to finally use my 6 years of post secondary education I got from 2008-2014.
Another great video Seth…been watching your content for a little over two years now, and am always impressed by your scripts, content, and delivery. My son and I started a bike shop back in 2020 as a side hustle, and it’s turned into almost our full time job. Anyway, we have loved watching your videos along the way…Keep up the good work! BTW …just walked into my local Walmart here in Castle Rock, CO and saw an all Carbon 29er…for about $600. 😳. May be the next one to test…
Ooh awesome, what's your bike shop called? Will have to stop by next time I'm in C-Rock. Also, you share your name with a great metal musician - one of the best! 🤘
I remember seeing a review about a carbon Walmart bike a while back. I think it was around $800. The problem was that it was so darn heavy, it kind of defeated the purpose of going carbon.
Back in 2010, I hired on at CostCo as holiday-seasonal help. Assigned to the bakery, I wasy restocking breads one day, when I saw a kid (I was 49 at the time), wheeling a mtn. bike out to the floor to the sporting goods dept. Like one of the bikes pictured in this video, the fork/wheel were backwards in relation to the frame. I stopped what I was doing, walked over to the kid, and asked him if he felt that the bike was ready to be sold to a customer. When he replied "I guess so," I told him to take the bike back to the back room, as the fork was backwards, at the very least. I looked at the other bikes on display, found several discrepancies, then reported this to the store manager. He asked how I knew about this, and I told him that I'd ridden and raced mtn. bikes for 20 years, and could build a bike from a bare frame. He pulled me off of bakery duty, and I spent the next 2 days fixing the mis-assembled bikes and building the rest of the stock. Funny thing is that the next day, another manager walked past up to me in the back of the store, where I'd set up a build area with a service stand, and all of the requisite tools, and said: "When did we get all of that bike stuff?" I answered: "We didn't, it's my equipment." At least I know that the customers took home safe bikes for Christmas presents.
Kev Central loves the Kent Trouvaille. His didn't have any of the issues you ran into, but he gets test bikes sent to him. The higher-end big box bikes are made to be upgrade platforms these days. That said, I'd buy one of these. That SR fork is better than my existing 2010 Trek's fork, and it's overall specc'd out better.
What makes them cheap though is, as he says: economies of scale. You'd need to buy an absurd quantity of parts to negotiate a deal. That's how Walmart works.
@@darrenprentice7934 Economies of scale still apply for individual bike parts. Yes, there are hundreds of models of mountain bikes out there, but the only thing custom about those bike models is the frame, really. The rest are all off-the-shelf parts. For example , there are tens of different reputable mountain bike brands, but only a handful of companies making drive trains.
As a Walmart employee, at a past store I worked at, I was in the electronics department and our department manager didn't want us helping a customer put minutes on their phone plan. One example of this is if the customer got a pre-paid minute card for their contract phone. One, minute cards, depending on the cellular provider, were non-refundable. Two, you can't put minute cards on a contract account. So, if we did it wrong, the store would be expected to eat the cost of the minute card. As such, we put it on the responsibility of the customer to make sure they knew what kind of account they had and, as such, whether or not a minute card would work with it. Some customers had no clue how their phone worked. They just expected that, if they could go to an AT&T store to buy a phone, they could go to a Walmart store that also sold AT&T phones and we'd automatically know how to get their phone working again. It's not necessarily that Walmart employees don't bother to make sure the product we sell a customer works. Just that there are so many dumb people that we fall back to manufacturer liability and customer responsibility. When I was a cashier on the front end, what looked like a pregnant woman wanted to buy some cigarettes. After the purchase, I discussed the situation with the manager. They informed me that, because the package of cigarettes contained a warning from the surgeon general, it was on the customer to take responsibility for their own health and the health of their unborn child.
I just bought a Kent Trouvaille! I'm a begginer and I'm loving it so far. Mine came assembled very well, just needed to tighten the grips, turn a couple barrel adjusters and I was on the green trails having fun.
Let's not ignore that the heirs of Walmart LOVE mountain biking. Not only did they make it so you can buy higher-end Viathon bike (much higher-end than this one), but they also built trails in Arkansas and are doing the same in Colorado.
Absolutely. And of course, they don’t have total control over Walmart (a public company), much less the exact products in their sporting goods department. The Waltons have done incredible things for mountain biking.
@@CANControlGRAFFITI Giving the Waltons props for what they have done for mountain biking isn’t giving Walmart any props. Walmart is a public company, and its shareholders vote for a board of directors just like any other corporation.
@@CANControlGRAFFITI I agree with you. I have seen what Walmart does to rural America as they basically wiped out my hometown. As far as WalMart being a public company, the Waltons still control a majority of stock (50%) through a trust, Walton Enterprises, and the personal holdings of two family members. They also have a direct vote structure, which means the Waltons can dispose of any board member they do not like at any time.
I'm scratching my head on that one. Why not leave the mount and just remove the stand? I bought a Trek Marlin 8 last month and it has one. Since plan to us this bike for touring It's one of the first I've ever had a stand on. I like this style over the old school blocks and bolts.
@@DanielTaylorOCMD he did it that way because the mounting hardware used was rivets and not hex key bolts like they should've been lol was easier to just cut it all off
I’d like to thank you for pointing out that chain being routed wrong, I have one of these and had a noise there even after adjusting it. I looked and the exact same thing was on mine…..
Great video, when I got back into biking I bought a Walmart mongoose hardtail. It was enexpensive but upgradable at the time. So I did a few upgrades (bottom bracket, crank set, forks, bars, stem, and new lever shifters) as needed until I could get a proper bike frame, and moved the upgraded parts to it.
I bought a fairly nice Schwinn MTB-looking bike with the same stickers from a department store. Turned out to be a great commuter bike on a 15 mile commute that included 4 miles of fairly well-groomed gravel roads. I pushed the limits off road once but decided from the creaks and pops I heard that it was probably a good idea to heed the sticker warnings.
I've owned a few Walmart bikes. I learned pretty quick that you don't want to ride them home. You need to pick them up with a vehicle and take it home or to a bike shop to give it a good once over before you ride it. Here the bikes are assembled by local bike shops but they aren't paid very much per bike so they have to do a bunch of them really fast. I have seen this bike too at my local Walmart as well and am very curious about it.
You know, I never even thought about assemblers handling these bikes at the big box stores. Probably explains all of the problematic childhood bikes that were in and out of my family when I was a kid. I always thought they were just crap bikes, but they probably were OK when assembled correctly. I guess the good thing that came out of it is my Huffy bicycle breaking itself every other day encouraged me to start wrenching on stuff when I was only like 8 years old.
You could get the best machine in the world and it's going to last a few weeks/months tops if you don't know how to maintain it. I also started learning mechanics very young on very crappy bikes and now I can make decent bikes last years on very low running cost (case point: I currently have a YT that is coming up on 3 years old that I have ridden nigh on every day (sans 4 months dues to injury haha) and running costs in total is about 2 dollars a day total cost and that's mainly tires/cassettes/chains and the odd pot of silkolene). It's a blessing to be honest and the main thing I think that puts beginners off this sport is perceived cost, but as Seth shows so well it's mainly just lack of understanding/knowledge, it's one of the cheapest, most accessible high octane sports out there only really surfing and skating is better value. Aint many activities that 2 dollary doos can get you that give you the thrill this does :)
Always change the bottom bracket on those bikes. The bearings aren't close type and wear out after a short time. If you pack new bearings the cap never gets tight again cuz the frame material is often soft/cheap. Otherwise a few lil upgrades and you will be all good
I agree with the fact that not everyone is going to go out there and spend $1-3k on a bike, having something ok around $500 at least gets people into the sport
The quality::price curve really picks up between $200 to $500, after that quality improvements seem incremental until over $2000 where things start getting outrageously priced for minor benefit.
Bike prices are getting dumb! I've never owned a brand new bike.. Only a brand new frame..) And that was my 2007 Cowan DS. That was 1/2 off and 600 bucks.. I don't even look at bikes at bike shops.. just get the parts I need and gtfo.
@Abe Froman how is Seth pretentious and condescending? He explains many things very clearly for beginners and he even says this bike is good for a newcomer - if assembled properly. He also has a vid where he says cheap 90s mtbs are great bikes.
The chain is routed incorrectly through the derailleur from the factory. I got my Trouvaille still in the box, straight off the truck. I assembled it myself. For any of those who intend on doing the same... Remove the metal/paper junk they put down the seat post tube before you assemble :)
I worked in Electronics at Toys R Us Canada for a couple of years. Because of limited employees and slow sales they'd have us electronic employees assemble baby furniture,doll houses, preschool trikes, and yes, bikes for children. "Read the instructions, that should be enough". I really hope we never hurt anybody.
Just bought one yesterday for 228. Missing chain and bent derailer... likely the routing problem mentioned. Dig the bike ..way better than expected. Mine was built in March of 23 and does have the dropper post cable slot.
My old work (very large cement plant) bought 200 of these for maintenance staff. Not bad, sidestands and saddles broke first, cables and gears started going after a year of good hard use. Had to hire a full time bike maintenance guy to keep them in order.
If you shop at walmart, you're what's wrong with the "united" slaves.. Only time I shop there is when I need a fresh pair of dickies for work.. so, about once in 5 years.
I've tried not to like Kent Bikes, but with the girls and I building bikes. The kents, even when we get them left out and roached, they are pretty solid bikes. By kiddo has a Kent Chaos FS20 (she drug out of the scrap pile at the ranch) that she runs at the lake for a trail bike. Its held up well. Of course, like you said, it all depends on maintenance and knowledge of bikes. We got 2 new dept store BMX bikes for Christmas, and I broke them both completely down, reassembled them, greased everything the way it should be, removed some crap, and replaced some other crap. You do got to take care of them, and I will admit, my cheap bikes are a lot more maintenance than my 40 year old bike with all sealed bearings, mid bb, and high end (for the time) hardware. That ugly old Japanese bike has become my daily rider because it's smooth, quiet, and low maintenance. ✌️
Walmart also offers this bike called Giordano (owned by Kent) Intrepid, it’s just like this bike but with hydraulics and even a thru-axle. It even has smooth welds and it looks amazing. You can also check that out in a future video
Seth, love the videos! I want to point out that aluminum should NEVER be cut or ground with a stone wheel or cut-off wheel. People lose their lives and appendages every year doing this. Aluminum gums up the pores in the disc, overheats it, and the wheels explode. Be careful!
7:20 Usually you can fix the routing through the derailleur without breaking the chain by removing one wheel. Then one side of the pulley can be turned around the axle of the other wheel, splitting it open. Been there, done that :-D
But with that, runs the risk of the jockey wheel loosening again and causing the mech to jam and either rotate around the cassette, and/or into the spokes. I've done it but its easier to split the chain than start threadlocking jockey wheel bolts :)
Great segway from the sponsorship video into something that’s really hot right now. KevCentral has a good series on these new Walmart bikes, but I’m interested in seeing if they can withstand your level of riding!
I just picked this one up at the local Walmart. Seems to be well put together. I checked the problem areas he highlighted and everything seems to be in order. The upshift paddle shifter seems to be intruding to the grip area of the handle so I can't wrap my right thumb around the handle bar all the way.. may need to be rotated slightly. Anyhow it looks good. I'm upgrading from a Raleigh M-30 which is at least 25 yrs old. The seat on it broke yesterday, and I decided to upgrade to a bike with disc brakes. I will just be riding around town, not on trails, so it should be fine for that.
From what I can tell, Walmart is really trying to clean up their reputation in terms of bike selection, regardless of price. I'm glad that they are finally starting to offer mid-range bikes (at least online) like the triban rc-120 that I recently ordered. I still, however don't feel comfortable with them assembling my bike because even if I tune it up myself, something is likely to be broken. My dad bought a 'hyper' mountain bike a while back, and it came with a chipped tooth on the 'cassette'. This bike was supposed to be a middle ground between cheap and midrange. I have a family friend who is a manager at a local Walmart and he claims that Walmart is going to start offering a larger selection of high quality bikes. I haven't personally looked at everything they offer, but I'm at least glad they had the bike I wanted, regardless of whether it was sold by Walmart or not. I must say again, though, they need to up their assembly game.
I ride a Walmart Hyper, as my main and only mode of transpo. I must say, after a bit of a tune up, and some realistic expectations, I really love the bike and enjoy riding it. I don’t worry about dings and dents, and I can always hop on my Trek or my vintage ‘60s Super LeTour if I want to feel a quality upgrade, but my daily rider is my Walmart Hyper!
Seth, you’ve come a long way, really proud of your journey, I remember in 2016 watching your videos back home learning how to do tricks on a bmx to bike hacks, cheers and here’s to more!💯👍
Pedals, lubing and bottom bracket are always the weakness. Replace pedals, grease what you can, make sure bottom bracket is tightened correctly and greased. Check assembly, make sure brakes work, tires not out of true. 5:29 never seen a bike do that before.
I just decided to get back into the sport after about 6 years. I was never serious about it when I used to ride, but I went the used route. Managed to pick up an older Rocky Mountain Etsx-50 for 400 bucks. Taking it to the shop this week for a tune up and hitting the trails this weekend! Hope I don’t die lol
One tip! Always check the bottom bracket and the Hubs. Manufactures are tricky. They use little to no grease, just enough to avoid rust. In a couple of day you will hear the hubs crying for maintaince
It would be cool to see a budget upgrades video on this bike (but with good quality parts). Like maybe an air fork (Rockshox Judy), dropper post (ie PNW), etc.
This is almost the perfect bike for me based on what this video says: I'm near the middle of.the height range for the frame. I am very comfortable wrenching on my own bikes. I'm not that concerned about how safe this would be for me AFTER I looked it over to ensure the brakes and steering are in good working order. I like mountain bikes. One problem though: I'm not in the market for a bike. I have a couple decent bikes that fit my needs very well and, since I know how to maintain them, they will last virtually forever.
Its the stuff that non riders dont know about that gets you with the walmart bikes. Take apart the bottom bracket and you find pretty quick that its not a sealed unit it just 2 bearing rings with a pressure plate. Then the rear wheel has just a big nut that holds it all together where a good bike would have a plate that can be removed and the gears can be easily replaced or customized. I used to assemble these bikes for walmart. Honestly ya get about 7 minutes a bike to do it. The adult bikes are the same quality as the kids bikes very low. But it comes down to this. Just cause you can buy a bike for 150 bucks doesnt mean you should. Check out bikes direct or other similar bike dealers that can sell you a proper bike that may be a little more expensive but will be a top notch performer for years to come.
Interesting to see how the wheel holdup after a few weeks of riding. Im guessing a lot of spokes will needed tightening. Seth you should try a MTB to commuter conversion on you flip bikes
the wheels are a big concern for me, and we’ll only know how they hold up after a “real” ride. I’m guessing they are single walled but likely protected a bit by those big tires. We’ll see!
I’ve checked Walmart bike wheels with spoke tension meter and they must have machines truing them , they are usually acceptable unless you have shipping damage
Great idea for a video, very interested to see how this thing fairs on a real DH test. I'll still stick with my used Norco that cost me less than this new bike, but I love the idea of lowering the barrier to entry.
It's crazy seeing a bike that looks so nice from a big box store! After you do your shakedown run it would be awesome to see a video where you add some budget upgrades to make the ultimate budget MTB.
The only bike assembly job I would ever be satisfied with is one I've done myself. For starters, I want grease on the threads of every single threaded fastener on the bike (and that includes the threaded end of every spoke), and I doubt many, if any, bikes come that way from the store. Also, if the bike has any loose ball bearings (as opposed to cartridge bearings), they are hardly ever adjusted right. The cones will either be not tight enough against the bearings, resulting in play, or too tight, resulting in excessive friction. New pedals that use loose bearings are almost always adjusted too tight from the factory, for example. As a "bonus," pedal manufacturers often omit the keyed washer + slotted spindle which makes adjusting them properly next to impossible, because there's no way to get a wrench/socket on both the jam nut and cone at the same time due to them being down in a hole.
6:54 I did that once with a new chain. Put like 50hrs on the bike and one day while I was cleaning the chain I realized 😂 it’s easy to fix. Just undo one bolt on the daraileur, reroute and bolt it back up. Also I definitely felt a reduction in friction, it was a lot easier to pedal with
Great video. I imagine you weren't allowed to review other bikes while you worked for diamond. I love this type video and hope you review every bike out there. Thanks for a great video.
I would love to see the Trek 4900 back in action , and see seth upgrading the heck out of it not only is it a good video but also it shows how we can take an old mtb and turn it into new and I understand that flipbike is basically the same thing but…yeah
I just partly rebuilt an old specialized hardrock from like 2005 for my wife that I learned to ride on! Already had a decent fork on it from when I was riding it (had to rebuild it first though) and I re-used a set of old nice hydraulic breaks from an old DH bike of mine, then converted it to a 1x10, with deore derailleur and shifter, new tires, grips, pedals. Most of the other components I had upgraded over the years using parts from newer bikes when I upgraded those bikes. I forgot how addicting building bikes is untill I did that!
I routed my chain that way when I upgraded my specialized from a 2x9 to a 1x11. I've been riding it that way for years and I thought it looked weird but it never occurred to me that it was wrong. Ooops!
Funny to think my Trek 6000 I bought back in 1998 was completely race ready at a price point of about $500. Still use that bike today with alot of the original components!
I really hope the partnerships you’ve had and the exposure to the entire Bentonville area reaches those at Home Office who can implement QA changes on these things. Safety is more important than a quick sale.
I was wondering when you were going to revisit Walmart bikes now that they are getting so good. I think you need to send it on this one down a mountain.
The Thruster Fixie by Kent was the best bike I ever purchased at Walmart....I put reinforced tires and tubes on it and it was darn near perfect for me.
This is why my dad always checked our bikes and always had to fix the manufacturers, and the stores fuck ups. He would never let my sister and me ride right after buying them. One year my neighbor bought his son a bike, and my dad asked him if he wanted him to do a safety check on it, because he doesn't trust the factory and the assemblers, it's not that the bikes were cheap because they weren't, I've always had mongoose bikes, along with my sister, and my neighbor got his son a Schwinn, but the point my dad was making is the assemblers, are on time constraints because they have lots of bikes to put together, and anytime you rush people, they're bound to make mistakes, and the mistakes they make, are not tightening something good and snug, or not paying attention to things like the chain, or not checking the handle bars to make sure they're good and tight, and stuff like that can definitely cause a bad accident. My neighbor said no the bike is fine, he also made the mistake of not being able to tell his son to wait a damn minute so it can be checked out, his son said I wanna ride it now, tell him the bike is fine, my dad overheard that spoiled brat say that, so my dad said ok, just thought I'd tell you, because they make lots of mistakes, remember the assemblers aren't the ones riding it, and those warning labels are on there to cover the store's ass, so go ahead, I just wanted to help, so that little bastard got on the bike and popped 2 wheelies, and said it's fine dad, they know what they're doing at the stores, and on that 3rd wheelie he yells to me hey I bet you can't do this, he popped it, and tried to 360 his handle bars in midair, lol and the front tire came off while in the air, and he landed it on the fork, and he flew forward off the bike, I fucking laughed my ass off, and I didn't care if it pissed them off, the kid's father looked over at my dad who was at the time, helping me put new tires on my bike, I had ordered red tires and black rims, I had put black handle bars on it a few months prior, so I was putting together my dream bike, mowed grass all summer to get that stuff, I was a professional rider, I used to race BMX bikes, and I was about to join a team from the store who sold me all my parts, this was when I was a kid, back in the 80s. so my neighbor, looks over at my dad then goes toward his spoiled ass son, and there was a chunk of flesh missing from his elbow, and he said he couldn't bend it, then he tells my dad I should have let you check the bike out, I'm sorry for letting my son act cocky and let him ride it right away as opposed to letting you look it over, my dad said you don't have to apologize, it wasn't me your son disrespected, it was you, now he's paying the price with what looks like a broken arm, and he's lucky that's all it is, and there were no cars passing through, sadly you're paying the price of having to listen to him crying in pain. I tried to warm you of how these bikes aren't safe until they've been looked over, by someone who knows what parts can lead to serious accidents if not assembled correctly. He asked my dad when he had the time If he could look it over, and the 2 bikes he ordered, and he had coming in he bought for his wife and him, my dad said of course no problem.
I used to be an assembler for Huffy at department stores in high school, came from an XC race background, Huffy literally taught assemble quick, not perfect. You get paid per bike you assembled, nothing more. I used to get flack for being slower at assembly, but my bikes were perfect. I only stayed for 4 months, didn't like the idea they were pushing unsafe assembly.
Seems like a huge liability honestly. Treating a bicycle like a hamburger at McDonald's...both can kill you, but one can do it quickly lol.
I figured as much. But that cuts Into their profit margin.
Yeah my brother worked in walmart assembling bikes and he says they don’t give a fuck lol
You knew that the safety of some kid or commuter depended on your work. Good on you.
We need more of this in today's world people doing a consistent quality job
I was an assembler at Walmart in Jackson Michigan and took alot of pride knowing I did them right, unlike the other 2 assemblers they had. use too see so much nonsense strait out of the box. I got in so much trouble for re-doing what the factory did and eventually got fired for not putting poor assembled bikes out on the floor as fast as they wanted.
Capitalism done right, profits over safety. Its in all our jobs. Nurses work 24 hr shifts so do EMTs and then they get ticked for driving sleepy. But oh the police also have long shifts. But hey fuck logic. Productivity is more important than safety.
@Wake Vulture As an ex-assembler myself, I want to let you know that, as far as walmart bikes are concerned, we don't fuss with the chain drive at all. Out of box, we put on the front wheel, handlebars, seat, some parts of the brakes/brake lines if applicable, which is rare, and pedals, with only bikes like cruisers getting extra parts in the fenders and other accessories like cupholders or baskets. If you find some fault in the bike that wasn't blatantly obvious, it's more than likely a manufacturing issue.
@@brunorojas3992 it is not the capitalism, ist the people
I Transferred out of assembly into truck unloading for the same reason. I would pull the bikes TLE had assembled with loose pedals off the rack and fix them, and get static for it. Kent bikes had lots of bad parts at that point, mostly the 20" freestyle bikes.
@@heavyearly2232
Kent bikes were some of the worst when I worked, too. Even some of their cruiser options were garbage. I think some of their larger stuff is much better now but the small 20" bikes still look kinda jank from what I've seen
As a person who grew up on cheap Walmart bikes, I thought it was part of the experience tuning all the loose bits, and balancing it out.
Well yes, it was part of the experience because you had no choice. LOL But hey, you learn a lot about repairs and maintenance growing up this way. I’ll bet you don’t have to pay a professional bike shop to fix things on your bikes.
Same or any bike imagine just getting on bike and ramping and end up in hospital not good i think i may have heard or even seen wheels come off funny when nobody hurt but theyre lucky some have got serious injuries.
Same, you definitely have to tune and tighten bolts when getting a walmart bike
@@merlinmage6012you gotta have a mechanic you can trust, ideally yourself
Fr
Going from Diamond back Bikes to walmart bikes is quite the step
My local kmart sells diamond back bikes 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Same my Kmart does to
🤣
Step up
@@neilcrompton3488 if I had to guess, you aren't seeing the high end DB bikes at KMart
I happen to work at one of these big department stores as a janitor, and as someone who depends on her bike to get around town most of the time I go out, I'm often shocked and appalled how often I find little parts (usually bearings, bearing balls, bolts, nuts, etc) on the floor in and around the bike assembler station. My expectations were low, but this department store still manages to disappoint.
😭
Your position pays better I hope.
I used to assemble products for a company that worked with major US retailers. We really do not care about the end result of the product as long as it got assembled. You get paid per item assembled, so the faster you work the more you get paid. It was very bad pay too. We were always busting bolts on with impact until it was tight. After working for them for a short period, I won't buy pre assembled things from stores
I work at Target as a bike assembler and I understand what you are saying. The bolts and nuts may have been from a box of spares, at my store if we get a bike in that is messed up beyond repair from the factory we strip it of all usable parts and defect the frame out that way we will have extra parts to fix little things that may be wrong on other bikes. Just 2 days ago i was assembling 2 Schwinn's and each of them had a ball bearing in the front wheel axle hole, I only realized it was in there when i slipped the QR skewer through it and the ball bearing came rolling out. I took apart the hub and sure enough each one was missing a ball bearing. I put the ball bearings back in and it was good to go. I love working on bikes so I actually take the time to do it correctly especially knowing that this is something that a person is going to ride on.
chances are the barring's are from kids bikes they fall right out you have to take the balls put them back in and grease it to keep it in place while you install the stem. its mostly going to be small kids riding those bikes its insane to me they dont take it more seriously
An old friend of mine who I respect a lot designed that bike with the intent of putting a decent bike within reach of most people. Good on you bud!
Maybe he can elaborate on the disclaimer and the kickstand stabberizer?
I picked one of these bikes up, and as a teen with very little money, this thing blew me away! All the minor inconveniences don't bother me, and it is one of the nicest quality things I have owned 👍
@@schofell84 He wouldn't have been involved in the decision to put the disclaimer on the bike. And welding on the kickstand like that seems pretty reasonable; it probably reduces costs and increases reliability, the kickstand coming loose is so incredibly common and nobody who just needs a bike to get around wants to take off their kickstand.
@@schofell84 let him get right on that... Just for you...
I have one and it’s awesome. There are trails 7 miles from the Walmart I bought it from. Addicted already.
This bike is PERFECT for someone who wants to get into mountain biking as long as you have a friend or a shop who can tune it up for you. It doesn't break the bank and if you decide mountain biking isn't for you anymore you didn't hurt your pockets too much and can sell it off the next rider at an affordable price. This is seriously awesome to see.
That was my thought as well. I also bought a bike for the same amount of money here in Sweden back in 2018. Now I ride a Trek Slash 8 2021 :D And I love MTB.
You’re better off buying a higher quality used mountain bike on craigslist or FB marketplace than anything new from a big box store for that price!
@@mikeFPS1980 You would already have to be into mountain biking to know what is good and what is not good and what is worth it in the used market. And even then good used bikes are still more expensive then this. This bike avoids all of that for a new rider who wants to try out the sport.
@@mikeFPS1980 what’s a good used mountain bike that I should be on the lookout for on craigslist mate
@@mikeFPS1980 Facebook market place does have some good bikes but the prices are high on some
Seth, as a former lead mechanic, I feel you have an obligation to those that watch your videos to let them know, that for any bike of suspect origin, they should put a wrench on every nut and bolt and make sure that nothing is loose. I have wrenched on some of the best brands in the industry and have found that every one makes mistakes. A simple check fixes so many gremlins later on and keeps new riders in the game. What you said about checking the brakes and other components is "spot on". Thank you for what you do.
@@paddor not just the USA.
As a former production manager for a big brand, Cape Epic mechanic and current warranty manager for 25 cycling brands in our region, I can confirm that on even the most premium brands, out of the box all most every bolt will not be torqued and most parts needing grease won't have grease.
The only brand that has blown me away consistently has been Orbea.
Oh, and I've been to most of the factories in Asia and have seen what brands are produced at what factories
Hell, I just brought home a Specialized for $4200 and I torque checked every single nut and bolt on the bike. Most were good, but it's peace of mind. As an equipment tech, I trust no one.
at 1:25 he kind of says not to trust the bike as is.
Even my RIbble R872 didn't have fully tightened chainring bolts, giving the occasionally very loud clang that took me a while to diagnose. Donno if Shimano or Ribble is to blame there, maybe both.
I rode street BMX for over 20 years. I haven't been on a mountain bike since I was a kid. So when I saw this video, I decided to get one given the price point. Been 10 years since I rode (40 now). During my 20's I was also big into 4x4 offroading in my Troopers. So getting into mountain biking just seems like a natural step at this point.
I have zero regrets, I love this bike. I don't need anything fancy right now. I just want something to get me back into riding, and out into the woods.
Honestly, having a budget starter bike will give me a great understanding of modern MTB technology compared to what it was back in the 90's. I'll be able to get a good feel for where I need more from the bike, and where It works well. So I can upgrade accordingly over time.
So after watching this, I decided to pick one of these up. Price was reasonable, so for an entry level bike it made sense. My local store didn’t have this in stock, but it was available online. It came boxed and about 2/3rds assembled. Every issue you found,except the stripped grips, was present on my bike straight out of the box. This means every single bike assembled at the factory/packaging factory was done wrong… After confirming the chain routing, I rewatched this to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Great video.
me to
Horrible idea. You should have spent slightly more and got a GT aggressor from Dick's sporting goods. If I was you I would take that bike back and get an aggressor. Much better bike for a little more money.
@Jamie Smith wrong. The GT aggressor expert is $600 when not on sale. The GT aggressor pro with mechanical brakes is just under $500 and I think around 400 flat went on sale. I know it used to go on sale very frequently and it's way ahead of that Walmart junk with no kickstand to cut off. 🤣
@Jamie Smith when I look it up I'm getting 499.
I worked at a department store, and I mentioned during my interview I could definitely assemble a bike. Well, I got my chance and my boss offered me 1 hour of overtime to build some bikes and I only got 2 done. I'm not sure the first one was really good to go, and the 2nd wasn't set up at all really and I was rushing. It was 'together' My boss came in and saw that I only had 1 'done' and was working on another, and he stopped me and that was the last time I got to. I did not meet his quota, he expected 10 bikes to be unboxed and ready for shelves in an hour. It is a rough world, minimum wage jobs.
He was just recruiting for army rangers the position gets vacated often 10 chutes. 1 bike builder, 9 max usually watch from cover. They refuse to use foldable or electric bikes they could be like chuck Norris Delta force but silent and frugal like some Amish with missiles. Itll always be one guy they're like frat boys initiating and just mourn and move if another bike pro is trying wheels out in the middle of a field and the team is playing Parcheesi or taking black powder ale bombs like an Amish spring break.
Strange I've never known an Amish ranger just 82nd airborne they're full of the beard exemptions and they look goofy ah after diving from 30k feet, like a wispy octopus mounted Rambo's head.
Yeah you dodged a bullet, that manager probably took a bullet for you he probably didn't want you to mourn his death and be in a cosmic kharma loop overcompensating in each reincarnation until you get another shot for valor at the gates of Valhalla.
Don't be so hard on yourself I can do 5 in that same time iit just take a little skill that you have to build from a foundation of skill you are born with. I just saved you the vanquish of going through that timeline and doubling down on the slow toxic accumulation and prophetic failure which peaks early before that sharp parabolic drop a selfie with a tad of moonwalk makes for a graceful half swan dive.
Is what's it is maybe mercy was going out at the beginning, everyone is different but we're all linked by the shared hindsight of wishing we had died earlier because suicide is awkward now it's only natural to want to end an empty life, I can totally relate to that, after having accomplished everything ive set out to do I feel so content I feel like why not go out on my terms, the criminal amounts of vanity I've expressed would have sent my soul into that of a small rodent or mammal, another challenge I would intent to take head on if I were so inclined.
Best wishes you got this forward backward they both suck enjoy yourself today in the service of fellow man let the rudder go let the love flow you're right where you need to be, the best position to allow yourself to get lucky, you're like a swarmy speed after running a numbers game but you're not cringe you're just the perfect singularity of inward and outward perception, and no shame being a beacon of positivity.
You got this, and thank you I feel like my tendency to lie pathologically was gone yesterday and all this truth is like a clean firmware install, no corruption whatsoever and that is humbling seeing I purposely took on the persona out of intellectual curiosity of being forced into a criminal life by myself as the future megachurch pastor who struggled then gave his heart to God after many feints which led to frustration and a scrap down at the junkyard level where God was so humbled or embarrassed he made me an honorary demigod likely to save face, which reaffirms my word as bond above and furthermore I told everyone about our bonding over our completive and Irish blood, I just couldn't hold the truth back especially when its not something to hide god can be proud of his human nature.
Have a blessed one, not like in a god like Steven Segall dali Lama way, the humble way.
All the balance brother,
-Burt Tmarcus McGillicutty II
@@svnbit8408 Man, life must be a riot in your world! Enjoy!
@@svnbit8408 omg this comment is amazing, what a way with words. 😂👍
@@svnbit8408 my newest copypasta
no wonder! that's mildly depressing.
I'm going to agree with your video, as a Walmart shopper myself it's a fact that 90% of Walmart shoppers don't put high value on their own lives which makes this bike perfect.
That's just mean, what you're saying.
Ah yes the “bike snob” I’m so better🤡
I recognise those rear dropouts and seat-stays, as well as that headtube. I'd put money on it that it comes from XDS.
Reid Cycles used a variant of this frame on their $1600 XC bike, which was equipped with a full XT drivetrain and a Fox 32 fork, with an updated version later getting through axles at both ends!
It’s very very possible they sourced this frame from a factory that already makes them. I don’t know anything about it, but wouldn’t be surprised!
Pinkbike went and tried to make their own bike once, and found that Chinese frame manufacturers have catalogs of pre-made frame you pick from and throw your logo on
Are XDS bike frames good? I'm asking cause I've been looking for a road bike, and they're in my budget.
@@46fut look at poseidon
@@amountainbiker2654 I have nearly 10,000 miles on my poseidon X. Everyone I ride with is amazed when I tell them its a $700 bike.
I grew up riding Walmart bikes as it was all my parents could afford. I learned to work on my bike as well. I used to get teased by even adults during rides for riding my pride and joy.
I rode a 168 mile ride on my Walmart bike and got to the end before some of the adults on their expensive road bikes. I made sure to let the ones that teased me about my bike know that it isn't just the bike that makes the difference when I was standing at the finish line when they eventually got there.
I still enjoy biking and have a few bikes from the late 90s that I ride often but never judge other people's bikes.
Same here .
Every bike I get I can't help but modify, so often times it's the cheapest generic bike that's the best
Groundbase option.
Good job.
I am still riding a schwinn mountain bike that I bought in 1993.....
same with me, except I knew nothing about fixing or modifying the bike. Rode it how it came for several years, even completing 60-70 mile rides averaging
Good old Walmart Huffy and Magna bikes.
I can relate to that. I'm a roadie, but now I'm interested in getting into some bikepacking. None of my road bikes are up to that task, there all race bikes that can't handle anything over a 700 x 28 tire. But I do have a old 1980s Murray ATB that runs great, so that's going to be my starter for some dirt/gravel bikepacking overnighters, can't wait to hear the criticism, but the bike was a freebie from a friend, I've serviced it, and have been riding it, just as a commuter bike, for the past 10 years! So gonna give it a try, I figure why not? At about 40 years old and still riding good, it can't be all that bad on beginner dirt, and gravel roads.
Hey I'm a trainer for an assembly company that builds for Walmart and I do apologize for the build quality but recognize that we get paid by the piece as an assembler. I pride myself on quality but they pay roughly $5 a bike for assembley so if I want to make $20 an hour that only gives me 15 min per bike. The headset shouldn't have been loose and the handlebars should've been straight but we don't touch the grips, nor do we rerout the chain if it comes wrong from the factory. We assemble a wide variety of products ranging from grills, wheelbarrows, furniture, and everything in between. Trust me I know a lot of assemblers are sub par because I'm the one that has to deal with them. If you want a top quality bike, go to a bike shop or find a Wal-Mart in western PA where I work and find me. It's a tough gig and it isn't easy work. You'll literally only make $5 an hour if you spend an hour making a bike perfect. Don't expect top shelf quality from Wal-Mart. If you want to check some other decent bikes try checking out the Schwinn Boundary or Axum. That bike you have is the Kent Trouvaille and I do agree I think it's the best Wal-Mart has to offer. Not all assemblers are bad I put my heart and soul into this job every day. One thing I've learned as an assembler is there's no such thing as a perfect bike. I wish I could whip out the calipers to find a millimeter off but you're not being asked to build 50 bikes a day. You're getting paid lord knows how much to shit on the poor sucker that got paid $5 to build that one. It's easy to be a critic I guess. It's hard to get paid for it, so for that, I do give you props.
I’m not here to just to defend seth, but tbh, until this comment section I had no *idea* how little you guys get paid per bike, I wouldn’t think seth did either.
Damn bro i used to go all the way out to Michigan from arkansas to build bikes for Walmart for a company called ecs with my homeboy named connor we used to build 100+ bikes a day work 12 hours a day will the racks up build what ever office chair grill or dresser travel 2 hrs to different store each day and get paid 700 dollars for it hell they even made us go back to lousiana for free unpaid all because walmart wanted they bikes out on the patio during the summer and the heat made all the tubes get less than 15 psi. And the whole time working i was dreaming of riding the bikes all day. now i work at sonic and dont even work as near many hours see my family more and get paid way more have way more time to ride and do what ever i want and have a flexible schedule
If it is anything like grill assembly half that time is spent removing parts from packaging.
@@robdixson196facts 🤣 I built for Home Depot in northeast Ohio and western Pa.
Thank you for writing this. Love your attitude. The fact that you took the time to write this comment explaining the trade off between doing things well and getting value for money. I don't live in the USA so I'll never buy a Walmart bike. Don't undersell yourself to employers. You should be building rockets for Space X or something like that.
The sudden, dramatic music, the camera shifting between the bike and Seth’s eyes, the immediate clip change to Seth with a saw.
The kickstand scene was cinematography at it’s highest level. Oscar worthy. 😂
Frickin funny
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ I am better than Jesus.
@@mikekoz6351 yes you are!
I am also. Peace ✌ hahaha 😆
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ No
That was a bit overkill. Simply unbolting the kickstand and replacing it would have sufficed.
It’s actually crazy to me that I’ve been watching your content for 5+ years now you are super consistent and very funny in my opinion. I’ve enjoyed learning more and more about bikes and RC “toys” and cried learning about Drama (he’s in a better place now) but over all I’m very glad to have found your channel and to have been with you during your journey from that old shed in Florida to the wonderful place we call Berm Peak.
I've been watching for a similar amount of time and this is so true
Better place? Drama is dead. I think that is not better than being alive.
@@Ringo177 Sure....
Look out there's a real genius in this thread...
@@th_js having hope and being positive is nice for a change you should try it sometime
thank you, I'm almost 40years old and I used to race downhill back in the days. now with kids and life happen I don't have sponsorship to give me 3k bike so your video help me alot to get something reasonable. can't wait for part 2 !
For two generations, I started my Children and my Grandchildren with basic store bought bikes. I have had good luck with KENT Branded bikes over the years. It does help if you know what you are looking at. Too many people (kids) want 21+ gears and Full Suspension MTB’s. But at the Big Box Store pricing these bikes weigh in at 50+ lbs and I would say for most riders, they never use the full range of gears. One reason for this is lousy assembly. Just recently I found two bicycles at Walmart made by KENT under their Genesis Line. 26 inch tire bikes with front suspension, Aluminum frames and a 1x8 Microshift Gearing. For the price point, $229 for a Male frame and $179 for a properly Downsized Female frame set, they were a great deal at a great price. Now both of these bikes I tore down personally and did MY person adjustment and lubrication routine on them. There was not ONE properly lubricated or adjusted bearing set on the whole bike. I try and get my Kids/Grandkids involved with the process, and when the bike is just basically a bare frame, I have them clean and wax the frame. When I get to a bearing that is really bad, I have them rotate the axle to get a feel for what is wrong. I show them how I lubricate and then adjust the bearings and then have them spin the bearing to see the difference. Best way to get some understanding of why it takes Gramps, 2-3 hours to get the new bikes out of the box. One HUGE complaint I have is the Shifter Housings on many of these bikes is actually brake housing which will cause shifting problems. Thankfully I have a Box of new Shifter cables and the ends to make new pieces and if needed better quality cables. I also always use a quick link on these bikes so we can strip them down to clean chains off the bike and to get those frames cleaned back up. I could never be a Big Box Mechanic, too much I would be tinkering around with to make these bikes right. But for the ones I love, I have the time and it’s always good to pass down your knowledge to another generation.
A stoned thought popped into my head while I was reading this, reminding me of something that Not Just Bikes said in one of his videos. The so-called "men's" bikes are the only ones that you can smack your nuts on when getting on or off.
No idea why we're still categorizing them like that. I find it hilarious.
Reminds of my first Walmart bike back in 1995. Bought for commuting to college. Worked great until I went to pull back on the handle bars to get the front end up to clear a curb.....handle bars came up alright. Left the rest of bike like booster rockets on the space shuttle. Got well acquainted with the sidewalk.
I cant imagine the amount of emotions and confusion that came from the moments after
For the general public, hilarity ensued.
shouldnt be doing that regardless, ride up a ramp
@@Blox117
"ride up a ramp" Mtn bike aren't wheel chair or road race bike.
@@TwinShards not sure if you are tarded. normal people ride up ramps near the sidewalk instead of trying to hump their bike to go over it. 2 wheelers arent meant for whatever you tards seem to believe
Cutting off the kickstand mount was stupid. That's an industry standard mount that can also be used for trailers and the like.
I used to assemble bikes at target. I loved it I would take my time listen to music and then really test the bikes before I put it on the shelf. The only bummer was you barely had the right tools for the job. Sometimes a bike would come in broken or something would be just slightly out of wack, and with more tools could be easily adjusted, but we had the bare minimum and there wasn’t even a tool box to put them in. Just loose in a basket lol…😅
Go to Harbor-Fright or other and purchase. Spray paint them to establish ownership and allow you to do your best job for personal satisfaction. You'll always have the tools.
I would have brought a few of my own tools in and either bring them in when I'd assemble or if they have lockers for the employees.
@@jaymeseaston8117 paying out of pocket for tools to do your job on a Target wage? Not a great idea...
Jewelers are required to bring all of their own hand tools, torches, tanks, pliers, mandrel, molds, bench pin, etc. The stores provide the big equipment, polishing, ultra sonics, steamers, buddy burners, etc. You can move faster when you are used to your own tools.
Go to the hardware department and get some tools and give the upc to claims for store use.
The frame is 16.25.. The two main issues to be addressed are - The brakes are one pot, whose caliper, bends the disk towards another stationary caliper for break engagement, so there’s a lost in breaking power because it has to do the job of flexing/bending the rotor first. Mine came with either the front wheel not true or the rotor a bit bent because when I set the break about .5mm away from the stationary caliper, (so the pot doesn’t have to do so punch work bending the disk) I get a bit of the rotor rubbing on the stationary caliper for about 2-3 spokes.. Don’t mind because I’ll putting Shimano hydraulic on the bike. The second issue which is of more concern is the hub engagement, it’s so bad that my feet bounces of the pedals when down shifting. So I need to either upgrade the hub (learn to lace and true) or buy a new rear rim. All that said, I really love this bike. Yes the tires are big but the frame fits my 30” inseam, with about 2” clearance when standing. The Axum frames are 18-19 with a top tube that’s not as aggressive an angle. Trouvaille is one of the best entry level bikes on the market for budget builders - in price, components, features and geometry..
Did you buy this before Seth's video?
@@GeorgeLoch Well Seth’s video is only a few hours.. I’ve had mine about a week now..
@@justu2bnit17 Yes it’s pathetic.. When Kent first listed the bike (pre Walmart) to the budget builder community, they had hydraulic (Tektro) breaks in the feature list along with a 1x10 drivetrain. That was bait and switch but for clarity sake, the budget big box community called them out so I kind of was aware that the break had to be upgraded eventually. What I wasn’t aware of is the type of mechanical breaks that required bending the rotor to come in contact with the stationary (non pot) caliper.. That’s a massive loss of breaking energy to push the rotor about 2mm to the other side of the break. It also means that the rotor will be, not optimal for upgrading to say Deore breaks. Kent made the changes to the Trouvaille’s big brother, the Intrepid which cost $250 more but a better deal for budget builders that do upgrades over a longer period..
@@StarChild.no1 they actually messed up on the description and listed the new Giordano’s specs under the Trouvaille.
My hub isnt bad, gonna replace anyway do you know the size of the freehub? Gonna throw a Onyx on .
I bought the Huffy Rock Creek 29 from Walmart for under $200 about five months ago. Of course the first thing I did was go over it (including changing the tire pressure from 10psi to 55psi). I got it as an inexpensive way for me to get around without a car, and don't plan on really going off road with it. I am quite happy with it so far.
I recently came across ( second hand) a Huffy Rock Creek 29" mountain bike.Brakes are bad. Left pedal crank is stripped. Because I don't yet know if the pedal crank itself is bad or if it's the pedal assembly going through the frame, I'm replacing the whole thing.
I'll be honest, the bike looks abused, but some things just should not be.
I have the same bike, just got it like a month ago and there's a place here in Allentown Pennsylvania called, trexler national preserve and it has some harsh trails and jumps, so far it has upheld it all, however I do plan to get knobbier tires and better rims.
Worked as an assembler as a teenager. I'll admit I was being paid per unit assembled so it was enticing to get them finished quickly. That being said, I basically lived on a mtb from the time I could ride and did my own maintenance so I was always keen to dial everything in before putting a bike on the shelf.
I love how Seth actually looked so pissed at the sight of the welded kickstand mount.
Haha. I haven't been watching his videos enough to get it at first..... But when I saw he actually fabricated the thing right off, it all made sense 😄.
Recent watcher of your videos and they're very entertaining and enlightening! Cheers from Vancouver
This madness will not stand!
(grinding sounds...)
@@endereverett8776 That kickstand is the biggest hazard on that frame..) Hence the sticker XD
Guys,,, Remember
"Its not meant for offroad"
No shit and did you see hunter weighing all that crack video WTF these got all the money.
It’s so crazy that bike companies have you tricked into spending more on pedal bikes than a motorcycle costs.
You're spot on in the beginning, most bikes sold at Walmart are of questionable quality, but they field a few budget gems from time to time. The Mongoose Cachet and the Impakt Sidehack come to mind. The Cachet was a single speed road bike with a flip flop hub that retailed for about $150 and was comparable to $400-500 range entry single speeds at the time. The Sidehack was more an oddity than anything, but it was still super cool they stocked a bike like that.
Also, as a former bike builder for Target, I'll echo some of the other comments here. It's a crapshoot who built your bike in store (we had some dudes who were huge into bikes, some had no experience and just wanted more hours) and even the best builder will be hampered by tool availability, available time, and the general state they come to the store in. No one wants you to leave the store with an unsafe bike, but we had about 20 minutes to get it all put together and tuned the best we can. If you can't go over it yourself, budget in a trip to a local bike store so they can do it for you.
The real Mom and Pop bike shops factor in their time spent assembling and tuning bike THE RIGHT WAY! Definitely something that’s worth paying extra money for.
the diamond back sponsor was a little step into this journey excited too see a variety of bikes in the future
Hint to all who don't have a chain link remover tool. That little piece of metal is just a bent over tab that is not connected at the other end. Grab a medium size phillips head screw, insert it into the hole and bend it up. The chain will slip past and you can use a hammer and a small block of wood to tap it down into place.
Thank you!!!! Just picked one up tonight, saw this in the video and thought I'd have to leave it for now since this bike wiped out my budget. This tip will save me a lot of extra wear on my chain.
You’d be amazed the number of bikes we get from GT and Cannondale now days with chains routed the same way. Among several other issues caused by rushed assembly at the plants. They’re trying to get them out as fast as possible with limited worker’s therefore quality control goes way down. New bike assemblies take us a lot longer now to make them perfect and safe.
I got my wife a GT a few years ago and almost every component had been installed wrong somehow. A great bike, but only after having a mechanic do a tune up
Hello Seth,am hooked up from Nairobi Kenya 🇰🇪 and i must say i am packed with hacks and tips and mechanics to strengthen my bond between my bikes.i have a 29er and a roadie and your videos from both channels have been invaluable in helping me maintain them…although am not able to get most gears and tools..but i manage well what i have here..🥂.cheers to many more educative and entertaining videos👊👊🙌🙌
I just bought this bike yesterday, my first bicycle since I was a teenager, and the chain routing issue was present on mine, I've never rerouted a chain before but it wasn't very hard. Glad I watched this before buying it, or I might not have even noticed the issue.
Are you still using this bike? How it works now.
I remember riding walmart bikes growing up, they weren't too great. Enough to get me wherever I was going as a teen, but I recently bought my first "real bike" from a bike store, and the quality difference is mind blowing. Of course you get what you pay for, but still.
The thing is, the quality of the Walmart bikes, at least on the upper end, has also gone way up. I thought for sure he'd be looking at a Schwinn, since they're putting out some fantastic bikes right now too, but I see that Kent is also finally getting into making good bikes. The real trick with these bikes, though, is in how you can buy one cheap, then upgrade it later. Better fork, better wheels, better this, better that, and over time you can end up with a real killer bike, while growing and riding with it the whole time, instead of saving up for months without a bike at all!
Axum came out a few years ago and had sized frames, a dropper seat post, 29er 2.6 tires, wide bars, short stem, tapered head tube... If you know how to do some bike mechanic work or have the drive to learn, these are better than low end treks or giants. Name brand bikes under 800 rarely have tapered head tubes.
PS- Seth should collab with KevCentral!
@Danbeater upgraded?
I was about to say the same thing. There's so many great bikes out at Walmart that it makes you want to buy each one. I have 2 atm, Axum and Ledge X1. Both are fully upgraded and punches well above there reputation and price range. I also had the Hyper Hydroform and upgraded it to Kevcentral specs but sold it to buy the Axum. I'll get one of the Kents when the larger frames drop later
That bike is definitely quite a bit better then the one seen in this video after all, it is the king of Walmart bikes and always will be
@@schoolxing8367 I'm thinking of buying one of them this weekend so should I get the Axum instead of the Intrepeid?
@@Bobe_Kyrant.42 I own the axum dp, it is incredible, best 500 dollars ever spent. And I'm not normally this positive either, but when it comes to this bike, I sure as hell am lol
While I'd never buy that thing I really appreciate the effort you put into making these videos. Thank you!
0:03 I remember that video, and Commented that I was an in house assembler employed for walmart and started greasing pedals and the older quill stems because of it.
well, about 3 years ago, some pencil pusher at the Home Office in Bentonville got the "Bright" idea of outsourcing bicycle assembly (as well as any other in store assembly work) to third party companies like Assemblers Incorporated, Apollo Assembly, and other companies which they thought was cheaper than retaining the in house assemblers like me (in reality, those savings have been eaten up by the massive amount of bikes that have been returned BECAUSE of poor assembly or manufacturer defects, that have to be claimed out and destroyed.) those companies are paid by the item, so their incentive is to assemble as many items as quickly as possible, which is why you had the braking and shifting issues at 1:27; I'm still with Walmart, but i've graduated to being a service technician in their Auto Care Center with MUCH higher pay than I was making back then, and being able to finally use my 6 years of post secondary education I got from 2008-2014.
Another great video Seth…been watching your content for a little over two years now, and am always impressed by your scripts, content, and delivery. My son and I started a bike shop back in 2020 as a side hustle, and it’s turned into almost our full time job. Anyway, we have loved watching your videos along the way…Keep up the good work!
BTW …just walked into my local Walmart here in Castle Rock, CO and saw an all Carbon 29er…for about $600. 😳. May be the next one to test…
Ooh awesome, what's your bike shop called? Will have to stop by next time I'm in C-Rock.
Also, you share your name with a great metal musician - one of the best! 🤘
@@uraniumjoe Revival Bikes! As of now we are a home-based shop… Specialize in renewing and restoring bikes
Shout out to Castle Rock...I went to Griffith Center for Boys🙄 in Larkspur in the '80s... wouldn't recommend it. Lol
I remember seeing a review about a carbon Walmart bike a while back. I think it was around $800. The problem was that it was so darn heavy, it kind of defeated the purpose of going carbon.
Back in 2010, I hired on at CostCo as holiday-seasonal help. Assigned to the bakery, I wasy restocking breads one day, when I saw a kid (I was 49 at the time), wheeling a mtn. bike out to the floor to the sporting goods dept. Like one of the bikes pictured in this video, the fork/wheel were backwards in relation to the frame. I stopped what I was doing, walked over to the kid, and asked him if he felt that the bike was ready to be sold to a customer. When he replied "I guess so," I told him to take the bike back to the back room, as the fork was backwards, at the very least.
I looked at the other bikes on display, found several discrepancies, then reported this to the store manager. He asked how I knew about this, and I told him that I'd ridden and raced mtn. bikes for 20 years, and could build a bike from a bare frame. He pulled me off of bakery duty, and I spent the next 2 days fixing the mis-assembled bikes and building the rest of the stock.
Funny thing is that the next day, another manager walked past up to me in the back of the store, where I'd set up a build area with a service stand, and all of the requisite tools, and said: "When did we get all of that bike stuff?" I answered: "We didn't, it's my equipment."
At least I know that the customers took home safe bikes for Christmas presents.
Kev Central loves the Kent Trouvaille. His didn't have any of the issues you ran into, but he gets test bikes sent to him. The higher-end big box bikes are made to be upgrade platforms these days. That said, I'd buy one of these. That SR fork is better than my existing 2010 Trek's fork, and it's overall specc'd out better.
Yep, I saw this berm peak video on my feed and having watched kevcentrals video on the trouvaille, I was about 90% sure it was going to be that bike
Suntour makes good parts but their forks weigh as much as a Schwinn...and that's a lot! 😂
I'd love to see an episode where you build up the cheapest acceptable/viable bike from new parts ordered online.
I love this idea ….🤙
What makes them cheap though is, as he says: economies of scale. You'd need to buy an absurd quantity of parts to negotiate a deal. That's how Walmart works.
@@darrenprentice7934 that has nothing to do with what they’re talking about
@@darrenprentice7934 Economies of scale still apply for individual bike parts. Yes, there are hundreds of models of mountain bikes out there, but the only thing custom about those bike models is the frame, really. The rest are all off-the-shelf parts. For example , there are tens of different reputable mountain bike brands, but only a handful of companies making drive trains.
As a Walmart employee, at a past store I worked at, I was in the electronics department and our department manager didn't want us helping a customer put minutes on their phone plan. One example of this is if the customer got a pre-paid minute card for their contract phone. One, minute cards, depending on the cellular provider, were non-refundable. Two, you can't put minute cards on a contract account. So, if we did it wrong, the store would be expected to eat the cost of the minute card. As such, we put it on the responsibility of the customer to make sure they knew what kind of account they had and, as such, whether or not a minute card would work with it. Some customers had no clue how their phone worked. They just expected that, if they could go to an AT&T store to buy a phone, they could go to a Walmart store that also sold AT&T phones and we'd automatically know how to get their phone working again.
It's not necessarily that Walmart employees don't bother to make sure the product we sell a customer works. Just that there are so many dumb people that we fall back to manufacturer liability and customer responsibility. When I was a cashier on the front end, what looked like a pregnant woman wanted to buy some cigarettes. After the purchase, I discussed the situation with the manager. They informed me that, because the package of cigarettes contained a warning from the surgeon general, it was on the customer to take responsibility for their own health and the health of their unborn child.
I just bought a Kent Trouvaille! I'm a begginer and I'm loving it so far. Mine came assembled very well, just needed to tighten the grips, turn a couple barrel adjusters and I was on the green trails having fun.
Did u check if your chain was routed right?
@@nikounourbakhsh8433 Yep! I checked right after this video.
@@NoahMazraani nice lol
Let's not ignore that the heirs of Walmart LOVE mountain biking. Not only did they make it so you can buy higher-end Viathon bike (much higher-end than this one), but they also built trails in Arkansas and are doing the same in Colorado.
Can’t believe you’re giving freaking Walmart props. They have been the demise of practically every mom and pop shop and are terrible for the planet.
Absolutely. And of course, they don’t have total control over Walmart (a public company), much less the exact products in their sporting goods department. The Waltons have done incredible things for mountain biking.
@@CANControlGRAFFITI Giving the Waltons props for what they have done for mountain biking isn’t giving Walmart any props. Walmart is a public company, and its shareholders vote for a board of directors just like any other corporation.
@@CANControlGRAFFITI I agree with you. I have seen what Walmart does to rural America as they basically wiped out my hometown.
As far as WalMart being a public company, the Waltons still control a majority of stock (50%) through a trust, Walton Enterprises, and the personal holdings of two family members. They also have a direct vote structure, which means the Waltons can dispose of any board member they do not like at any time.
@@CANControlGRAFFITI wal mart: "I have destroyed mom and pop shops and trashed the planet!"
Amazon: "Hold my beer!"
I really love how dramatic things got when the integrated kickstand started to sink in.
I'm scratching my head on that one. Why not leave the mount and just remove the stand? I bought a Trek Marlin 8 last month and it has one. Since plan to us this bike for touring It's one of the first I've ever had a stand on. I like this style over the old school blocks and bolts.
@@DanielTaylorOCMD he did it that way because the mounting hardware used was rivets and not hex key bolts like they should've been lol was easier to just cut it all off
Honestly, Walmart is offering some pretty good entry level bikes online. We can thank Kevcentral for that.
I’d like to thank you for pointing out that chain being routed wrong, I have one of these and had a noise there even after adjusting it. I looked and the exact same thing was on mine…..
I love the look on Seths face when he sees the kickstand is welded to the frame !LOL
Great video, when I got back into biking I bought a Walmart mongoose hardtail. It was enexpensive but upgradable at the time. So I did a few upgrades (bottom bracket, crank set, forks, bars, stem, and new lever shifters) as needed until I could get a proper bike frame, and moved the upgraded parts to it.
I bought a fairly nice Schwinn MTB-looking bike with the same stickers from a department store. Turned out to be a great commuter bike on a 15 mile commute that included 4 miles of fairly well-groomed gravel roads. I pushed the limits off road once but decided from the creaks and pops I heard that it was probably a good idea to heed the sticker warnings.
I ride a schwinn that I bought in 1993.....still runs good
I've owned a few Walmart bikes. I learned pretty quick that you don't want to ride them home. You need to pick them up with a vehicle and take it home or to a bike shop to give it a good once over before you ride it. Here the bikes are assembled by local bike shops but they aren't paid very much per bike so they have to do a bunch of them really fast. I have seen this bike too at my local Walmart as well and am very curious about it.
You know, I never even thought about assemblers handling these bikes at the big box stores. Probably explains all of the problematic childhood bikes that were in and out of my family when I was a kid. I always thought they were just crap bikes, but they probably were OK when assembled correctly. I guess the good thing that came out of it is my Huffy bicycle breaking itself every other day encouraged me to start wrenching on stuff when I was only like 8 years old.
You could get the best machine in the world and it's going to last a few weeks/months tops if you don't know how to maintain it. I also started learning mechanics very young on very crappy bikes and now I can make decent bikes last years on very low running cost (case point: I currently have a YT that is coming up on 3 years old that I have ridden nigh on every day (sans 4 months dues to injury haha) and running costs in total is about 2 dollars a day total cost and that's mainly tires/cassettes/chains and the odd pot of silkolene). It's a blessing to be honest and the main thing I think that puts beginners off this sport is perceived cost, but as Seth shows so well it's mainly just lack of understanding/knowledge, it's one of the cheapest, most accessible high octane sports out there only really surfing and skating is better value.
Aint many activities that 2 dollary doos can get you that give you the thrill this does :)
As someone who as worked as an assembler I’ll just tell you these bikes are such shit quality it’s impossible to get them right.
Thank you for saying big box store instead of department store.
I saw a $780 bike at Walmart the other week, with 29” wheels and a lightweight box frame with disc brakes. I was stunned.
You sure it wasn't just inflation? ( A $300 bike they marked way up. Like the price of gas. )
In asia for 300$ u can get a
Alloy frame
Hydraulic Disc Brakes
1x10 speed Drivetrain
@@shockwave7091 Yeah with weak sub-standard frame and other metal parts
@@shinkishimoto7607 nah its pure alloy bro anything is can be possible in third world country search toseek brandon or sunpeed mars
@@shinkishimoto7607 sorry for my grammar
Always change the bottom bracket on those bikes. The bearings aren't close type and wear out after a short time. If you pack new bearings the cap never gets tight again cuz the frame material is often soft/cheap. Otherwise a few lil upgrades and you will be all good
Seth - loses dimondback sponser
Also Seth a few days later - buys walmart bike
A little different...but kinda the same...hahahaha
Lol
I agree with the fact that not everyone is going to go out there and spend $1-3k on a bike, having something ok around $500 at least gets people into the sport
The quality::price curve really picks up between $200 to $500, after that quality improvements seem incremental until over $2000 where things start getting outrageously priced for minor benefit.
@@endereverett8776 though I agree with you in principle, I wouldn't call quality improvements between 500 and 1000 incremental.
Bike prices are getting dumb! I've never owned a brand new bike.. Only a brand new frame..) And that was my 2007 Cowan DS. That was 1/2 off and 600 bucks.. I don't even look at bikes at bike shops.. just get the parts I need and gtfo.
@Abe Froman how is Seth pretentious and condescending? He explains many things very clearly for beginners and he even says this bike is good for a newcomer - if assembled properly. He also has a vid where he says cheap 90s mtbs are great bikes.
The chain is routed incorrectly through the derailleur from the factory. I got my Trouvaille still in the box, straight off the truck. I assembled it myself.
For any of those who intend on doing the same... Remove the metal/paper junk they put down the seat post tube before you assemble :)
We have come full circle, the "Walmart bike" that helped propel Seth's channel returns. 👍
I worked in Electronics at Toys R Us Canada for a couple of years. Because of limited employees and slow sales they'd have us electronic employees assemble baby furniture,doll houses, preschool trikes, and yes, bikes for children.
"Read the instructions, that should be enough".
I really hope we never hurt anybody.
Just bought one yesterday for 228. Missing chain and bent derailer... likely the routing problem mentioned. Dig the bike
..way better than expected.
Mine was built in March of 23 and does have the dropper post cable slot.
My old work (very large cement plant) bought 200 of these for maintenance staff. Not bad, sidestands and saddles broke first, cables and gears started going after a year of good hard use. Had to hire a full time bike maintenance guy to keep them in order.
Seth: Walmart sells towels, stapler, bikes
Walmart groceries: Am I a joke to you
yes since you only have about 200 square feet of it.
@@adamheyman6125 do you even measure bro???
@@matthewthompson7012 that's just what it feels like. Especially considering one of the medium stores for my employer has 88,000 ft of groceries space
If you shop at walmart, you're what's wrong with the "united" slaves.. Only time I shop there is when I need a fresh pair of dickies for work.. so, about once in 5 years.
I've tried not to like Kent Bikes, but with the girls and I building bikes. The kents, even when we get them left out and roached, they are pretty solid bikes. By kiddo has a Kent Chaos FS20 (she drug out of the scrap pile at the ranch) that she runs at the lake for a trail bike. Its held up well. Of course, like you said, it all depends on maintenance and knowledge of bikes. We got 2 new dept store BMX bikes for Christmas, and I broke them both completely down, reassembled them, greased everything the way it should be, removed some crap, and replaced some other crap. You do got to take care of them, and I will admit, my cheap bikes are a lot more maintenance than my 40 year old bike with all sealed bearings, mid bb, and high end (for the time) hardware. That ugly old Japanese bike has become my daily rider because it's smooth, quiet, and low maintenance. ✌️
Last walmart "bike" I bought was a 45 pound behemoth of a 26" mtb that was simultaneously too small and too heavy.
Walmart also offers this bike called Giordano (owned by Kent) Intrepid, it’s just like this bike but with hydraulics and even a thru-axle. It even has smooth welds and it looks amazing. You can also check that out in a future video
This is the one I would have rather seen him get and ride.
@Danbeater who asked
@@mikec4308 the original poster mentioned other walmart bikes .... mr Dan says his wallyworld bike is better .... you see, walmart bikes is the topic
Seth, love the videos! I want to point out that aluminum should NEVER be cut or ground with a stone wheel or cut-off wheel. People lose their lives and appendages every year doing this. Aluminum gums up the pores in the disc, overheats it, and the wheels explode. Be careful!
7:20 Usually you can fix the routing through the derailleur without breaking the chain by removing one wheel. Then one side of the pulley can be turned around the axle of the other wheel, splitting it open. Been there, done that :-D
You beat me to the fix! I used to assemble and repair, tune bikes for sears back during my high school year's!
I was thinking the same thing
But with that, runs the risk of the jockey wheel loosening again and causing the mech to jam and either rotate around the cassette, and/or into the spokes. I've done it but its easier to split the chain than start threadlocking jockey wheel bolts :)
Usually I just roll with it, had no problem yet, but thread-locking jockey wheel bolts seems to be a thought to ponder.
Great segway from the sponsorship video into something that’s really hot right now. KevCentral has a good series on these new Walmart bikes, but I’m interested in seeing if they can withstand your level of riding!
I just picked this one up at the local Walmart. Seems to be well put together. I checked the problem areas he highlighted and everything seems to be in order. The upshift paddle shifter seems to be intruding to the grip area of the handle so I can't wrap my right thumb around the handle bar all the way.. may need to be rotated slightly. Anyhow it looks good. I'm upgrading from a Raleigh M-30 which is at least 25 yrs old. The seat on it broke yesterday, and I decided to upgrade to a bike with disc brakes. I will just be riding around town, not on trails, so it should be fine for that.
From what I can tell, Walmart is really trying to clean up their reputation in terms of bike selection, regardless of price. I'm glad that they are finally starting to offer mid-range bikes (at least online) like the triban rc-120 that I recently ordered. I still, however don't feel comfortable with them assembling my bike because even if I tune it up myself, something is likely to be broken. My dad bought a 'hyper' mountain bike a while back, and it came with a chipped tooth on the 'cassette'. This bike was supposed to be a middle ground between cheap and midrange. I have a family friend who is a manager at a local Walmart and he claims that Walmart is going to start offering a larger selection of high quality bikes. I haven't personally looked at everything they offer, but I'm at least glad they had the bike I wanted, regardless of whether it was sold by Walmart or not. I must say again, though, they need to up their assembly game.
Uhhmmm.... the Triban RC-120 is Decathlon and not Walmart. Do they import Decathlon bikes in the USA?
I ride a Walmart Hyper, as my main and only mode of transpo.
I must say, after a bit of a tune up, and some realistic expectations, I really love the bike and enjoy riding it. I don’t worry about dings and dents, and I can always hop on my Trek or my vintage ‘60s Super LeTour if I want to feel a quality upgrade, but my daily rider is my Walmart Hyper!
they do in fact import them and walmart has them in a warehouse in topeka kansas
Seth, you’ve come a long way, really proud of your journey, I remember in 2016 watching your videos back home learning how to do tricks on a bmx to bike hacks, cheers and here’s to more!💯👍
Pedals, lubing and bottom bracket are always the weakness. Replace pedals, grease what you can, make sure bottom bracket is tightened correctly and greased. Check assembly, make sure brakes work, tires not out of true. 5:29 never seen a bike do that before.
I just decided to get back into the sport after about 6 years. I was never serious about it when I used to ride, but I went the used route. Managed to pick up an older Rocky Mountain Etsx-50 for 400 bucks. Taking it to the shop this week for a tune up and hitting the trails this weekend! Hope I don’t die lol
I did the same double take when I saw this bike at my local Walmart. Was contemplating getting it to use as a bar hopper or grocery getter!!
One tip!
Always check the bottom bracket and the Hubs.
Manufactures are tricky. They use little to no grease, just enough to avoid rust.
In a couple of day you will hear the hubs crying for maintaince
It would be cool to see a budget upgrades video on this bike (but with good quality parts). Like maybe an air fork (Rockshox Judy), dropper post (ie PNW), etc.
This is almost the perfect bike for me based on what this video says: I'm near the middle of.the height range for the frame. I am very comfortable wrenching on my own bikes. I'm not that concerned about how safe this would be for me AFTER I looked it over to ensure the brakes and steering are in good working order. I like mountain bikes.
One problem though: I'm not in the market for a bike. I have a couple decent bikes that fit my needs very well and, since I know how to maintain them, they will last virtually forever.
Its the stuff that non riders dont know about that gets you with the walmart bikes. Take apart the bottom bracket and you find pretty quick that its not a sealed unit it just 2 bearing rings with a pressure plate. Then the rear wheel has just a big nut that holds it all together where a good bike would have a plate that can be removed and the gears can be easily replaced or customized. I used to assemble these bikes for walmart. Honestly ya get about 7 minutes a bike to do it. The adult bikes are the same quality as the kids bikes very low. But it comes down to this. Just cause you can buy a bike for 150 bucks doesnt mean you should. Check out bikes direct or other similar bike dealers that can sell you a proper bike that may be a little more expensive but will be a top notch performer for years to come.
Interesting to see how the wheel holdup after a few weeks of riding. Im guessing a lot of spokes will needed tightening.
Seth you should try a MTB to commuter conversion on you flip bikes
the wheels are a big concern for me, and we’ll only know how they hold up after a “real” ride. I’m guessing they are single walled but likely protected a bit by those big tires. We’ll see!
I think kev central reported them as double wall. In general the automatic wheel truing machines do a better job than half hearted truing by hand.
I’ve checked Walmart bike wheels with spoke tension meter and they must have machines truing them , they are usually acceptable unless you have shipping damage
@@BermPeakExpress supposed to be DW!
Great idea for a video, very interested to see how this thing fairs on a real DH test. I'll still stick with my used Norco that cost me less than this new bike, but I love the idea of lowering the barrier to entry.
2:41 Now I want a bike named Harassment
I needed a good pick-me-up this morning and seeing this at the top of my feed really did it for me. Thanks, man.
It's crazy seeing a bike that looks so nice from a big box store! After you do your shakedown run it would be awesome to see a video where you add some budget upgrades to make the ultimate budget MTB.
Check out KevCentral here on YT if you want to see that :)
The only bike assembly job I would ever be satisfied with is one I've done myself. For starters, I want grease on the threads of every single threaded fastener on the bike (and that includes the threaded end of every spoke), and I doubt many, if any, bikes come that way from the store. Also, if the bike has any loose ball bearings (as opposed to cartridge bearings), they are hardly ever adjusted right. The cones will either be not tight enough against the bearings, resulting in play, or too tight, resulting in excessive friction.
New pedals that use loose bearings are almost always adjusted too tight from the factory, for example. As a "bonus," pedal manufacturers often omit the keyed washer + slotted spindle which makes adjusting them properly next to impossible, because there's no way to get a wrench/socket on both the jam nut and cone at the same time due to them being down in a hole.
6:54 I did that once with a new chain. Put like 50hrs on the bike and one day while I was cleaning the chain I realized 😂 it’s easy to fix. Just undo one bolt on the daraileur, reroute and bolt it back up. Also I definitely felt a reduction in friction, it was a lot easier to pedal with
Great video. I imagine you weren't allowed to review other bikes while you worked for diamond. I love this type video and hope you review every bike out there. Thanks for a great video.
Yeah I agree . The value he was getting from Diamondback probably was not worth keeping where his channel is evolving.
So as an update to the Kent, my local Walmart got a few and they are running what looks like a full Microshift Advent groupset, clutch and all.
I would love to see the Trek 4900 back in action , and see seth upgrading the heck out of it not only is it a good video but also it shows how we can take an old mtb and turn it into new and I understand that flipbike is basically the same thing but…yeah
true. just for the nostalgia alone
I just partly rebuilt an old specialized hardrock from like 2005 for my wife that I learned to ride on! Already had a decent fork on it from when I was riding it (had to rebuild it first though) and I re-used a set of old nice hydraulic breaks from an old DH bike of mine, then converted it to a 1x10, with deore derailleur and shifter, new tires, grips, pedals. Most of the other components I had upgraded over the years using parts from newer bikes when I upgraded those bikes. I forgot how addicting building bikes is untill I did that!
Department stores have definitely stepped up their game since 2020! I currently ride the 2021 Schwinn Axum stock with a dropper post!
I have the Schwinn AL Comp(upgraded) as well as a Trek Stash.
Looked it up and they want $1000 for it now what a joke 😂
No they DON’T LOOK ON WALMART
I routed my chain that way when I upgraded my specialized from a 2x9 to a 1x11. I've been riding it that way for years and I thought it looked weird but it never occurred to me that it was wrong. Ooops!
Funny to think my Trek 6000 I bought back in 1998 was completely race ready at a price point of about $500. Still use that bike today with alot of the original components!
You buy a good bike, you can pass the frame down to your children or even grandchildren.
Well, adjusting for inflation, $500 in 1998 is $900 today
Trek Roscoe 6 is $1179 this is a decent hardtail with a dropper post
@@s_a4022 Paid about the same for a 2022 GT Zaskar, hydraulic brakes, dropper post, 12x1 SRAM gearset, tubeless-ready tyres.
You should always check an assembled bike, GT or otherwise.
Even stores that sell medium to high end bikes can screw up.
I really hope the partnerships you’ve had and the exposure to the entire Bentonville area reaches those at Home Office who can implement QA changes on these things. Safety is more important than a quick sale.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
I was wondering when you were going to revisit Walmart bikes now that they are getting so good. I think you need to send it on this one down a mountain.
*This bike is NOT intended for off-road use*
Him: sends it round Berm Peak
Good Video!😊
Fan here from Philipines🇵🇭
The Thruster Fixie by Kent was the best bike I ever purchased at Walmart....I put reinforced tires and tubes on it and it was darn near perfect for me.
This is why my dad always checked our bikes and always had to fix the manufacturers, and the stores fuck ups. He would never let my sister and me ride right after buying them. One year my neighbor bought his son a bike, and my dad asked him if he wanted him to do a safety check on it, because he doesn't trust the factory and the assemblers, it's not that the bikes were cheap because they weren't, I've always had mongoose bikes, along with my sister, and my neighbor got his son a Schwinn, but the point my dad was making is the assemblers, are on time constraints because they have lots of bikes to put together, and anytime you rush people, they're bound to make mistakes, and the mistakes they make, are not tightening something good and snug, or not paying attention to things like the chain, or not checking the handle bars to make sure they're good and tight, and stuff like that can definitely cause a bad accident. My neighbor said no the bike is fine, he also made the mistake of not being able to tell his son to wait a damn minute so it can be checked out, his son said I wanna ride it now, tell him the bike is fine, my dad overheard that spoiled brat say that, so my dad said ok, just thought I'd tell you, because they make lots of mistakes, remember the assemblers aren't the ones riding it, and those warning labels are on there to cover the store's ass, so go ahead, I just wanted to help, so that little bastard got on the bike and popped 2 wheelies, and said it's fine dad, they know what they're doing at the stores, and on that 3rd wheelie he yells to me hey I bet you can't do this, he popped it, and tried to 360 his handle bars in midair, lol and the front tire came off while in the air, and he landed it on the fork, and he flew forward off the bike, I fucking laughed my ass off, and I didn't care if it pissed them off, the kid's father looked over at my dad who was at the time, helping me put new tires on my bike, I had ordered red tires and black rims, I had put black handle bars on it a few months prior, so I was putting together my dream bike, mowed grass all summer to get that stuff, I was a professional rider, I used to race BMX bikes, and I was about to join a team from the store who sold me all my parts, this was when I was a kid, back in the 80s. so my neighbor, looks over at my dad then goes toward his spoiled ass son, and there was a chunk of flesh missing from his elbow, and he said he couldn't bend it, then he tells my dad I should have let you check the bike out, I'm sorry for letting my son act cocky and let him ride it right away as opposed to letting you look it over, my dad said you don't have to apologize, it wasn't me your son disrespected, it was you, now he's paying the price with what looks like a broken arm, and he's lucky that's all it is, and there were no cars passing through, sadly you're paying the price of having to listen to him crying in pain. I tried to warm you of how these bikes aren't safe until they've been looked over, by someone who knows what parts can lead to serious accidents if not assembled correctly. He asked my dad when he had the time If he could look it over, and the 2 bikes he ordered, and he had coming in he bought for his wife and him, my dad said of course no problem.
The coolest bike I ever owned was from Walmart and it was HEAVY. Meaning it kept me thin, until I had to sell it. Lol.