What a great take on department store bikes! I certainly buy my share of Huffies, because I need several affordable bikes for my kids. Who knew that replacement parts were so available?! And for so inexpensive!
I like having my mind changed, it's a sign of growth. Your research was great and I really appreciated you digging in to see what if? Huffy makes cheap bikes, we all know that, but getting fast turn around on cheap parts is pretty awesome. I couldn't get a 9 speed HG chain for an older bike in 2020 for under 40$ from my LBS without waiting months, maybe Huffy has an edge on the supply chain.
That is awesome to know about that Huffy website and replacement parts for recent bikes. I do wish it were easier with other companies too. I’ve only worked on a few Huffy Pro Thunders from 81 & 82 so it was ebay for replacement parts for me. Can’t wait to see your restoration.
Love this video! Who knew Huffy had such an awesome bike support infrastructure. Looking forward to your upcoming video projects. All themes I’m interested in.
Department store bikes have stepped things up a bit during my hiatus from riding (2015-2021). When I got back to riding last year (after the EMTs defibrillator'd me when I started looking at prices of mid level bikes these days 🤦♂️🤣), I bought a GT Aggressor Pro at Dick's Sporting Goods and have been pretty impressed with it for the $, and it's completely upgradable (I have a big box of parts that I've been collecting all year, in it is upgrades for every single part except the wheels and saddle), and Friday I just took a new Kent Trouvaille on it's first ride on some local trails (where I rode every intermediate level trail there, 1 black diamond trail but avoided the bigger drops and such, and 1 beginner trail that I used as a connector), I was really impressed...it did not feel, act, or ride like a sub $400 bike in today's market and it not only held up to the ride it seemed to enjoy it (it's also fully upgradable if one so chose). Sorry, I'm off the video's topic, but it's semi relevant 🤪 Great video, my friend 😁✌️
My niece crashed her bike a few weeks back and bent her front wheel badly. After watching this video I went on Kent's website and ordered a whole new wheel with the tire and brake rotor included. Did the swap and she's back on the road.
My Huffy Parkside ended up with a taco'd wheel when i ran over a fencep ost hole. Searched amazon for 27.5 rim brake wheels and nada. Sure specialtists sell 'em all day for several hundred bucks. 'what do?' searched huffy's site and 'oh hey they literally sell replacements for everything but the frame.' Sure it's not the best components, but for getting back out on the bike, ESPECIALLY when this is possibly your only bike and you don't have a lot of money to spend? I like it!
My son found perfectly new looking Huffy with bent up suspension fork. I wanted to take it apart and try and straighten it out and found I couldn't even take the tubes apart, it was made like a Bic lighter. I'm sure I could easily buy a new whole fork but it costs $60 - $70.
More than likely, I am coming at this from a different perspective than most as I am a mechanic and own a shop. First off, " cheap" parts are not something that I am looking for. There may be folks that ride very seldom, and don't need to spend tons of money on parts... but the truth is that quality parts last longer and work better. The other thought I have is that is a typical person that buys a bike able to repair their bike or will this take parts/bike to a shop? I'm not sure what the liability issue is for Huffy selling parts to simply anyone, but for me and most shops...we provide copies of our liability insurance to the vendor that we are buying from. And although I could go on about this forever, I do repairs on department store bikes, but also realize that their quality is not the same as bikes from a shop,,, so are you going to spend more time to go through what you are doing? At the end of the day, is it really profitable enough to justify the time spent? And to top that off, some department store bikes have parts that aren't even the same size as parts that we buy for repairs. Walmart is a prime example of that... But just my .02.
Hi Jackie, these are all excellent points. I realize I was taking kind of a different path with this video as most people watching are here for restoring older 90s mountain bikes and bikes of a much higher quality. I’m gonna finish building up this bike for the sake of experimenting with can you take a piece of junk that was buried in the water for a year and bring it back. Not something most people will take on but something I thought would be interesting. Along the way of building it back up I was simply surprised to see how easy it was to order a replacement parts for such a cheap bike. The liability issue you bring up is definitely an interesting point as all bike shops have to have liability insurance to order parts wholesale but anyone can buy parts off of Amazon and there is no risk of them being sued for selling to consumers. Anyway thank you for chiming in. I appreciate all the thoughtful commentary here.
@@CoolBikeProjects You are right about the liability of shops vs online! I suppose that at that point they are putting the responsibility on the consumer. The bike industry is in an odd position though, not only as you mentioned buying less expensive parts from the bike company itself, but bike brands buying shops etc... It will be an interesting ride to see where shops will end up in all of this in the next few years. I think for most, it is greed that it making these current changes, but hopefully that will right itself out quickly. I'll look forward to watching the remainder of your project, it is one that a local school took on this spring. Thanks Again!
I love n like ur video only part I do not like is to see you in flip flops. I do service for 40 yrs but new to bikes at 60.....Question I m looking for a huffy 24 bought 2 yrs ago Need a rear tire completely out of balance and out of wack. Tnks great video except the foot protection aspect. Sorry I m being honest. Ttul
You are right, I should definitely be wearing shoes whenever I’ve got a bike in the stand. If you’re after a specific 24 inch wheel, you should be able to enter your bikes serial number on their website under the parts section and find what you need.
Huffy makes garbage bikes. When I see them dumped on the curb with a sign 'free'. I piss on them. Walmart sells shit to people who want to save money. Then come finding me to fix them. And I won't open a Pandora's box....I hate Huffy!!
Great point and love your channel name by the way! I think the bigger point I was trying to make was that the rest of the bike industry does not make purchasing original parts easy. Just the fact that you could call the company directly have a human pick up on the line and pay for the parts over the phone is pretty cool.
What a great take on department store bikes!
I certainly buy my share of Huffies, because I need several affordable bikes for my kids. Who knew that replacement parts were so available?! And for so inexpensive!
I like having my mind changed, it's a sign of growth.
Your research was great and I really appreciated you digging in to see what if?
Huffy makes cheap bikes, we all know that, but getting fast turn around on cheap parts is pretty awesome.
I couldn't get a 9 speed HG chain for an older bike in 2020 for under 40$ from my LBS without waiting months, maybe Huffy has an edge on the supply chain.
Man ,I would love a Huffy like Andy Hampsten rode back in 88...😉...if you're old enough you'll know what those actually were 😁
Awesome! I’ve seen a few nicer Huffy road bikes over the years. I also have a lot of found memories of my Huffy Mount storm ⛈
That is awesome to know about that Huffy website and replacement parts for recent bikes. I do wish it were easier with other companies too. I’ve only worked on a few Huffy Pro Thunders from 81 & 82 so it was ebay for replacement parts for me. Can’t wait to see your restoration.
Love this video! Who knew Huffy had such an awesome bike support infrastructure. Looking forward to your upcoming video projects. All themes I’m interested in.
Thanks JP!
Department store bikes have stepped things up a bit during my hiatus from riding (2015-2021). When I got back to riding last year (after the EMTs defibrillator'd me when I started looking at prices of mid level bikes these days 🤦♂️🤣), I bought a GT Aggressor Pro at Dick's Sporting Goods and have been pretty impressed with it for the $, and it's completely upgradable (I have a big box of parts that I've been collecting all year, in it is upgrades for every single part except the wheels and saddle), and Friday I just took a new Kent Trouvaille on it's first ride on some local trails (where I rode every intermediate level trail there, 1 black diamond trail but avoided the bigger drops and such, and 1 beginner trail that I used as a connector), I was really impressed...it did not feel, act, or ride like a sub $400 bike in today's market and it not only held up to the ride it seemed to enjoy it (it's also fully upgradable if one so chose). Sorry, I'm off the video's topic, but it's semi relevant 🤪 Great video, my friend 😁✌️
They have indeed! I’m seeing a lot more UA-cam channels doing test rides on the three to $400 range bikes and all of them seem pretty impressed
My niece crashed her bike a few weeks back and bent her front wheel badly. After watching this video I went on Kent's website and ordered a whole new wheel with the tire and brake rotor included. Did the swap and she's back on the road.
That is awesome!
wow this is kinda amazing! thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it!
My Huffy Parkside ended up with a taco'd wheel when i ran over a fencep ost hole.
Searched amazon for 27.5 rim brake wheels and nada. Sure specialtists sell 'em all day for several hundred bucks.
'what do?'
searched huffy's site and 'oh hey they literally sell replacements for everything but the frame.'
Sure it's not the best components, but for getting back out on the bike, ESPECIALLY when this is possibly your only bike and you don't have a lot of money to spend?
I like it!
That's awesome Andrew! Glad they had the parts you needed.
My son found perfectly new looking Huffy with bent up suspension fork. I wanted to take it apart and try and straighten it out and found I couldn't even take the tubes apart, it was made like a Bic lighter. I'm sure I could easily buy a new whole fork but it costs $60 - $70.
Really interesting, thanks.
Thanks for watching Bobby!
More than likely, I am coming at this from a different perspective than most as I am a mechanic and own a shop. First off, " cheap" parts are not something that I am looking for. There may be folks that ride very seldom, and don't need to spend tons of money on parts... but the truth is that quality parts last longer and work better. The other thought I have is that is a typical person that buys a bike able to repair their bike or will this take parts/bike to a shop? I'm not sure what the liability issue is for Huffy selling parts to simply anyone, but for me and most shops...we provide copies of our liability insurance to the vendor that we are buying from. And although I could go on about this forever, I do repairs on department store bikes, but also realize that their quality is not the same as bikes from a shop,,, so are you going to spend more time to go through what you are doing? At the end of the day, is it really profitable enough to justify the time spent? And to top that off, some department store bikes have parts that aren't even the same size as parts that we buy for repairs. Walmart is a prime example of that... But just my .02.
Hi Jackie, these are all excellent points. I realize I was taking kind of a different path with this video as most people watching are here for restoring older 90s mountain bikes and bikes of a much higher quality. I’m gonna finish building up this bike for the sake of experimenting with can you take a piece of junk that was buried in the water for a year and bring it back. Not something most people will take on but something I thought would be interesting. Along the way of building it back up I was simply surprised to see how easy it was to order a replacement parts for such a cheap bike. The liability issue you bring up is definitely an interesting point as all bike shops have to have liability insurance to order parts wholesale but anyone can buy parts off of Amazon and there is no risk of them being sued for selling to consumers. Anyway thank you for chiming in. I appreciate all the thoughtful commentary here.
@@CoolBikeProjects You are right about the liability of shops vs online! I suppose that at that point they are putting the responsibility on the consumer. The bike industry is in an odd position though, not only as you mentioned buying less expensive parts from the bike company itself, but bike brands buying shops etc... It will be an interesting ride to see where shops will end up in all of this in the next few years. I think for most, it is greed that it making these current changes, but hopefully that will right itself out quickly. I'll look forward to watching the remainder of your project, it is one that a local school took on this spring. Thanks Again!
Swamp thang
I ride a Huffy Outlier and I have been trying to find a professional riders opinion on the Huffy Outlier.
I love n like ur video only part I do not like is to see you in flip flops. I do service for 40 yrs but new to bikes at 60.....Question I m looking for a huffy 24 bought 2 yrs ago Need a rear tire completely out of balance and out of wack. Tnks great video except the foot protection aspect. Sorry I m being honest. Ttul
You are right, I should definitely be wearing shoes whenever I’ve got a bike in the stand. If you’re after a specific 24 inch wheel, you should be able to enter your bikes serial number on their website under the parts section and find what you need.
@@CoolBikeProjects tnks for ur honesty. N great answer i see the numbers on the frame
Huffy makes garbage bikes. When I see them dumped on the curb with a sign 'free'. I piss on them. Walmart sells shit to people who want to save money. Then come finding me to fix them. And I won't open a Pandora's box....I hate Huffy!!
I mean it’s cool they have the same part but if the part fails in only 3 years why would you want to buy another one?
Great point and love your channel name by the way! I think the bigger point I was trying to make was that the rest of the bike industry does not make purchasing original parts easy. Just the fact that you could call the company directly have a human pick up on the line and pay for the parts over the phone is pretty cool.
Maybe it was underwater for 6 months. ☺️