So how bad is a Big W bike, really?

[bychosis]

There was an article on the interwebz somewhere where they tried to make a decent bike out of something very similar. Not entirely unsuccessful. They took to the rims with a hole saw, upgraded brakes etc and ended up with, from memory, a fat bike for less than half the going rate but which still unfortunately didn't handle well due to the geometry.

Edit: Here is linky

Who's up for a challenge?

[ldrcycles]

Hmm $250 until the 12th of this month, or just under $300! after that date. Getting pretty exxy for a spits and giggles exercise . I've got a couple of bikes i need to offload though, so if i get a decent price for them i'll funnel the money into a fat bike .

EDIT: Oh and rob it's Ldr, i really should have used a capital l when i signed up .

[bychosis]

Hmm $250 until the 12th of this month, or just under $300! after that date. Getting pretty exxy for a spits and giggles exercise . I've got a couple of bikes i need to offload though, so if i get a decent price for them i'll funnel the money into a fat bike .

EDIT: Oh and rob it's Ldr, i really should have used a capital l when i signed up .

Just have to wait for them to get to a runout price then! The head angle looks pretty steep, which according to the walgoose review is a deal breaker for a usable bike.

[Mulger bill]

EDIT: Oh and rob it's Ldr, i really should have used a capital l when i signed up .

PM to the boss can sort this for you Lachy.

[bychosis]

Spotted on in our local bigW. Looked nice and shiny and somewhat tempting. I picked it up and thought it was pretty heavy, then I picked up an adjacent alloy frame 26" bike with suspension forks - felt positively light in comparison, temptation removed

[Gdsamp]

Spotted this whilst browsing the Kmart website.
6 speeds with Shimano (of course) derailleur and thumb shifter a cheap looking saddle.

http://www.kmart.com.au/product/700c-70 ... ike/223865

They also had a 29" 21 speed hardtail with front disc brake (note the nice cable routing around the stem):

http://www.kmart.com.au/product/everest ... ike/223869
Thoughts?

[AUbicycles]

Advice = Avoid!

Look at the botchy welding on the fork of the MTB.
Look at the front derailleur cable routing down the seat tube
Front disk, rear V-brake... awkward.

Get a real bike from a bike shop or buy second hand.

[ldrcycles]

That ladies bike is seriously cheap, but with proper greasing and adjusting of the bearings i would back it to last a good while. If someone i knew wanted a bike for just getting around/cruising through parks etc i wouldn't hesitate to get that.

The MTB on the other hand... The suspension forks are where Big W bikes lose any semblance of credibility, all they do is add both weight and flimsiness. With the forks replaced and that front derailleur sorted out it would be acceptable for light commuting, but then the cost of getting a better set of forks would make it the same price as a better bike. For mountain bikes, Chris' advice is spot on.

[Gdsamp]

Wonder how much lower quality that ladies bike is compared to say a Reid vintage, they look pretty similar right down to that rear derailleur.

[Rob74]

LDR..U know U want one....

Info for U & bychosis » Wed Nov 05, 2014 12:04 pm
"Spotted one in our local bigW….SNIP……I picked it up and thought it was pretty heavy, ….. temptation removed."

HYPER Mammoth Fat Tyre MTB......Morbid curiosity….went back armed with my Park Tools Scales……Drum Roll……..23kg on the knocker….Frame is 35cm centre of crank to centre of top tube

Rob

[twowheels]

http://www.kmart.com.au/product/700c-70 ... ike/223865

dat folding basket alone cost close to dat via import from USA with freight

[ldrcycles]

LDR..U know U want one....

Info for U & bychosis » Wed Nov 05, 2014 12:04 pm
"Spotted one in our local bigW….SNIP……I picked it up and thought it was pretty heavy, ….. temptation removed."

HYPER Mammoth Fat Tyre MTB......Morbid curiosity….went back armed with my Park Tools Scales……Drum Roll……..23kg on the knocker….Frame is 35cm centre of crank to centre of top tube

Rob

I honestly can't think of words to describe how much i want one now! Going to the local Big W tomorrow to see if they have one .

[AUbicycles]

Wonder how much lower quality that ladies bike is compared to say a Reid vintage, they look pretty similar right down to that rear derailleur.

A good question, I can't provide any comparison but it sparks my interest because some manufacturers suppluy many different brands.
But where I would certainly tend towards Reid is because that brand identifies as a bike shop and have mechanics who assemble and 12 month free servicing.

ldrcycles - of course YOU could knock some sense into the bikes, but generally you don't buy a new bike to take it home and 'repair' it.

Rob24 - 23kg wow, that is more than a cast iron holland bikes.

[bychosis]

You know you want to ldr. Part two of the US equivalent, they shaved 7lb. With some lying around parts you could get it under 20kg. They took over 500g out of the rims with a hole saw. Light as, bro.

[Rob74]

ALDI Quality has come to town...

Mens Cruizer
Ladies Cruizer

Rob

[ldrcycles]

ldrcycles - of course YOU could knock some sense into the bikes, but generally you don't buy a new bike to take it home and 'repair' it.

New bikes generally don't cost $150 either though .

I really want to get one of those cruisers from Aldi, especially as the bars look a nice shape. Can't tell from the pictures if those are square taper or American cranks.


I absolutely love the line from that Mongoose fatbike post- "My garage does not need this taking up space but I don't care what my Garage needs"

[Duck!]

I really want to get one of those cruisers from Aldi, especially as the bars look a nice shape. Can't tell from the pictures if those are square taper or American cranks.

I strongly suspect American/Ashtabula/one-piece cranks - the arms look too spindly for square taper.

[Mulger bill]

I really want to get one of those cruisers from Aldi, especially as the bars look a nice shape. Can't tell from the pictures if those are square taper or American cranks.

I strongly suspect American/Ashtabula/one-piece cranks - the arms look too spindly for square taper.

Yep, seems to be ths standard for beach cruisers.

[ldrcycles]

Went down to the Big W at Kawana which is much bigger than the Noosa store, hoping to see the fatbike in all it's glory. Nope .

[ldrcycles]

I was in the local Big W today having a look at boring stuff, so naturally wandered over to the bike section and saw this beauty.








Dual suspension 650B! The frame looks very nice indeed, nice welds and the tubes don't sound too thick. Besides that and the paint job though, things aren't real flash. There is a truly frightening amount of back and forwards slop in the forks, i wouldn't be keen on riding it on a footpath, let alone off road (although it's probably got a sticker advising against that anyway ). The rear spring is WAY too stiff at 750lbs/in, even jumping up and down on it the suspension barely budges, and then there's the super heavy steel square taper cranks. The Tourney shifters and rear mech aren't fancy or particularly curable, but having worked on them on other bikes, they do the job well enough. The thing that blew me away though, was after looking at the nutted rear hub (that's right, no QR at the back ), i realised it had a 6 speed thread on freewheel! I mean holy hell that's caveman stuff!

So basically, nice enough frame but at $298 to start off with, and then needing new forks and rear spring as the absolute bare minimum, you're getting well past the cost of a decent 2nd hand 26" dually. I wouldn't.

[Rob74]

LDR....out of morbid curiosity visited with scales.....the below for giggles
DB Mason 27.5 Dual Susp.......16.46kg

DB Overdrive 29er........15.52kg
The Reviews of the DB Overdrive 29er suggest its the biz.
=>>I'll be keeping my 26" wheeled 1992 DB Axis Pro full XTR 9.9kg

DB Serene 700c ladies commuter......15.5kg
Swept split top tubes are not tubes at all !
=>>no rush to trade my Peugeot Mixte 11.9kg

Rob

[ldrcycles]

The guy who reckons he's done 15,000k on the Diamondback needs to run for PM . Surely a fair bit of the weight in the Serene would have to be the components, the frame looks far too nice to be that heavy?

[bychosis]

Spotted a BigW fatbike in the wild over the weekend. The helmetless rider was coasting downhill at a fair clip looking cool. Not so cool the next afternoon when he was again spotted, but pushing said heavy fat-bike up the same hill. It's not a really steep hill, I can ride up it in the middle ring on a 26" bike towing a trailer with a 2yo and two full school bags in it.

[cray-]

Saw one at my local, picked it up, still want one. They need to hurry up and drop the price to $99 already!

[ldrcycles]

Saw one at my local, picked it up, still want one. They need to hurry up and drop the price to $99 already!

+soooooo many! I finally spotted one at the larger of the two stores in my vicinity and was amazed at just how heavy it is, but damn it's cool!