- Time flies.
It was almost seven years ago that I first posted a video
where we tested a Walmart bike.
Here in the United States, Walmart is a big store
that sells towels, staplers, and bicycles.
We bought one of those bicycles for about 150 bucks,
and I put it through a series of tests.
Since then, the whole internet has kind of been fascinated
with these bikes because they are so cheap.
And they're not that good.
So being that so much time has elapsed since 2015,
I thought that today, here in 2022,
we'd do it again and see if they've changed,
and I think they have based on this bike.
(light upbeat music)
I saw this bike the other day in Hendersonville, Walmart
and I damn near broke my neck, giving it a double take.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
It's like they answered every single concern
that have ever had about a department store bike.
It looks amazing.
It ticks all the boxes.
Or at least it does at first glance.
There are a lot of asterisks,
but we are going to go over it today in detail.
I'm gonna tell you whether this is a good bike to buy.
So, first of all, this is indeed available in the store.
If you have a flagship Walmart store,
this is probably there.
You can literally pull this bike off the shelf,
wheel it up to the register, scan it,
and ride it out the door.
Although I don't recommend you do that
because I almost didn't make it to my car with this bike.
Okay, so I squeezed the brake and nothing happened.
There's no way that they checked the shifting
because, I mean, this is just completely out.
Why do I keep doing this?
Now, before we get into all that,
let me tell you what I like about it.
(light music)
My criticism of department store bikes was never
that they're cheap.
If an immigrant moves here to the United States
and they have $300 to their name,
I want them to be able to buy something simple
and reliable to get to work with;
I'm a cycling advocate.
But that's not what department stores have offered.
Let's say you have $5 to get a meal.
You could have an awesome hot dog or a terrible lobster.
And that's what they try to do,
they put full suspension on these bikes,
they put all sorts of gears on them.
It makes for a heavier bike with more failure points,
more things that can go wrong,
it's bad for the consumer,
but that's what the consumer demands:
more features for the money, more is more.
So when I saw this bike,
I couldn't believe that it has a lot less.
(upbeat music)
Indeed, this is by far the most rational bike
I've ever seen in a department store.
Even the paint scheme is rational.
Usually, they're called like the Trouble, the Harassment,
and this one doesn't even have anything written on it.
There's a little Kent badge on the front.
It actually, it looks good.
Instead of 21 speeds,
it has a very simple and reliable 1 x 9
by microSHIFT, a reputable company.
It is by far the most expensive bike in the store at $398,
yet it has the least features.
It doesn't have rear suspension; it is a hardtail.
And, in fact, it has a name brand,
SR Suntour fork in the front,
which is rated for cross country,
so it's a real mountain bike fork.
It's got a nice, short stem,
modern geometry, wide handle bars.
It even has a tapered head tube.
(imitates bomb exploding)
Even the brakes are mechanical disc.
They put a 160-millimeter rotor in the rear
and a 180 in the front.
That's pretty smart
because these 29-inch wheels have a lot of leverage.
And they're wrapped in good tires.
They're made by CST, that's Maxxis.
And indeed they're fat tires.
They have a good compound.
The mold looks good.
The bike even has internal cable routing.
It's like they try to make the perfect hardtail
at the perfect price.
But like I said, there are a lot of asterisks,
and we're gonna go over them.
Despite all these indicators that this is a good bike,
there's a little sticker here that may concern you,
and it says, "This bicycle is not designed
for off-road use."
Doesn't say not designed for mountain biking,
doesn't say not designed for jumps.
They don't even want you to take this off-road.
Why is that?
So I can't get into their heads
and tell you for sure what the reason is,
but I think I know why a bike with mountain bike tires,
good mountain bike fork, mountain bike drivetrain,
mountain bike geometry would not be designed
for off-road use,
and that is the last thing they want you to do,
is buy this from Walmart
and drop into a mountain bike trail right after.
That is the last thing they wanna do
because despite this having some pretty good parts on it,
they don't know who assembled it.
Now, while most of these parts come out
of the same factories
as a lot of our bike parts come out of,
they arrive at the store partially assembled,
and then an assembler puts them together.
And indeed it is a well-understood fact
in the cycling community
that these bikes are not assembled the best.
Today we're gonna find out
what kind of assembler put this one together.
Second I left the store, started riding downhill to my car,
went to kind of pop a manual, grip started turning around.
Now the assembler at Walmart isn't the one
who puts this grip on.
I think it's actually done at the factory,
but they didn't check to see if it was like that.
And the last person who touches the bike
should really make sure it's safe.
That's not the only problem.
(whimsical music)
Yeah, we're gonna have to address that.
That wouldn't do anything too unsafe,
it would just sod*mize you.
I need some more leverage.
(upbeat music)
Come on.
(Seth huffing)
Okay, we're gonna just...
We got her.
Oh, it's stripped out.
Here's a set of Bontrager grips I took off that Flip Bike.
We know they're gonna be fine,
so we'll put these on the bike.
Ooh, headset's loose.
And while we're at it,
we can straighten out these handlebars, snug this back up.
As you can see, the stem clamp is not tightened evenly.
It's off by a millimeter.
Now that might not seem like much,
but we're not talking about wood here;
we're talking about metal.
You know, that sucks.
Okay, now we're even.
All right, let's get it up on the stand for tune up.
I see no reason why we wouldn't be able
to get it running really good.
It's got a microSHIFT drivetrain.
It's a good affordable drivetrain,
but it's making a lot of noise
because they routed the chain incorrectly.
Check this out.
The chain is routed underneath this piece of metal,
so as we're pedaling,
it's just completely rubbing against that piece of metal.
So let me be clear,
this is not something that the assembler would've done.
This would've already been routed in the factory,
and they did it wrong, really, really wrong.
This is something that a consumer would probably not catch,
especially if they're inexperienced with bikes,
and they definitely wouldn't have the tools to fix it.
You need Master Link pliers
and you need to know how to route a chain
through a derailleur.
And that affects the longevity of the drivetrain.
It affects where on the chain.
It affects the the shifting performance, noise, resistance.
I've never seen that on a bike from the factory,
but for us it's gonna be simple to fix.
Ah, way better. That's what it's supposed to sound like.
Bike is looking better.
Let's take off this kickstand.
(somber music)
Okay.
(grinder whirring)
(hammer thumping)
Rough edges.
All right, now it looks like a regular bike.
(air whooshing)
Now it's pretty plain to see
why they don't recommend you take this bike off-road.
To be honest, I would see
why they might not even recommend you take it in the street,
the assembly, both at the factory and at Walmart.
But now that we've gone over it
and corrected all the problems with it,
the main ones being the grips, the stem,
the improperly routed chain,
I think it's safe to take off-road.
And so I'm gonna take it
for a quick little rip around Berm Peak,
and then if it holds up in a later video,
we will take it on a real mountain bike ride.
The other thing is I'm gonna have trouble riding this bike
because it's quite large, large for me.
This is only sold in one size.
I even looked online.
It's just a single size.
You're gonna sell a bike that cheap,
there needs to be economies of scale.
They need to make enough of them.
So having three different frame sizes,
just not possible at this price point.
The other thing is they actually mislabeled the bike
in the store.
They said 6' and up.
A six-foot tall person would barely fit on this bike;
it'd be too small for them.
When I looked at it online, it said 5'6" to 6'.
So they labeled it 6' and up in the store,
they labeled it something else online,
and I can tell just by looking at it,
it's like a 19-inch frame,
it's not gonna be good for, let's say, Shaquille O'Neal.
So let me suit up.
(upbeat music)
Bike feels a little big for me,
but I think I will be able to ride it just fine.
(upbeat music)
I have no doubt that you could take this bike out
into the forest
and go on a real mountain bike ride with it, for sure.
No rattles, nothing shook loose.
For $400, this punches above its weight.
So believe it or not,
with the test that I just gave it out there,
with all those jumps and features,
that wasn't as abusive as a actual descent,
like a long mountain bike descent,
and so that's where we're really gonna find out
what this thing is made of.
But from that short little test, I can say,
this is a pretty good bike with a huge asterisk,
and that is that you are experienced
and comfortable enough working on bikes
that you can check it out yourself
or bring it to a professional bike mechanic.
So if you're between 5'6" and 6' tall,
you're really comfortable with working on bikes,
and you don't place a particularly high value on your life,
then I guess I could recommend this bike officially.
But I can't wait to take this out into the forest,
on a real mountain bike trail.
I hope you learned something today.
I hope you find this information useful,
and if not, I hope you're at least entertained.
Thanks for riding with me today,
and I'll see you next time.
(Seth grunts)
(robot vacuum whirring)
- [Man] It's doing donuts.
- [Seth] It's doing donuts. It's spot cleaning.