I had a guy at my office tell me he just bought himself a bike at Walmart for $50. I bet its a sweet ride. My seatpost cost more than that! Not that this guy would ever do a tri or anything. He will probably just take it out for a spin around the neighborhood every once in awhile. More power to him, but $50? What kind of crap are they sellin at Waly World?
Walmart bikes - oddly enough, even for us “bike” people, for $50 bucks (actually for a little better bike, about $67 bucks, plus tax) - while traveling - out of town in USA or in different parts of the world - I have ridden miles and miles on those bikes. They are not that bad for the money. A good way of getting those training miles in - cheaper and easier than finding a better bike. When I am finished with my trip, I give the bike to a school or some local person. Works out great me and it is just fine for a knock around bike for a local - certainly better than nothing!
I think you missed the point Tibbs. Take almost any main part off the average bike from this forum and it would be at least $50 to replace. But you can go to Walmart and by a whole bike for that. What does that say about Walmarts ability to beat down competition. About their care for those workers whom make those bikes? etc., etc.
I’m more than happy for the guy finding such a price on a bicycle. But, I was just kind of blown away that an adult bike could be made for that price. Walmart is making money on it, and the manufacturer is making money on it, so how does someone make a bike for $30? Unbelievable.
cheap labor from china and other parts east. I used to be an analyst covering Huffy, GT Bicycles, Cannondale. It was unbelievable how hard Huffy had to squeeze just to turn in below-par returns. They had to switch production away from their unionized plant to a non-union plant, and even that move didn’t sway the tide. $16/hour + benefits can’t compete with, oh, I don’t know, 80c/hour + benefits. Even with the cost of shipping, etc. it was almost impossible to compete for WalMart business.
They (probably) build and assemble it with cheap labor and raw material in some third world or developing country factory where workers are happy to make a low wage and work 15 hour days with no definable benefits.
Isn’t Huffy in Chapter 11, right now. I thought I read that somewhere?
In all fairness, my first ‘serious’ bike was a $340 Mongoose Hilltopper. I rode that thing regularly for ten years without replacing a single part. Contrast that with my Giant NRS 2, which goes through 2 sets of chainrings and cassettes a season ridden once a week, or my road bike, which goes through that and a couple of sets of tires(I ride it a lot more). I rode that Mongoose alongside guys with $4,000 titanium and OCLV bikes and had no trouble keeping up, even with a rigid fork.
I’m willing to bet that the bike you get for $50 is a heavy, clunky, 40 pound junker that will outlast 90% of the bikes that we ride. It might not be fast, and it might not be smooth, but it will go around the neighborhood, and no one will cry too much if it gets stolen from in front of Dunkin’ Donuts.
I rode that Mongoose alongside guys with $4,000 titanium and OCLV bikes and had no trouble keeping up, even with a rigid fork.
“Steel is Real, Baby!!!”
I’m more than happy for the guy finding such a price on a bicycle. But, I was just kind of blown away that an adult bike could be made for that price. Walmart is making money on it, and the manufacturer is making money on it, so how does someone make a bike for $30? Unbelievable.
Check out Frontline this week:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/
Make the bike for $30?? You think the manufacturer is turning a $20 profit dealing with Wal Mart? There’s a good chance they’re losing money on that item in order to do business with Wal Mart (making money on other products they manufacture) Here’s an excerpt from an interview with a Wal Mart Exec regarding how they treat manufacturers.
So what you’re saying is Wal-Mart’s got all the leverage in the situation?
Yeah. So let’s say I’m Black & Decker or whatever. I go to Wal-Mart in Bentonville. I go walk across the street or drive across the street, because the Wal-Mart buyer’s calling me. He wants to negotiate pricing. So I go over there and sit down with the buyer, and he says: “I want you to make those cordless screwdrivers this year for less than you did last year. We bought 60 train carloads last year. We’re going to buy 160 this year if you can sell them to us at this price.”
And there is no saying no, because Wal-Mart already knows the cost of your raw materials, the cost of your production, the cost of your shipping, the cost of your everything. They know everything. …
And so what do these manufacturers do? They walk away, and, you know, I can envision these phone calls that take place back to their corporate: “You’re not going to believe what Wal-Mart wants us to do.” “What is it this time?” “Well, they want us to sell that same product that we sold them last year, but they want it at a 2 percent discount in cost this year.” And they’re already just making ends meet.
So now the company has to look at it and say: “We can’t make it here in America anymore. We might have a union plant where we’re paying you good, living, union wages. I think we need to close this plant, maybe move it over to China or move it down to Monterrey, Mexico. We’ve got NAFTA, so let’s take advantage of it.”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/interviews/lehman.html
I’d say the Walmart bikes are probably made in a third world sweat shop. But, I think everyone out there has bought an article of clothing or something that was made in similar conditions. Everybody wants a good deal. Its not like I could of told the guy that he should have gone to a local bike shop, because he would have never found a bike for close to $50 there. I guess Walmart gets asian bikes for the same reason alot of the big bike companies build bikes in asia. I guess thats the world we live in. Its a catch22, because I’m happy the guy got a bicycle, but I hate the way the ruthless bastards at Walmart got the bike to the market at that price. And maybe the Walmart bike isn’t crap and my co-worker will enjoy it for many many years for the limited amount of riding he will do, but there has to be something shady going on to sell new adult bikes at that price.
This is a fantastic idea. I think I’ll use this method rather than pack my bike and have to deal with the hassels of traveling with it.
Can you get a cheapo road bike at wally-world? Or do all they have is the mtn bikes?
Here’s a nice article on Walmart’s business practices:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
that talks about cheap bikes at Walmart, among other things.
I think it says a lot more about us than it does about Wal-Mart. We’re the ones paying 50 times the cost of a Wal-Mart bike. We are the greedy bastards. Wal-Mart may deserve some bithcin’ in many areas but for this group to point fingers at their bike prices is like someone riding in the back of a chaufer driven Rolls bemoaning the fact that the poor folks are taking jobs away by driving cheap foriegn cars.
"Wal-Mart … A perfect example of American inginuity and enterprise. "
By outsourcing everything and paying employees minimal wage without benefits.
But at least by making $50. bikes Wal-Mart employees will be able to afford them on their wages.
"is Wal-Mart holding a gun to these employees heads forcing them to work there? "
No but Wal-Mart has detroyed more small towns than I care to think about. The ugly big box stores on the outskirts turn quaint downtowns into ghost towns.
Sure it’s a capitalistic model of success, but the social cost has been high. I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart.
You have to look to see the gun to the head. Wal-Mart comes into a market and offers low prices that drive out the competition. Ok, that is capitalism. But the downside of this is that in order to offer these lower prices on similar products Wal-Mart cuts costs by:
a. squeezing suppliers (forcing them to offshore production/reduce innovation/reduce quality)
b. squeezing labor (little or no benefits/low wages)
Wal-Mart has a history of exploiting the workforce and threatening any workers who even look like they might organize. So, you are Joe Worker in Smalltown, USA and your job in the factory moved to China and the only job in town is for $7 (or whatever) an hour bagging at Wal-Mart. All of the comptetition is going Chapter 11 because they can’t sell as low because they made the mistake of paying a dignified wage. You have a family to support so, you work at Wal-Mart. Do you see the gun to the head now?
Wal-Mart is a case study in what happens when a corporation uses capitalism (or any system) to maximize profits with no overriding corporate ethics.
I don’t think were greedy bastards for buying bikes that cost much more than the $50 specials. Come on, comparing performance tri, road or mountain bikes to bikes of the Walmart variety is truly comparing apples to oranges. Local bike shops serve a niche market while WalMart serves a different market when it comes to bikes specifically. My initial comment was a knee jerk reaction to “how in the world can they do that.” I’m glad that someone who can only afford $50 for a bike can have a bike.
However, cerveloguy has a point. It sounds awful but there is some truth to it.
I have bought my kids bikes from Walmart before but never again. Those bikes are absolutely crap and assembly is sketchy. Last weekend was my sons 10th birthday and we went to a local “family” bike shop in town and for $200 got a really nice little Giant bmx bike with Tektro brakes and an aluminum frame. Those $50 Walmart/Target bikes are really not a value and are unsafe junk. As I was disassembling the old Walmart bike (for recycling metal parts), I found a crack in the rear drop out. Pitched that thing in the recycle bin…maybe it will make a nice can some day.