kmart-huffy-bikeOn my morning bicycle commute I regularly see a specific type of cyclist.

They ride various extreme budget brand bicycles, the bicycles squeal due to lack of maintenance and poor adjustment and more often then not their wheels are dangerously buckled to the point I have no idea how their brakes function.

To be fair it’s not entirely their fault. Most of them have walked into Kmart, BigW et al and seen bikes for sale at the $100-$200 mark and wondered why on earth people pay upwards of $500 at the local bike shop.

Unfortunately most of these people learn the hard way, or just give up on cycling altogether.

There’s a variety of supermarket bikes out there for sale, Cyclops, Diamondback, Dunlop etc, but by far the most well known is Kmart’s Huffy brand. These nasty cheap things are everywhere and whilst they might be ok for a shortlived kids bike, if you’re going to do anything more then riding a bike around a carpark you should avoid extreme budget bicycles.

Here’s five reasons why.



1. Weight

When you’re looking at a first bicycle or a cheap runabout weight isn’t probably something you’ll be thinking about. Whilst I’m right up there with ridiculing the current trend of saving grams by making every bicycle part possible out of carbon fiber and charging disproportionate bucketloads, even in the budget bicycle category weight is something to take into consideration.

A heavy bike will no doubt slow you down however chances are if you’re looking at budget bikes you’re not going to be breaking speed records anytime soon. Still, what needs to be understood is that when it comes to extreme budget bikes costs are everything and manufacturers like Huffy will use the cheapest nastiest materials available to them.

Sadly we’re not just talking about a few kilos here or there, often the difference between a Huffy style bike and a low entry price point quality brand bike can be 10+kg’s.

Don’t believe me? Next time you’re checking out extreme budget bikes pick a few of them up with one hand. Then go to a bicycle store and pick up some of their cheaper models.

The weight difference should be enough to put you off the budget bike brands alone. There’s nothing worse then hauling an extra few bags of oranges in weight around everywhere you go.



2. Cheap components

Along with heavy frames the next biggest cost saver is cheap componentry. When it comes to the lower end of bikes what this translates into is things breaking prematurely or not working at all and maintenance being an absolute bitch.

At the higher end it’s easy to laugh at ‘Joe Smallpenis’ for spending an extra $3,800 changing over all his bicycle bolts and screws to aeronautical grade carbon fusion covered somemetalIneverheardof’ite to save 5 grams total, but at the lower end we’re talking the difference between spending a few hours adjusting your brakes vs a few minutes.

Cheap components not only wear out faster (even with correct mainentance), don’t work as smoothly as even the cheapest of name brand components but they’re a royal pain to work on.

For example one of my biggest gripes with my Surly Long Haul Trucker is the elcheapo Tektro Oryx brakes. Compared to the Shimano Tiagra road caliper brakes I was using on my previous bike which took literally 30 seconds to center and adjust with a screwdriver, the cantilever brakes on the Trucker take a good solid hour for me to get perfect.

Thankfully they need far less regular adjustment (once or twice a year with heavy use) then road calipers  so I haven’t bothered swapping them out yet and just grit my teeth when the time comes to adjust them. The Tektro Oryx brakes however are a good example of how cheap components can ruin an otherwise stellar bike.

Take the feeling of dread I get when it comes to adjusting my brakes and imagine a whole bicycle made out of cheap nasty components. It isn’t hard to see how this can quickly put people off riding their bikes.

When you’re bike cost $100 it seems silly to pay a bike store $50 to adjust it every few months (and cheaper components used on budget bikes nearly always need more frequent adjustment) to service your bike.

Be weary of budget bikes that are advertised with ‘Shimano components’ too. There’s Shimano components and then there’s the shoddy lower end Shimano components used on budget bikes (Altus, Acera, Alivio, A050, 2200 etc.).

Worse still if the bike has components from some company you’ve never heard of just walk away, chances are it’s imitation crap straight out of China that will be more headaches then any money you could possibly save later down the track.



3. Assembly

If you’ve ever worked in a department store you know there’s really no technical training provided beyond brand and feature recognition. Unless the service assistant you’re talking to has a special interest in bikes, there’s probably a good chance they know as much as you do about them.

In department stores these are the same people that put the bikes together.

Sure the manufacturers provide assembly instructions and all you really need is a set of hex keys and a phillips head screwdriver but there’s a noticeable difference between an assembled bike and a properly assembled bike.

Shoddy assembly can lead to premature component wear, components not working properly at all and worse still are just downright dangerous.

Another tactic some department stores engage in is simply giving you a bike-in-a-box and leaving the assembly up to you. What usually happens from here is you try and put the bike together yourself and fail miserably or you wind up taking it to a proper bike store and paying for them to do it.



4. Durability

One of my pet hates is when someone brings me a bicycle that is beyond component repair and really needs a part overhaul. It’s hard explaining to someone why they should spend a few hundred dollars on their $100 bike for an entry level (second hand) wheelset because their current wheels have started to rust through leaving the spokes unserviceable after a few short years.

By this stage the chain has usually had it, the brake cables are shot and catching in their housing and with any luck half the drivetrain is stuffed too. At this stage it’s almost universally cheaper to just bin the bike and start over. The time spent replacing parts and fixing and adjusting everything just isn’t worth it (unless of course it’s your own time and you’re not in any particular hurry).

All bike parts will eventually wear out but there’s a big difference in terms of durability and serviceability between dirt cheap parts and the bottom end of quality groupsets. Every budget bike is going to have nasty parts on it that are just waiting to fall apart and fail on you at the most inconvenient of times.



5. Service Support

When buying a bike, if something is going to go wrong or fail it’s usually going to happen within the first few months. After this period all you should have to worry about is basic routine maintenance and the eventual wearing of components.

Taking a $100 bike back to a department store after a few weeks of on and off riding for a tuneup is going to get you a lot of blank stares.

Again, unless the sales staff in the department store have a special interest in bikes, they are going to have no idea how to service a bike. Far more likely the store don’t deal with bicycle servicing and you’ll wind up taking it to a proper store anyway (and being charged for it).

When buying even an entry level bike from a proper bicycle store, any good one will offer you at the very least a first service free. The really good ones will offer you three or even six months of servicing.

One of the best service plans I’ve seen was a complete periodic 12 month service plan at no extra charge. Unfortunately it was on the condition you did absolutely no work on the bike yourself so it was kind of useless to me, but great for a person with no bike specific mechanical knowledge.



So what bike should I be buying then?

The good news is you don’t have to spend thousands to get into cycling. Head into any bike store and have a look at their lower end range of bikes.

Don’t be put off by the fancy road bikes they put in the shop window that cost as much as your car, every bike store should cater for the budget bicycle shopper. If the service assistant rolls his or her eyes when you ask about budget bikes or they look disinterested (or try to convince you you need to spend more) just walk away and find another store.

Trek, Giant, Shogun, Apollo and Schwinn all have bikes that start around the $400 mark and should suit the purpose of a beginner cyclist well. Sure it’s a slight step up from that $100 Kmart Huffy ‘bargain’ but all things considered do you really want to have your bike sitting in the garage not being ridden only to wind up in hard rubbish a decade down the track?

Look for a good service plan and don’t be afraid to ask questions when considering a purchase, no matter how umb you might think you sound. Basic maintenance can easily be learnt via the internet (brakes and gear adjustments are the main ones) but you really need a good solid bicycle to work off.

With a bit of perserverance and research you can pickup a cheap bike that will give you years of hasslefree service and easy riding, which at the end of the day is really what it’s all about.



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