Schwinn vs Huffy

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

PSB wrote:
> Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle.
I
> know what to look for when it comes to assembling them. The bike is
> going to be used as a commuter. The Huffy's are about 30 dollars
cheaper
> and both have Shamino gears. Just curious if I should spend the 30
bucks
> more for a Schwinn or not. If you are going to reply that I should
buy
> from an LBS, save your bandwidth.
>
> So which would you recommend?

Neither. As commuters, they would probably do OK. But they are cheap
junk, and possibly like throwing money away. If you search in this
newsgroup for "Carl Fogel" "Roadmaster" and "Fury", you will find the
saga of a cheap dept. store bike.

You /should/ buy from your LBS. But not a new bike. A used one. A
decent, well-maintained, used bike can cost only a bit more than a new
dept. store bike-shaped toy, and is likely to have better components.
This means that you might get more life out of your used bike than you
would out of a new bike-shaped toy from some *Mart.

Locally, the LBSs have quite a bit of used inventory that they are
willing to make deals on because in our corner of North America, it's
winter, and bikes don't sell well here in the winter.
Good luck.

HAND,

E.P.

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

My Huffy has 6 years = 48k miles of commuting on it. I haven't
tried a Schwinn, either the original brand or the current one.

You can order parts from Huffy for it as well, when they wear out.
Or if enough wear out at once, just buy a whole new Huffy.

I generally get 6 years before that happens, and the current one
looks to be going strong for more years yet.
--
Ron Hardin
rhhardin@mindspring.com

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

> Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle. I
> know what to look for when it comes to assembling them. The bike is going
> to be used as a commuter. The Huffy's are about 30 dollars cheaper and
> both have Shamino gears. Just curious if I should spend the 30 bucks more
> for a Schwinn or not. If you are going to reply that I should buy from an
> LBS, save your bandwidth.
>
> So which would you recommend?

Bandwith is cheap, sorry. Look for a decent used bike. You could probably
find one for nearly free at a garage sale or thrift shop that would be far
better than the Huffy or Schwinn from a department store. If you have the
skills to properly assemble a bike, you can probably easily deal with a used
bike, and recognize a real gem that's there for the taking.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

Bicycling did a comparison of a bike shop Schwinn and a WalMart Schwinn.
Their consensus was the Wal-Schwinn wasn't nearly as nice as a low end LBS
Schwinn, but it was still the best department store bike ever. Caveat
emptor!

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

>> Bandwith is cheap, sorry. Look for a decent used bike. You could probably
>> find one for nearly free at a garage sale or thrift shop that would be
>> far better than the Huffy or Schwinn from a department store. If you have
>> the skills to properly assemble a bike, you can probably easily deal with
>> a used bike, and recognize a real gem that's there for the taking.
>
> I know someone who purchased a lugged steel frame Trek with near perfect
> paint for $10 at a yard sale.

And isn't there something noble about giving a bike like that a new lease on
life? But I'm beginning to suspect this is a troll, given the recent remark
from the original poster regarding knobby vs slick tires for a "commute"
bike.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

>> So which would you recommend?
>
> Murray or C. Itoh.

What's wrong with American Flyer?

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

> Learning toward one or the other for buying a new dept store bicycle.

Buy a much better used bike for the same amount of money, out of the
local newpaper ads.

--
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much
to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes,
it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

Wow. Just for fun, i'm gonna reply to this one. Even tho i am
completely a roadie, and everything I own now is fitted to a T, I
believe there is a place for dept store mass production machines.
Caveat - they are mostly wear-em-out-and-throw-em-away. Don't worry
about Huffy or Schwinn, go for price. Don't get fancy shocks. Don't do
stunts on it. Avoid potholes and riding off curbs. Make sure it fits,
and the instant the saddle gets uncomfortable, replace it with a better
one. Experiment with saddles. If your commute is <5 miles, maybe you'll
never have a problem.

When I was a child my parents bought me a few various "English"
3-speeds. I didn't like em and always wanted what the other kids had -
Sting-Rays. The first bike I had I considered to be mine I stole from
my sister - she had moved out of the house and left it. That was a
humongously heavy Schwinn girls cruiser - but it had a basket, and I
had a newspaper route that I had to deliver to make money, and there
was no other bike in the house at the time. My second bike I got after
high school, and once again used to commute to work - it was a dept
store cheapo 10-speed, and it saw a couple of hard summers of commuting
to work, and even some non-summer commutes. The bike held up long
enough, and served its purpose. At that time I had no spare parts bin
to rebuild a used bike, and didn't have the knowledge or desire to do
so either. It worked, I worked, and we got along just fine. When the
seat stay (part of the frame) broke away from the rest of the frame, my
kid brother braised it back, and 'inherited' the bike that way. Overall
miles, it didn't go that far, but it went far enough, and the price was
right.

Knobbies vs. slicks? Unless you're doing sloppy dirt, do the slicks.
The skinniest lightest tire that will give you a ride without going
flat or sinking into your "road" surface is a good way to think about
it. Riding roads in Africa or Mongolia? Get fat thick tires. Not going
there? hmmm.

You know, Ron H doesn't get a lot of respect around here, but on this
topic I agree with him.

Have a great day;
Mark

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

> Isn't that a wooden sled. Wasn't my old sled an American Flyer?
> Maggie.
> Maybe I am getting senile.

Maybe, but I might be getting there first. Might have been American Eagle.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

"Maggie" <lbuset@allsecretarial.com> wrote in message
news:1104341886.816342.117980@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Mike Jacoubowsky Dec 29, 12:00 am show options
>
> Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech
> From: "Mike Jacoubowsky" <mik...@ix.netcom.com> - Find messages by this
> author
>
>>> So which would you recommend?
>
> What's wrong with American Flyer?
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
> www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
>
>
> Maggie Dec 29
>
> Isn't that a wooden sled. Wasn't my old sled an American Flyer?
> Maggie.
> Maybe I am getting senile.
> Reply
>

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

Tom Keats wrote:
> In article <33fufhF3p7fvdU1@individual.net>,
> "Pat" <Pat@someday.com> writes:
>>
>>>
>>> But I'm beginning to suspect this is a troll, given
>>> the recent remark from the original poster regarding
knobby vs
>>> slick tires for a "commute" bike.
>>>
>>> --Mike Jacoubowsky
>>>
>> I agree: it's a troll. He wanted to start a flame war,
that's all.
>
> In which case, I'd recommend the knobbies. Big, fat,
plushie,
> aggressively-treaded ones.
>
Steel rims are a must. Much stronger and so shiny

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

A Muzi left his web site link, and I wandered over to his
photo of the day.
http://www.yellowjersey.org/daily.html

It's quite the winter cycling photo!

(because this may not be the picture at some later point, I
will describe it: an upside-down iron is substituted for the
saddle. The iron is connected to an auto battery, which is
where the rack trunk would be on my bike.)

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

In article <sn00rc.ns5.ln@bud.garden.local>,
tomk2003@hotmail.com (Tom Keats) wrote:

> In article <8HIAd.8631$by5.2522@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>,
> OliverS <zoar1951-news_nospam_@yahoo.com> writes:
>
> > Rolling resistance comes from distortion of the tire and the surface. A
> > steel wheel on a steel rail has the least rolling resistance.
> >
> > Knobby tires have significantlly greater rolling resistance than a
> > smooth tire. Likewise high pressure tires have less rolling resistance
> > than soft tires. The most important thing is to get a bike that fits.
> > If it has knobby tires, change them to something smoother. I love
> > Avocet Cross tires 700x35 for general purpose riding and touring. The
> > inverted tread has low rolling resistance on a smooth surface, and has
> > some grip on dirt roads and paths. They are a little bit on the
> > expensive side though. If you are commuting, you do not want knobbies,
> > unless you are purposely trying to increase your calorie burn.
>
> Knobbies do make a pleasing 'buzz' on asphalt. Sure, they'll
> slow ya down and (heaven forbid) allow other riders to pass ya
> sometimes. But if you don't care, it doesn't matter. And there
> may be some shortcut scenarios where knobbies come in handy.
> Even in urban environs.

But slicks are soo much nicer to ride on! And better cornering grip. And
better wet-pavement grip. I have a set of Tioga City Slickers, which are
pretty cheap, available at MEC, and they even have gumwalls to satisfy
the purists. The tread is a minimalist road pattern.

Even on packed gravel, I would opt for the slicks over knobbies. About
the only urban surface a knobby can traverse that a slick cannot is a
muddy slope long enough that you can't just power through by
accelerating before you hit the hill. That's a pretty rare thing, even
when making shortcuts.

> One of the worst thing about knobbies is not being able to
> run a sidewall generator on them. They can interfere with
> fenders, too, on a commuter bike.

I love knobbies when I'm playing in the mud. But one of my Boxing Day
finds was a nice rear wheel for $15, which will soon hold the slicks for
my mountain bike, causing quick-change happiness for planned urban
stupidity.

--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.

Re: Schwinn vs Huffy

Tom Keats wrote:
> I finally parted ways with my Cheng Shins, after 8-10K kilometers.
> I went looking for a new pair of the same, but ended up instead
> with IRC Metros, from The Bike Doctor. $11.69 each. They at least
> look similar to the Cheng Shins.

Cheng Shin makes the sturdiest, longest lasting tire I've ever seen. They
have amazingly high rolling drag, however. You go 10% faster with anything else.
--
Ron Hardin
rhhardin@mindspring.com

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.