The new Wal*Mart Brand. Options

[svtfmook]

alright, i bought my son a mike spinner hyper at wal mart. i first grabbed a prebuilt, EVERYTHING was loose and wobbly on the bike. so i asked if i could get one that was not put together yet.

with that being said, TO's REALLY need to get their techs to specifically look these wal mart bikes over during tech inspection. nothing like putting a new rider, on an improperly assembled bike onto a track.

[Brett Middaugh]

pacific cycles you ment ?

Yes, they own the brand...but goose still makes bike shop bikes, has a couple pros, exposure, etc.

If only riders truly understood where are their favorite brands came from...

[sxebmx]

What will happen is the bike shops will drop them because people will come into the stores and say" I can get a DK at walmart cheaper".
Thats what happened to Schwin, Mongoose. And GT. And enen if the shops can explain the differance, they have all ready lost sales to walmart. GT is the only one that seems to be surving being owned by Pacific for a while. I know Dicks was carring a lower line of Diamondbacks and the local shops lost interest in stocking there line because of the prices, even though the bike shop lines are higher end stuff. Its sad because all those company's ether made great stuff in the past or some such as diamondback and GT still do.

Maybe they are planning on focusing on higher end after market stuff? In the last few years DK's been stepping up their aftermarket game(new frames, cranks, hubs, etc) Beyond the first or second bike, people end up building their own. Unfortunately BMX doesn't really have a place for "high end completes" like the rest of the cycling world.

[MeredithJL]

On a related note re new kids showing up on big box store bikes. I met a dad and his son at Orlando last week. I met them because Dad was taking the bike off the rack and I noticed the bars were WAY too far forward. I got him to give me the bike so I could adjust the bars--every stem bolt was loose. A couple of them I found finger loose. Then I checked the whole bike: Stem, front wheel, back wheel, both pedals and the seat post clamp were all loose. This kid would have totaled himself first time out of the gate and probably would never come back to the track again if I hadn't seen his bike before he got on the track.

The point being, you might think a cheap bike isn't worth your attention, but do the newbies a favor and check em out before they get the chance to kill themselves on a bike that's been beat to hell on the street by a future bmxer.

(And no, this is not a call for mandatory inspections lol -- just a suggestion to be a little more observant than we sometimes are during practice)

This post has been edited by MeredithJL: Sep 30 2011, 08:53 AM

[Elvis]

Anything keeping Catfish in bank is okay by me.

[MXNate]

Ive never really understood the upside for these companies doing business with Walmart, from everything Ive seen and read they make it almost impossible for the suppliers to make any profit. I cant imagine Hyper is making much if anything on those $100 DR bikes, by the time everybody takes a piece theres no way to be profitable. Some will say it gets their name out there but to me being associated with walmart isnt the way to garner long term loyality, most kids who get hooked will want to drop that Hyper in favor of any of the more tradition race brands. I think DK is making a mistake, in my mind they've worked so hard to be taken seriously and have made some real headway, why take a big step backwards? Why don't these brands work with the LBS to market and sell these $100 bikes, they may not sell as many but at least they'll make something, their reputations will be intact and the bikes won't fall apart before they get to the track. This could be the nail in the coffin for DK at least as a serious brand in the racing and freestyle markets.

[mattybmx]

As you may or may not know, but DK is now owned by Huffy.
Huffy has lost massive market share to Schwinn n Mongoose.

[Eric151]

With department store and TV exposure hopefully this is the start of an upswing. World industries was one of the first to start selling skateboards to department stores and doing more public videos instead of all underground and they were one of the companies to really help boost skateboarding to where it is today. Not saying that this is going to happen to BMX because of DK but who knows. Maybe the stars are aligning???

[bystickel]

I don't understand why the bigwigs at Huffy think that DK will have any more appeal to the uninformed consumer than a new brand name would. What % of WalMarters have heard of DK? Schwinn, yes. GT, not likely. DK, no.

I worked in the bike division of Dorel, before they bought GT/Schwinn/Cannondale. We had product placed at Walmart. It exceeded WalMart's expectations. What did they do to reward our success? They demanded a huge price decrease, which we couldn't do because our product was better, and more expensive to produce. WalMart dropped us for a cheaper, crappier product.

I don't expect DK to be there long. The name's not even cool-sounding.

[d0ubledown]

walmart = the devil.


if it gets newbies on the track, thats great. but with everything else, you get what you pay for. sure, walmart will sell em a low end complete. but then when it comes time to upgrade lil jimmy's bike, with a longer stem, better wheelset, hell... even tubes or tires, or even a tuneup. they'll go back to walmart. nope sorry, cant help ya. that is, if they're lucky enough to get decent service, or someone that actually knows somethinb about anything. most lbs here wont even touch anything purchased at walmart/big box stores, and rightfully so.

so they go to their lbs. new wheelset is how much? thats 2~3X what i paid for the bike. replace the bike for a better one for 4~5 bills? why so much when i bought the bike at welfare mart of half the price?

if new parents get scared off when they bring their shiny new $2K bike out, kid crashes and doesnt want to do it anymore, thats nobodys fault but their own. there will always be those with more money than brains.

with the advent of teh internets and google, its not hard to research such things. newbies at the track, i always point them out to buying a quality used vs low end new. theres always loaners at the track, somethings always on the fence or CL. then i point them out to the local shops, or the online retaillers. you wont find quality at walmart. in their products, and service.

theres a difference between cheap, and good value. walmart = cheap. nothing more...and usually much less.

best of luck to DK and hyper for venturing into the land of walmart.

This post has been edited by d0ubledown: Sep 30 2011, 10:54 AM