Discount retailer WalMart has offered some affordable bikes over the years and this week we heard that the store is offering a 29-inch Mongoose Hex Men’s Fitness Bike. This BMX/freeride mountain bike features an aluminum frame with 36×12 gearing and 29-inch weight. Best of all it is reportedly just $159, making it a good commuter or bike for the campsite.
Mongoose Hex Men’s Fitness Bike at WalMart.com
[Via GearJunkie: $159 for Single-Speed ‘Mountain Bike’ from Mongoose (sold at Walmart)]
There was a time when bicycles were still made in America, and while some high-end models are still produced here, most production of bikes has gone to China. It doesn’t look like bike production will ever return to American shores, but soon the Chinese might be facing competition from India.
Hero Cycles this week signed an agreement with Walmart to supply bicycles to the world’s largest retailer. This could see sales double to 10 million units annually by 2015, and potentially keep the price of lower end bikes reasonable. Hero Cycles currently retail for around $200 a piece. Continue reading Hero Bicycles to Land at Walmart
Fix gear bikes are over! It is official – mass retailer WalMart is carrying “fixies” now, so you know that must mean they’re uncool. At least that’s what a lot of bloggers and various hipster types have to say. Here is a sampling of what has been said online:
Blogtown.com:
“Cry your eyes out, fixsters. Fixed gears have gone worse than mainstream. They’ve gone to WalMart. Tipster Amanda G. sent along a Treehugger article about the recent arrival of fixies on WalMart shelves.”
From Gawker.com:
“First Urban Outfitters started peddling them. Now Hipster of the Decade blog Hipster Runoff notices that Walmart is selling fixed gear bicycles. It’s official: The number one cause of fauxhemian crashes on Bedford Avenue is no longer cool.”
OK, so maybe those posts are as sarcastic about this being “over” as we’re taking it. But the truth is that this is actually good news, and we’ll shout it from the rooftops; it is COOL that WalMart is selling the 700C Men’s Mongoose Cachet “Fixed-Speed” Bike. We’re not sure what they mean by “Fixed-Speed,” but at $149, we’re not complaining either.
And for the record, once Specialized and other large bicycle manufacturers got in on the single speed and fixed gear market many said it was over. But this just shows that the market is expanding. And that should be viewed as a good thing. If the hipsters don’t like it, who cares. But WalMart also sells HDTVs and video games, and no one ever said those were uncool.
