Around the block, on the boardwalk, or at the beach – you’re always riding in style on a Schwinn cruiser. These vintage-inspired bikes feature padded seats and upright riding positions for extra comfort every time you ride. Electric bikes put extra power behind every pedal so you can ride farther, take on bigger hills, and enjoy cycling more than ever before.
Power up your adventure and turn your everyday ride into something extraordinary with an electric bike. With pedal assist and throttle, you can go farther, faster, and have more fun doing it. Don’t sweat the hills – just charge it up, get on, and go. Customers have different views on the comfort of the stationary bicycle. Some find it comfortable and well-padded, while others feel the seat is uncomfortable for them.
They were leftover from projects I worked on in 2013 and included scraps of X-Pac, wax, webbing, buckles, etc. The general consensus with the team was that this shouldn’t go against budget since I was using leftover material, but I went ahead and assigned some value to it based on research. For me, the most difficult part of the Build-Off was getting started. Living in the small town of Brevard, North Carolina, the local pool of used bikes—whether at thrift stores or on Facebook Marketplace—is fairly limited. Plus, schwinn exercise bike older mountain bikes from the ’80s and ’90s are often on the smaller side, and tracking down a frame in the XL-XXL range proved to be especially challenging. To complicate matters, Hurricane Helene struck just as I finally found a contender.
While most customers are satisfied with its performance, there are differing opinions on noise level, comfort, and value for money. That sums up most of what I made and brought, save a couple items I’ll cover below. Note that I had a lot of the materials on hand that were used to make the bags.
Fortunately for me, this particular 1988 High Sierra was in pretty good shape and 100% rideable when I bought it for $150. There really wasn’t any need for replacement parts, although I put a set of larger knobbier tires on it for aesthetics and proper toughness. That being said, it’s worth highlighting my thought process when sourcing a used bike. To address the elephant in the room, I’m well aware that our Budget Bikepacking Build-Off is somewhat silly. Since all of us participating already own a bike (or several) and a full complement of bikepacking gear, we’re essentially buying equipment we don’t need just to make content for this site. To show options when budgetary constraints are the hurdle prohibiting people from trying a multi-day bike trip.