Thanks for your fair balanced review on the GMC Denali Road Bike.

(Not to be confused with the more expensive ‘Denali Pro’ sold elsewhere (online only) for $ 300)

I’m referring to the Walmart bicycle that is the only true road bike stocked at most Walmart stores, as of Fall 2011.

It is sold for a reasonable $ 159.00 – making it the most affordable road bike anywhere.

I bought a Denali for my son to use, as we re-enter the sport of Road Biking.

I have an ‘old school’ Benotto Italian road bike that I’ve just restored / updated, after 20 years of ‘rust & dust’ & idle-ness.

We saw that the LBS – local bike store – their entry level price was $ 650 min for a nice starter road bike. (brands were: Jamis Satellite, Giant Defy & Trek 1.1)

Now that isn’t an unreasonable price, given the obvious quality & nice features, but just too much for us to pay at this time, given my son’s possibility of losing interest in the sport.

Kudos to Walmart for offering such an overall satisfying product.

Yes it weighs 28 lbs, but for a young man, a little extra weight can only help him train, and even my ‘old school’ Benotto bike (a $ 799 bike back in 1988) weighs 22 lbs, not all that far apart.

The GMC Denali even manages to feel every bit as lively – even more responsive in some aspects, than my lighter Benotto (steel frame) probably due to it’s more advanced Aluminum frame.

The shifters (Shimano RevoShift) & drivetrain are “mountain bike” style, but they work very well, and offer the advantage of the smaller diameter, lower geared front chainring that can help make the hills manageable, while top gearing is plenty fast for the flat terrain.

In fact, my son & I did a 25 mile ride / race (Pineywoods Texas Purgatory) and the lower gears on the Denali helped my son out pace me by over 25 minutes, even through the Denali is heavier than my Benotto.

(The fact that he’s 15 and I’m 47 had nothing to do with it, of course !)

Anyhow, here are some minor upgrades we think important:

- Add tuffy liners to tires to prevent flats – decrease flats by 85 %

- Upgrade tubes to ‘presta valve’ from the schrader valves, so portable pumps work, also the valve loses less air upon ‘unchucking’ the pump. Works fine on rims ‘as is’ – and Walmart carries the proper 700c X 25-32c presta valve tubes.

- With tires off, check rim liners for spoke holes that are rough, or upgrade rim / spoke liner (avail @ LBS) to prevent rim & spoke side induced flats.

- Upgrade brake pads – haven’t done this yet, but planning it. The brakes are weaker than their design suggests they should be. Other reviews elsewhere said the stock pads were not effective due to a poor rubber compound & aftermarket ones doubled braking power. Nuff said – simple upgrade for very little.

- Stock tires are 32c, and a bit heavy for a road bike. Almost hybrid tire size, in fact.

If your roads are a potholed mess, that may be OK, but a smaller profile tire would help decrease road weight & resistance. I’m looking at a 28c or maybe a 25c (1″ wide – std road bike) tire like the CZAR by CST tire, or similar.

Watch the handle bar assembly from the factory: it’s a two piece, unique design utilized because of the Shimano RevoShift, which must slide on from a straight bar end.

Not a problem, very strong with the thru bolt & ridged collar & larger stem, but on ours the alighnment was far from perfect. We had to disassemble & re-align the bars, drill a new ‘thru hole’ with the alignment corrected – not a big deal, and now much more satisfying to ride, with the handle bars level & straight.

Once we did the initial minor adjustments (85 psi in tires, adjust derailers), check fastener tightness, adjust seat post height & angle, this bike exhibited about 90 % of the ride quality & experience of my expensive road bike.

Though sligthly heavier, it’s a very sturdy feeling machine, feeling more robust & less fragile than my Benotto.

This is undoubtedly due to the fact that it has precisely extruded Vitesse Lite aero rims, but mated with mountain bike size hubs.

On recent local club rides with multiple riders, by son has been able to keep up with the guys on the carbon fiber $ 2000 + bikes.

In fact, on a recent 32 mile ride, they finished only a couple of minutes ahead – not bad considering many of their bikes weigh 16 lbs, and they’ve been riding for years.

If my son progresses, I will either let him use the Benotto, or maybe buy him his own Denali Pro, (which can be had from Amazon.com) and is an upgraded version of this bike, with a few key improved features, and lighter weight.

With Wal-Mart’s great 90 day satisfaction guarantee (save that receipt…), you can sure try the GMC Denali and see if your experience isn’t very positive overall.

We’re a large family on a budget, so we have to be very careful with the $$$.

Thanks for reading my post / comment !

David Alan
Texas