After a few months of watching summer go by waiting for a good deal on Marketplace, I got fed up and bought my first ever new bike. 



The Ridge Pro is awesome! I never thought Wal-Mart could make a good bike. It’s got some issues (I broke the saddle on my first ride within an hour and 9 speeds is a bit annoying, coming from an 11 speed RD on my road bike) but for $650 delivered, it’s a killer deal. 180mm hydraulic brakes, a proper air fork, boost spacing, a dropper post, etc. It’s a real hard tail mountain bike and I was airborne within minutes of my first ride.   


If you get this, absolutely go over every nut and bolt. My front through axle was massively over tightened. My threads are fine, but that was pretty tense. My rear brake‘s caliper hydraulic line nut was looser than I’d like. My seat and handlebars were also way out of alignment. The shifting was passable but not really good enough for me until I gave it some love.   


If you’re impatient and have some tools and know-how, this bike is awesome. If you are more patient or buy used earlier into the season, you can probably get a better deal. If you aren’t confident in your abilities to set up a bike, the cost of bringing it to a LBS for a tune and an inspection will absolutely destroy any value this bike offers too.

Rippin on my Wal-Mart bike