I rode a 1995 model Murray mountain bike to school nearly every day for 5 years, and this thing never gave me a single problem or had a single part break. I was not easy on it. I'd be jumping off speed bumps, hopping up curbs at nearly full speed, going off high curbs at full speed, and once even rode it off a dock into a lake. I think my parents picked it up for $90 at Wal-Mart back in 1995. I proceeded to do this for the better part of ten years, all on the original parts and tires with the only maintenance being spraying WD-40 on the chain every spring and sometimes adjusting the brake cables.

-Heavy. I swear the frame of this thing was forged out of depleted uranium by the proud Dwarves of Middle-Earth, but it will not break.
-When quickly shifting the rear gears from 1st to 5th it would sometimes just dump the chain off the 5th gear entirely. You just needed to shift a little slower.
-Shock absorbency was non-existent. Imagine off-roading in a train.

This was one hell of a warhorse for $90. Screw the weight, get some leg strength, and this thing will take you to hell and back.

fun to demo

everything, fork bent from going up a curb

murrays suck

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my beloved gary fisher and proflex

Well, there is one place this bike excels. That is, teaching a child how to work on a bike. It is broke so much, he will be an expert in bike repair by the time he is 7 (he is 6 now).

all mentioned above...but hey, for FREE it isn't bad!

If you get it for free, and know how to make adjustments and small repairs, ain't too bad for 'round town. Don't jump any curbs though, because then you will be buying rims! I think a Suzuki I rented in Denver did that once...hmmm.

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none

It will one day be recycled into a washing machine.

Weight, Build Quality, Better off braking with your feet, rims go out of true, shifters licks donkey balls, chain suck, and oh I NEVER rode it off pavement

If you are on this site, and are actually considering buying a department store bike PLEASE read this. When I went away to college, my old man bought me a Huffy I rode to class everyday and killed it in less than a year. He bought me a Murray the next year. EVRYTHING on this bike stunk. I could barely ride it up a paved hill. The worst experience came when I was crossing a street and stood up on the pedals to hurry my way across. The weld that held the crank arms to the chainrings shattered, sending me flying into the street in front of a speeding car. Luckily he slammed on the brakes missing me by a few feet, but I could have easily been killed. I was so pissed I stood up and threw the 40 lb POS across the street. Being poor and not wanting to walk, I found a guy in one of the maintance buildings to weld the thing back together for me. I later got a REAL bike, but gave this one to my sister. She gave it to her boyfriend to ride. He rode off a 4 inch curb to cross a street and the handlebars broke in half, sendind him flying into the street. HE could have been killed on the same bike. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NEVER BUY A DEPARTMENT STORE BIKE You are truly risking your life just riding down the street.

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Other POS bikes like Huffy, as well as Trek 9800, Specialized StumpJumper, Cannondale F1000, TREK 930

Durablle, good tires

Very heavy plus 40 pounds,brakes, seat, rims
(you get the picture)

Was a real great bike for the city, light trail, however it's now in bike heaven... I got a new GF Tassajara, I had to get rid of this muray,cuz my local bike shop didnt want to fix department store bikes, and if they did i would have had to spend a helluva alot of money on pretty much everything,new rims(they were bent so bad, that they didnt eve pas through the fork anymore...

Bottom line: great for city riding light(and i mean light)trail riding however ive sold it to a freind for 50 bucks(screwed him over good). it can really take a beating.

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Fisher, GT, Roky mountain

O.K. Commuter bike
But a commuter specific bike would be a better choice

Definately NOT a true "dirt worthy" mountain bike

I was actually surprised to see a review for this bicycle because I’ve always thought of it as "generic," and didn’t think anyone would write about it. But I feel I have to put my two cents in.

My girlfriend used this bike for two years commuting to and from college before I "borrowed" it to find out what this "mountain biking thing" was all about. Knowing nothing about mountain bikes, I assumed if it had 26" wheels and knobby tires, it must be a mountain bike. Was I in for a Rude Awakening. I rode this bike twice up and down mostly fire roads. The brakes (or lack thereof) made any halfway steep or technical descent a frightening proposition. I had bent the "riser" handlebars below the level of the stem on my first descent down a bumpy fireroad. The wheels were so badly out of true by my second ride that I had to open my brake pads and ride with my feet out like Fred Flintstone back down the hill to my car. Needless to say, my first mountain biking impression was not the best.
Not knowing when to put down a lame horse, and because this bike was borrowed, I opted to repair the darn thing.

Rude Awakening #2. My LBS looked at me like I had a disease when I brought this to him to repair. It’s true what has been said about bike shops not wanting to work on dept. store type bikes. The mechanic warned me that I would be better off buying one of their lower end hardtails, than sinking any money at all into fixing my "cheapie" as he called it. Naturally, because I’m hard headed, I didn’t listen.
I ended up teaching myself bicycle repair. By raiding several bike shops bargain bins whenever something broke (which was all too frequent), I thought I was saving money. I had replaced almost every component (save the seatpost and frame) and managed to keep this bike rideable.

Rude Awakening #3. Over a year’s time,when everything was said and done, I realized I had spent almost $400 replacing parts (wheelsets, forks, seat, crankarms, etc.). And it was a $100 (MSRP) bike. I’d be lucky if this bike would net $50 at a yard sale now.
I’ve learned a hard lesson between INEXPENSIVE and CHEAP. For less than $400 I could have taken that LBS mechanic's advice and bought an INEXPENSIVE "real" mountain hardtail, more suited for its intended use, with better quality components (as in stronger and longer lasting), a lighter yet stronger frame, stronger rims, and as I’ve found out, a more dirt worthy bicycle overall. Instead, I sank too much money into a CHEAP, thinly disguised mountain bike that ended up costing me more money in the long run.

AAARRRRGGGHHH! If I only knew then what I know now...................

Strengths? this pos does not even know the meaning of the word

But knows this word VERY very well

I work at a bike shop, I cam not say how many time i see hunks of crap like this come into the shop for repair. My god.. save your money and buy a cheap hardtail of QUALITY at a REAL Bike shop, Atleast then you'll get a lifetime warranty on the frame and 2 on teh parts, where as little old Murray says... the day you buy.. the warranty is OVER!! I hate working on these pieces of Monkey crap, so please.. STOP BUYING THEM DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah.. if I could.. I wouldn;t even rate this Hunk of crap... it's not worthy of even a negative number, but since I must it will get 1 freakin' chili

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Never did, I ride a Sugar 1