BSO

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rowan 46

Über Member
Location
birmingham
whilst looking looking through the acronyms, I found BSO. I was curious as to why such an acronym was needed. Does this refer to motor bikes, scooters etc or is the term meant for something else?
 
OP
OP
rowan 46

rowan 46

Über Member
Location
birmingham
I was afraid of that. Is it an appropriate acronym to have in a forum devoted to the furtherence of general cycling?
 
I was afraid of that. Is it an appropriate acronym to have in a forum devoted to the furtherence of general cycling?

Yup. Should you encourage people to buy bikes where the front forks are on back to front ?
Or Apollo mountain bikes where chunks keep snapping off the groupset ?
£100 Decathlon bikes do get suggested to folks (though there may be decathlon employees embedded here)
and there is a dedicated Aldi/Lidl cycling gear fan club
More so than scalping :thumbsup:
 

Adasta

Well-Known Member
Location
London
Bicycle shaped objects. - A term used by bike snobs to define "Cheap" bikes from Argos ect.

It's not snobbery. Snobbery would be looking down on someone for riding a steel-framed 80s number while you're riding some super-lightweight carbon job.

BSOs are made down to a price. Therefore, the components are poor and the bikes themselves are often poorly put together.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
It isn't the price that defines a BSO ... it is the imitation of a bike ... cheap working maintainable bikes are fine ... ones which are made of extremely poor quality materials or design are BSO's.
 

Adasta

Well-Known Member
Location
London

An acronym is something that you can "say".

Like "SMIDSY", for example.
 

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
You have to be able to say it as a word for it to be an acronym.

Radar is an acronym.
CIA is an initialism.
 

corshamjim

New Member
Location
Corsham
Another problem with BSOs is that often they come in a box with scant instructions and inadequate tools to assemble them safely.

I'm quite tempted, I have to say, to buy a BSO myself for a winter commuter bike, fully expecting to replace most of the cheesiest components in the first few months.
 

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
Tesco at Brighouse had a display of two BSOs (70 quid steel Y-framed dual suspension objets d'horreur) on display this evening. Both had forks on back to front. The manager laughed when he saw them, as he said "Even I can see they're the wrong way round!"

OP, a BSO is something that purports to be a bike, but will actually put the buyer off cycling for life because it will be next to impossible to maintain in rideable form. They end up cluttering up sheds, garages and front gardens before appearing in classified ads with hopelessly optimistic prices.
 
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