Hip Priest
Veteran
Excellent summary, Cubist. If it ain't fit for purpose, it's a BSO. If it's cheap but does the job, it's a cheap bike.
BSO
- Thread starter rowan 46
- Start date
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If these bikes were the deathtraps some insist they are, where are all these dead cyclists?
I would hazard a guess that the huge majority of cycling fatalities are the result of being knocked down by a car/van/bus/lorry and it matters little whether you are riding a state of the art carbon, fancy custom built steel or a Tesco double bouncer.
I would hazard a guess that the huge majority of cycling fatalities are the result of being knocked down by a car/van/bus/lorry and it matters little whether you are riding a state of the art carbon, fancy custom built steel or a Tesco double bouncer.
Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
Brakes aren't a safety issue where you live then? They are here in the Pennines.
Perhaps we can start a whole new debate on the use of the term "deathtrap", ie only to be used if the item in question is fit for purpose, ie causing death more often than not......
I would argue that the likelihood of actually being mown down and killed on a BSO is slim, but only because most of them are either on the pavement, in the park or rusting at the back of the shed
Angelfishsolo
A Velocipedian
- Location
- Cwmbach, South Wales
Perhaps it's because they are not ridden far enough to reach that point. Maybe the owners know people such as me or Cubist (my neighbour has a BSO I am forever tweaking it). Unless you live in the Fens or Holland I would have thought brake failure would be a major/fatal issue.
A Tesco bike costs the same price to replace as a modest service at an LBS. Dumping such a bike every 3 - 6 months may offend environmental sustainability but make perfect economic sense.
I'm not sure many (if any) modern bikes are as poor quality as welded tube 70s bike boom frames, most just have too much kit on them. Quite expensive bikes used to have suicide brake levers, bendy callipers, horrible saddles, thick steel seat pins, comedy ball bearings, clueless spokes and chewing gum chainsets with alarming wear rates.
When supermarket-Chinese fashion catches up with the singlespeed trend and knocks out fixies for a hundred nicker cyclists may take them more seriously.
I'm not sure many (if any) modern bikes are as poor quality as welded tube 70s bike boom frames, most just have too much kit on them. Quite expensive bikes used to have suicide brake levers, bendy callipers, horrible saddles, thick steel seat pins, comedy ball bearings, clueless spokes and chewing gum chainsets with alarming wear rates.
When supermarket-Chinese fashion catches up with the singlespeed trend and knocks out fixies for a hundred nicker cyclists may take them more seriously.
Angelfishsolo
A Velocipedian
- Location
- Cwmbach, South Wales
The issue arises when the brakes fail to work from day one. Anyone who buys a bike from such a place is highly unlikely to have even heard of an M-Check and will assume (quite logically) that the brakes et al will work. If they (and other components such as gear) do not then the bike is not fir for purpose and is a BSM.
Angelfishsolo
A Velocipedian
- Location
- Cwmbach, South Wales
If you bought a new car and the brakes didn't work would you argue the same point?
That is not a fault of the bike. If I have something that doesn't work, I fix it, or get someone else to fix it for me if I can't fix it myself. If someone continues to ride a bike with no brakes, that is the fault of the owner, not the bike.
Angelfishsolo
A Velocipedian
- Location
- Cwmbach, South Wales
So you would buy a new bike that did not work properly, pay for it to be
Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
But, once again, you appear to be missing the point that Summerdays, I and Angel are making, (or have tried to make in the sea of apparently selective illiteracy) and that is that the brakes on Tesco bikes are not particularly good quality. They have to be assembled by the buyer. The buyers are, by any argument, not likely to be particularly good bike mechanics (the argument, if I have to spell this out, is that they wouldn't be buying boxed supermarket bikes if they were), and so the initial assembly and adjustment is less likely to be good.
The brakes then go out of adjustment as the cable stretches with use, the blocks wear and the wheel goes out of true because the owner is convinced by the design that it is suitable for jumping off kerbs etc etc. The owner (or his parent) does not have the experience to maintain them properly. The poor build quality with poor components simply compounds this issue.
apollo179
Well-Known Member
I would argue its bad but i dont see the arguement for bso.
If assembly issues are evidence of bso status then if you disconnects the brake cable from your super bike then it also becomes a bso (albeit temporary) . It just dosnt work that way , does it ?
Angelfishsolo
A Velocipedian
- Location
- Cwmbach, South Wales
If you disconnect the brakes on any bike and ride it you are crazy. If you follow a set of instructions provided with a self assembly bike and the brakes still do not work it is a BSO.
As for the car anaolgy is you would class a car as bad for having non functional brakes I have a reasonable car I would like to sell you.