Grrrr - I hate working on BSOs

[swee'pea99]

Neighbour's son's bike appeared with broken levers. His dad knows I'm 'the bloke who does bikes'.

Ok, fine. Until you find that the thing was never assembled properly in the first place, and when you put the new levers on and assemble the rest properly, the cable's not long enough, so then you have to replace the cable. And when it's finally all done & you return it, you're told a few minutes later that 'it won't go'.

What d'you mean 'it won't go'? Kid demonstrates. You've only set the brakes up right for the position the wheel happened to be in. You never allowed for the outrageous wheel wobble. Take it back, straighten the wheel, done. Phew. How long will it last? Who can say. 'Made in Tunisia' under the BB is less than massively encouraging.

But having said all that, it's great to see the kid back on his bike having fun.

 

[classic33]

Neighbour's son's bike appeared with broken levers. His dad knows I'm 'the bloke who does bikes'.

Ok, fine. Until you find that the thing was never assembled properly in the first place, and when you put the new levers on and assemble the rest properly, the cable's not long enough, so then you have to replace the cable. And when it's finally all done & you return it, you're told a few minutes later that 'it won't go'.

What d'you mean 'it won't go'? Kid demonstrates. You've only set the brakes up right for the position the wheel happened to be in. You never allowed for the outrageous wheel wobble. Take it back, straighten the wheel, done. Phew. How long will it last? Who can say. 'Made in Tunisia' under the BB is less than massively encouraging.

But having said all that, it's great to see the kid back on his bike having fun.

It'll be back later today. Brakes worked too well. Especially the front brake.

 

[FrankCrank]

....Made in Tunisia - heh heh, never seen that one before...

 

[Levo-Lon]

I fixed the neighbours daughters friends bike on sunday.
24' wheel wth the Schrader valve torn off.
i put a presta 26 tube in which worked fine, then sorted the brakes as they were all set up wrong ,then the gears..handlebars were a mile out etc lol..
The bloody bike weighed a ton too ..

she knocked on the door later with a box of Hero's for me as a thankyou ..
i love fixing most things and as said, its nice to see kids on a bike and a safe one even more so.

 

[biggs682]

@swee'pea99 can i drop a bike round later just needs some new brake cables fitting and then setting up , but whilst you are there could you pop a rear tyre on as well please nothing too expensive though

 

[Hugh Manatee]

I have lost a fair few items from my spares box over the last few years as my kids' friends came around with their BSOs. The standout one was when I had to fit front and rear brakes as this lad's bike simply didn't have any.

Those really cheap twist grip shifters make my blood run cold. If I lack the strength to use them, what chance has a child got?

 

[Globalti]

My heart sinks when somebody says to me: "I only spent £99, just want something to pootle around on. Can you have a look at it for me?"

I've tried to sort out bikes like this and given up in frustration. The components don't fit together and everything's made of cheap materials. The cheapest bikes I've seen that are of reasonable quality have been Tribans from Decathlon.

 

[DaveReading]

'Made in Tunisia' under the BB is less than massively encouraging.

The hardest bit on those bikes is getting the right tension on those Arab springs.

 

[Drago]

It was probably intended for use by a suicide bomber.

 

[EltonFrog]

The hardest bit on those bikes is getting the right tension on those Arab springs.

Clever. And funny.

 

[Ajay]

Look make their frames in Tunisia. So Tunisians can make great bikes, just saying.

 

[Moodyman]

Dual suspension BSOs with a dry chain are the worst.

 

[Levo-Lon]

It was probably intended for use by a suicide bomber.

maybe why Raleigh dropped the Bomber? visionary sales staff ?

 

[mybike]

I have lost a fair few items from my spares box over the last few years as my kids' friends came around with their BSOs. The standout one was when I had to fit front and rear brakes as this lad's bike simply didn't have any.

Those really cheap twist grip shifters make my blood run cold. If I lack the strength to use them, what chance has a child got?

Spent some time using them, so glad to replace them with Altus!

Dual suspension BSOs with a dry chain are the worst.

But they can be made to work adequately.

 

[Moodyman]

But they can be made to work adequately.

Only after giving you a bad back from lifting them around and upside down.