In praise of CHEAP bikes!

[gbb]

The trouble with comparing BSO's with cheap cars is the huge range of unnamed bikes that have a huge range of quality...from absolutely bloody awful...to not actually bad for the money.
Cars (cheap ones) on the other hand tend to come from a small range of manufacturers, and most buyers accept the lesser quality knowing they wont fall apart in 6 months, or break down the first time you drive them (generally)

BSOs come in such a huge range, its impossible for the average buyer to know if its even fit for purpose...until he's brought it.

Ive fixed up plenty of BSOs and made fairly workable and durable bikes from them. What they need is constant fettling to keep them going..or a good and proper setup, particually the hub bearings. This seems to be where manufacturers cut corners the most. But it happens everywhere, its designed in. An example was a pressure washer i was given that was not working well. I took it to a specialist friend and he explained...most people use a PW once or twice a year, by the time the things knackered, its actually done very little work, but the owner thinks...well, it is 3 or 4 years old. Theyre designed for that usage. I guess the same goes for BSOs.

Again, the widely differing quality...
Colleague brought a BSO MTB off a TV channel, cost about £100. The cassette actually snapped the first outing . He brought it in to see if i could fix it...it really was atrocious quality, the worst i'd seen. It actually made me angry they could churn out such crap.

Another colleague got a ToysRUs racer for £100 (cant remember the name...and a week after he got it, they reduced them to £50).
I gave it a once over for him, the tyres were heavy and unfeasibly thick and the hubs were poorly adjusted. 1 hour spent on the bike fettling...he commuted on that bike for about 2 years, summer and winter. He thought it was (and i agreed) brilliant value for money.

2 bikes that cost the same...vastly different quality and the average buyer will never know until he's got it.

Should there be a standard they manufacture to ? You wont get that vast difference in quality in cars of the same price point.

 

[gbb]

I think a good thing about BSO's is that it is the introduction to cycling for many people. In my instance I started riding the Halfords Raleigh MTB I had in the shed, then came to the forums and learnt a bit more, then decided I needed something more suitable.

It's unlikely I would have spent £300 to £400 on a whim, before knowing if I was going to stick at cycling or not.

Theres another side to the coin though...how many terrible BSO's have ruined newbies expectations irreversably...vowing never to ride again (i have heard that from people)

Its also surprising when discussing with potential buyers, how often they will disregard your advice (pay a bit more, get something decent, you wont regret it)..they'll immediately say 'yes, but that one is only £100'

 

[TheKay]

I had a Raleigh steel dual suspention mountain bike (paid about £120 for it) for 3 years which didn't let me down, i even did a 65 mile charity ride on it last summer. It is still going strong, I gave it to my bro in law who takes my neice out and about cycling every now and then, I still miss it sometimes... it was an excellent intro to cycling and excellent for training and building the leg muscles up.
I bought a cheap bike in the first place just incase it spent its entire life stored in the shed plus i didn't know much about bikes at the time anyways, turns out it was a bargain.

I now ride a Specialized bike btw

 

[jimboalee]

I sometimes get my bits and pieces from Hawk Cycle outlet.

I was in there a few weeks ago and they had a little 14" wheel folder for £49.
They have been removed from the website...

I ummed and arred about getting one for my GF.

One week later the lot had gone.

In the last couple of weeks, I've seen three around Solihull being ridden by young ladies with brightly coloured backpacks in a 'home from college' direction.

 

[ian turner]

Not sure that Raleigh are quite in the same league as own brand supermarket £50 bikes knocked off by some chinese manufacturer with no quality control. Neither are cars as the setup cost for car manufacturing is well in excess of bike manufacturing.
As to the Toys R Us bike I take it it was still a piece of junk until it was properly adjusted so you have to take into account that the actual cost was potentially at least another £30-£50.
Cheap quality bikes assumes anyone on this forum could actually be tempted to go against their tendencies to pay at least £200 for a new bike and as observed above people who buy the cheap bikes rarely see beyond the cost, don't take advice and don't read these forums.

 

[rh100]

The trouble with comparing BSO's with cheap cars is the huge range of unnamed bikes that have a huge range of quality...from absolutely bloody awful...to not actually bad for the money.
Cars (cheap ones) on the other hand tend to come from a small range of manufacturers, and most buyers accept the lesser quality knowing they wont fall apart in 6 months, or break down the first time you drive them (generally)

BSOs come in such a huge range, its impossible for the average buyer to know if its even fit for purpose...until he's brought it.

Ive fixed up plenty of BSOs and made fairly workable and durable bikes from them. What they need is constant fettling to keep them going..or a good and proper setup, particually the hub bearings. This seems to be where manufacturers cut corners the most. But it happens everywhere, its designed in. An example was a pressure washer i was given that was not working well. I took it to a specialist friend and he explained...most people use a PW once or twice a year, by the time the things knackered, its actually done very little work, but the owner thinks...well, it is 3 or 4 years old. Theyre designed for that usage. I guess the same goes for BSOs.

Again, the widely differing quality...
Colleague brought a BSO MTB off a TV channel, cost about £100. The cassette actually snapped the first outing . He brought it in to see if i could fix it...it really was atrocious quality, the worst i'd seen. It actually made me angry they could churn out such crap.

Another colleague got a ToysRUs racer for £100 (cant remember the name...and a week after he got it, they reduced them to £50).
I gave it a once over for him, the tyres were heavy and unfeasibly thick and the hubs were poorly adjusted. 1 hour spent on the bike fettling...he commuted on that bike for about 2 years, summer and winter. He thought it was (and i agreed) brilliant value for money.

2 bikes that cost the same...vastly different quality and the average buyer will never know until he's got it.

Should there be a standard they manufacture to ? You wont get that vast difference in quality in cars of the same price point.

I wonder if there is a British Standard or something for bikes. But as we know a lot of it is about the setup which should make all but the worst of them rideable. (I know, a cheap full suss may be awful but at least can be safe transport, if not efficient). Perhaps some kind of certification for shops supplying bikes is in order, a trade mark similar to what gas or electricity tradesmen use. I suspect the problem lies in the blurred line between bikes being seen as either a toy or a vehicle. When the bike is sold as a commodity like a tin of beans you can never really expect it to last in the form that it is sold.

 

[rh100]

I sometimes get my bits and pieces from Hawk Cycle outlet.

I was in there a few weeks ago and they had a little 14" wheel folder for £49.
They have been removed from the website...

I ummed and arred about getting one for my GF.

One week later the lot had gone.

In the last couple of weeks, I've seen three around Solihull being ridden by young ladies with brightly coloured backpacks in a 'home from college' direction.

I suppose Hawk's are alright if you know what you are buying, but IMO, I'd rather go to Halfords

 

[jimboalee]

I suppose Hawk's are alright if you know what you are buying, but IMO, I'd rather go to Halfords

I've just nipped out to the bike sheds here at Land Rover. Four from forty three bike are what would be described as 'serious'.

Some are recognised names, Dawes, Spesh etc.

A lot are the names I have seen at Hawk on the Cov Rd. Some are bloody filthy.

Those blokes ride in to work EVERY day from up to 10 mile radius ( mostly from C Wood and Shard End area ).
Those blokes are 'on the clock' and if the bike failed, they'd lose money.
There must be some confidence of their reliability.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I wonder if there is a British Standard or something for bikes. But as we know a lot of it is about the setup which should make all but the worst of them rideable. (I know, a cheap full suss may be awful but at least can be safe transport, if not efficient). Perhaps some kind of certification for shops supplying bikes is in order, a trade mark similar to what gas or electricity tradesmen use. I suspect the problem lies in the blurred line between bikes being seen as either a toy or a vehicle. When the bike is sold as a commodity like a tin of beans you can never really expect it to last in the form that it is sold.

A list of relevant regs/standards is here. But this came into force a month ago, superseding the 2003 regulations.

 

[Dan B]

I know a fair bit about bikes, at least in terms of how to ride them, how to fix them, etc etc. But I'm looking at secondhand to replace my last nicked steed, and if it's doing my head in to get something that's local (£25 postage is a significant dent on an £80 bike), reasonably priced, not crash-damaged and probably not stolen - bear in mind here I live in London - I can't imagine how much worse off the new-to-biking would be with that advice.

 

[dellzeqq]

if ever you have the inclination, do a Dr. Bike session. It's an eyeopener...

there are cheap bikes and cheap bikes. A £150 Decathlon bike is a decent bike. It will last, and it won't weigh a ton. A £100 ****** bike is absolutely disgusting. It will weigh bundles, the tyres may not fit the rims, the rims and spokes may be slack, the front shocks may rust and the brakes, brake cables, gears and gear cables are simply not fit for purpose. I'm talking 'please do not ride this bike home - take it back to the shop and tell them to fix this, that or the other, because your brakes don't work, and your wheels are about to fall apart'.

The bigger question is this - who built the bike? You can get a Ridgeback from a well-known chain of cycle shops and it will have been pulled out of the box and put together in ten minutes. If you buy the same Ridgeback from Tavistock Cycles your bike would have been given a complete rebuild with the brakes adjusted or bled, the derailleur arm straightened, each spoke tested for tension and so on....

 

[rh100]

I've just nipped out to the bike sheds here at Land Rover. Four from forty three bike are what would be described as 'serious'.

Some are recognised names, Dawes, Spesh etc.

A lot are the names I have seen at Hawk on the Cov Rd. Some are bloody filthy.

Those blokes ride in to work EVERY day from up to 10 mile radius ( mostly from C Wood and Shard End area ).
Those blokes are 'on the clock' and if the bike failed, they'd lose money.
There must be some confidence of their reliability.

Plenty of those guys fly past me every day, as I say if setup correctly a cheap bike should be rideable. And I think you prove it there if they are used as reliable workhorses. And I certainly wouldn't think of me or my bike as 'serious' (bog standard trek)

BTW - my problem with Hawk's stems from buying tubes from them that were of awful quality, where I got branded tubes from Red Kite for about the same price. That and a few other things just didn't inspire me with confidence, maybe just down to a bad experience for me. So I just use Halfords for bits where I know what I'm after and need it quick or the better shops for the quality advice and know how.

 

[rh100]

A list of relevant regs/standards is here. But this came into force a month ago, superseding the 2003 regulations.

It seems to be (from what I could gather before going crosseyed), it's about brakes and reflectors and bells. I suppose the rest of it is covered in 'fit for use' type regulations. Thanks for the links.

 

[swee'pea99]

I know a fair bit about bikes, at least in terms of how to ride them, how to fix them, etc etc. But I'm looking at secondhand to replace my last nicked steed, and if it's doing my head in to get something that's local (£25 postage is a significant dent on an £80 bike), reasonably priced, not crash-damaged and probably not stolen - bear in mind here I live in London - I can't imagine how much worse off the new-to-biking would be with that advice.

All true. But I flagged this up on this very thread only yesterday. Add £27 for a Royston return on the train (if you can't face the ride back) and you've got yourself a very nice piece of steel for £85.

 

[jimboalee]

A list of relevant regs/standards is here. But this came into force a month ago, superseding the 2003 regulations.

The new Regs are very interesting.

Any retail outlet ( including ASDA and Tesco ) can sell a partially assembled bicycle if there is an adequate tool set for assembly and a legible instruction document.

The regulation does not specify the retailer 'intelligence test' the customer.


In the same vain, a Kit Car supplier does not 'intelligence test' its customer. Any thicko with wads of cash can build their own car, assemble it and drive round without DVLA ever knowing it exists.

So what's worse? A badly built and adjusted bicycle or some young maniac in a self built plastic replica beach buggy?

I could buy a four wheel buggy from a chap who sells them at motor race events. It needn't be registered, taxed or insured. I could drive it round very happily wherever I wish and DVLA wouldn't even know.

If the police saw me and chased me, I could go 'off road' and evade them knocking into anything or anyone who gets in the way.
When I am arrested, the buggy would be crushed and I would get a sizable fine.
The whole thing could happen again when I next see the chap at the race meeting.

This story is a bit 'OTT'. Small motocross motorbikes ridden by hooligans around inner city housing estates are a reality.

Makes 'Cheap bicycles' seem harmless.