My brothers BSO

[Gixxerman]

My brother asked me to look at his bike for him as it was not working right and he needed it to get to work.
Well the bike is a Hornet full suspension BSO.
It was a hand-me-down from my other brother who decided to upgrade to a Trek 7300 after seeing / riding my Trek 7.3 FX. He said he couldn't believe how good the Trek was compared to his old bike.
Anyhow back to the BSO. I took one look at it and nearly cried. The chain was a nice shade of orange, but strangely still rotated OK. The rear brake did not work - mainly due to the cable being knackered and someone trying to bodge it by adding a short length of outer cable to make it work with a inner cable that was too long. The brake took a super human effort to get it to come on, but then it would go off again. The brake return spring tension adjuster was slack and that was why the brake would come off.
The front derailure - didn't, and was stuck on the smallest chainwheel. The cable for the front derailure was tied to the frame by some orange bailer band (bail string) instead of being held in the frame clip (for reasons unknown).
I should have taken a picture of it before I started but forgot.
Anyhow, I told him it needed a new chain. But after inspecting the chain it looked salvagable. I cleaned the chain with some (spit!) WD40 and a toothbrush and reoiled it and it actually came up pretty good.
The extra bit of outer from the rear brake cable was removed, cable re-routed properly, inner pulled through the clamp and shortened, inner lubricated and the return spring tension adjuster tightened. The brake now worked fine (albeit the brake blocks are well worn).
The front derailure cable was routed properly and the bailer band removed. The cable tension was adjusted and I got it shifting onto all chainwheels (which BTW are actually in quite good order - but in need of a good clean). But the chain caught the derailure on some positions. Some fine tuning is required but I am getting nearer.
I am actually ashamed and shocked how bad it was. It was a rolling wreck and illustrates the exact thing that gets bikes a bad name. I will be having words with him when I return it.

 

[marinyork]

Well good on your brother for giving him the bike .

I'm sure it'll be all right. Front mechs clogging up a lot at this time of year with all the rain and muck and brake pads worn down quicker.

 

[palinurus]

My brother asked me to look at his bike for him as it was not working right ..

Oh I get that a lot.

Sure I'll look at it.

And I think: no way am I working on it.

But I usually do anyhow.

Fixing BSOs seems to take five times as long as fixing a low-end quality bike, and new problems keep showing up.

 

[Gixxerman]

I may have done the bike a disservice calling it a BSO.
It is quite a decent thing. It has Shimano brakes and shifters. Not sure what make the front / rear mechs are as any livery has long since fallen off - but they look good quality and not the usual pressed steel efforts you get on BSO. The crank set is a Sugino which claims to be made in the USA. Beings as it has had a hard life for it's 6 years. it is holding up well. A reckon a BSO would have fell to bits by now. Can't find the make of the bike anywhere though.
The gears are now shifting as they are supposed to.
Now with the tyres at something approaching the correct pressure, it is actually quite nice to ride. It is quite heavy though.
Just needs a bloody good clean now.
What a nice brother I am.

 

[gbb]

I may have done the bike a disservice calling it a BSO.
It is quite a decent thing. It has Shimano brakes and shifters. Not sure what make the front / rear mechs are as any livery has long since fallen off - but they look good quality and not the usual pressed steel efforts you get on BSO. The crank set is a Sugino which claims to be made in the USA. Beings as it has had a hard life for it's 6 years. it is holding up well. A reckon a BSO would have fell to bits by now. Can't find the make of the bike anywhere though.
The gears are now shifting as they are supposed to.
Now with the tyres at something approaching the correct pressure, it is actually quite nice to ride. It is quite heavy though.
Just needs a bloody good clean now.
What a nice brother I am.

Its surprising what you can salvage sometimes, that's why so many get thrown away...people take one look

Just did a very similar 'overhaul' on a BSO and to be fair, sometimes they're not that bad.
My sons Sabre MTB (Toys R Us origionally i think) has dome many many miles when it was donated to us via Freecycle. A few hours work...and its still going. The guy who donated it said he'd done several thousand miles commuting.
Again, just overhauled my daughter a Probike BSO with a chain that was siezed absolutely solid, and various siezed cables etc. A few hours work....its fine. I did the same with the chain, liberal soaking with WD, gradually loosening up the siezed chain links, then oiled. It'll never be a good bike, but for an occasional jaunt...

Suppose there are BSO's...and there are BSO's

 

[palinurus]

Some BSOs are terrible. One I was given to look at by a friend was terrible. I got it just about rideable after replacing the entire braking gubbins- I had some cheap V-brakes in my bits box, no amount of fiddling would get the plastic cantis to work. I'm pretty reasonable at getting gears to work, this had me beat. The thing just felt awful to ride, after it came back a few weeks later with the most wobbly back wheel in the world I ended up giving the guy an old- and pretty beat up- Marin I didn't have room for.

Then again Ms P had this cheap Emmelle rigid MTB-style thing which, with a BB overhaul* and some slick tyres, was good for a few years of local trips, even used it for a few days of light touring. It rode pretty well, wasn't especially heavy. It wasn't particularly good, but it was pretty much fit for purpose. It was bought from a local shop that sells a lot of low-end bikes- they are at least properly set up.

*the original failed within a few weeks- the bearings were in a cage which collapsed

 

[Gixxerman]

Well it looks like I was very wrong calling it a BSO.
When I gave it a bloody good clean, it could see the the front and rear mechs were Shimano (not sure what type).
The bike is a CBR Hornet. The front and rear shocks are quite good items and it is not that heavy for a steel full suspension MTB. The wheels are good quality as well and straight and no flat spots.
Once lubed and setup, it was quite a nice ride. I was riding it back to my bro's place (about half a mile), and it rode so well that it ended up being a 10 mile ride .
Ok it doesn't ride as good as my Trek 7.3 FX, but you would not expect it to.
Just hope he keeps it a bit cleaner now - which no doubt he won't .