- Location
- The TerrorVortex
Daewoo Shuttle.
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Whats the worst bike you've ever owned...
- Thread starter yenrod
- Start date
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Chuffy
Veteran
- Location
- On the banks of the Exe
When I started at Royal Mail they still had a few of the old single-speed bikes on the fleet. They had rod brakes, a totally flat wire shelf for your mailbag and handlebars that curved back so much that you couldn't pedal round corners without catching them on your legs. I refused to ride them because they were so bloody dangerous.
byegad
Legendary Member
- Location
- NE England
Chuffy said:
I rode one of those one Xmas when I was a student helping with the post. Add slow punctures front and back and it was the perfect bike to make motorists of us all. Fortunately I'd already been bitten by the cycling bug.
Chuffy
Veteran
- Location
- On the banks of the Exe
Heh, I wasn't a cyclist back then. If I had one now I'd probably regard it as a fine vintage steed!byegad said:
Still bloody dangerous though!
Sam the Eagle
New Member
the one I ride at the moment (Giant hybrid thingy) is pretty rubbish
Browser
Guru
- Location
- Crowland, Lincolnshire, UK.
HLaB said:
Yes, if the change cable was connected to the Sturmey Archer three speed hub and that was working as well, then it changed gear for you. Deleted on the new model for 'health and safety' reasons, i.e. not tearing off your meat 'n two veg if you hit anything solid and were ejected forwards off the shiny vinyl saddle straight into said lever
.That aside they were horribly unstable things, just plain nasty!!
My current hack isn't great, but then what do I expect for £180, a Ribble?
Ditto what someone else said about the old brakes on chrome rims, lethally terrifying in the presence of H20
Lazy-Commuter
New Member
- Location
- Bottom Right Corner
Saved a trip to the docs for a vasectomy?HLaB said:
Edit: ooops! missed Browser's post.
arallsopp
Post of The Year 2009 winner
- Location
- Bromley, Kent
Worst bike had to be the one my dad gave me when I progressed from my big sister's pneumatic. Hers was red, white balloony tyres. Mine was green (hand painted by mum, including the grips), rubber strip nailed around the rim. No gears but a wicked clanging sound from the chainguard whenever you pedalled.
I loved that bike.
I loved that bike.
ACS
Legendary Member
- Location
- Just below the snow line
Alan Whicker
Senior Member
- Location
- The very best hotels
The "worst" would be the Probike Black Knight I got from the bike shop on Chapel Market in Islington. It weighed about as much as a piano, and had very flexible plastic gear levers and the chainrings warped. It was just on the right side of being a BSO and i rode it all over the place, including Bethnal Green to Richmond (and back) several times.
I said "worst" but I loved that bike - it was indestructible, and I sold it for almost as much as I paid for it, and bought a Claud Butler Xanthos, which was great.
I see a Black Knight chained up in Holborn now and then and I always wonder if it's my old steed.
I said "worst" but I loved that bike - it was indestructible, and I sold it for almost as much as I paid for it, and bought a Claud Butler Xanthos, which was great.
I see a Black Knight chained up in Holborn now and then and I always wonder if it's my old steed.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Looking back, the Raleigh Safari folder I had during my second decade was probably overly heavy, but I was happy enough with it at the time, rode it all over the neighbourhood in the company of various kids from my street.
wafflycat
New Member
- Location
- middle of Norfolk
The pink peril.... bought early 1980s. East European thing, made of, I think, some form of unknown-to-the-west heavier than lead metal. Basically a BSO. Once I got a 'proper' bike, in my case, a Raleigh Pioneer Trail hybrid when they first hit the market, and the immediate difference between the pink peril & a decent bike was immediately obvious.
I have ridden cheapo BSO "mountain" bikes, plus some decent ones too over the years, as well as some really old road bikes, but the worst one I ever had to ride was my last one, which finally gave up the ghost recently (and I was almost relieved by that!), a BSO for just under £90 Toys 'R' Us full suspension bike, Kinetic Sabre.
The wrong wheel was in the box - for a totally different bike when I bought it!
But as it was put up in the carpark outside the store (I'm not waiting till I get it home when I can ride it now! lol), I went back in and they gave me a replacement from another bike of the same model. I couldn't help feeling paranoid that I had made a mistake in buying the bike - and I was later proved right!
It was heavy, and really annoying to ride, my legs ached, and I couldn't keep up a constant fast speed without really struggling (though I did get those fast speeds, just not for too long), my brother even boasting that he was a faster cyclist than me. There was also nowhere to put a back light, I had to have my light upside down and it barely fit still! It was also a nighmare to get up hills.
I was making my way home from my sisters, when the back wheel gave way and the back forks bent! I'm not overweight! Breathing a shy of relief (I hated that bike in the end), I went back to my sisters as I was just outside and left it there for a friend of ours to keep - he only really needs it a couple of times a week for very short journeys, and is very thin, plus the forks have been hammered back lol, and I got the bus back, which was late as usual, despite there being very little traffic on the roads.
Now my old road bike is fixed (it may not be a high end model, but I love it), I'm enjoying cycling again, and I've proved my brother wrong with my speed! We even went out with me on my cycle, my brother and sister and her boyfriend on their motorbikes! I'd never be able to keep up they said! I was keeping up ok till I got caught by a red traffic light that took ages to change and they'd turned down some roads, and I sometimes even had to struggle to stay behind them as the bike is too fast! Wasn't funny when they went down cobbled roads near the museum though!!!
Now I'm enjoying cycling again and not dreading it (the bike really was that bad! I've never not enjoyed cycling before the Toys 'R' Us purchase)!
The wrong wheel was in the box - for a totally different bike when I bought it!
But as it was put up in the carpark outside the store (I'm not waiting till I get it home when I can ride it now! lol), I went back in and they gave me a replacement from another bike of the same model. I couldn't help feeling paranoid that I had made a mistake in buying the bike - and I was later proved right!
It was heavy, and really annoying to ride, my legs ached, and I couldn't keep up a constant fast speed without really struggling (though I did get those fast speeds, just not for too long), my brother even boasting that he was a faster cyclist than me. There was also nowhere to put a back light, I had to have my light upside down and it barely fit still! It was also a nighmare to get up hills.
I was making my way home from my sisters, when the back wheel gave way and the back forks bent! I'm not overweight! Breathing a shy of relief (I hated that bike in the end), I went back to my sisters as I was just outside and left it there for a friend of ours to keep - he only really needs it a couple of times a week for very short journeys, and is very thin, plus the forks have been hammered back lol, and I got the bus back, which was late as usual, despite there being very little traffic on the roads.
Now my old road bike is fixed (it may not be a high end model, but I love it), I'm enjoying cycling again, and I've proved my brother wrong with my speed! We even went out with me on my cycle, my brother and sister and her boyfriend on their motorbikes! I'd never be able to keep up they said! I was keeping up ok till I got caught by a red traffic light that took ages to change and they'd turned down some roads, and I sometimes even had to struggle to stay behind them as the bike is too fast! Wasn't funny when they went down cobbled roads near the museum though!!!
Now I'm enjoying cycling again and not dreading it (the bike really was that bad! I've never not enjoyed cycling before the Toys 'R' Us purchase)!
tdr1nka
Taking the biscuit
- Location
- SE London, Bandit Country
20 years ago I made the enormous mistake of buying an Emmelle Hybrid from a friend's catalogue. I was totally skint at the time and it was the only way I could afford a bike.
After only a month or two the BB cup sheared inside the frame and sent the bearings shooting up the down tube which made an amusing bingo machine type noise for a short while.
After only a month or two the BB cup sheared inside the frame and sent the bearings shooting up the down tube which made an amusing bingo machine type noise for a short while.
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
I also had an Emmelle (an a mixte at that). It was all I thought I could afford at the time...
