Is there a thread on why one shouldn't buy a BSO?

UndercoverElephant

DonDaddyD wrote:

Define decent.

My current bike is the best I have ever owned/had a go on, except for the second-hand Apollo I bought number one son, who is nine. His bike rides a lot better than mine, even though I look like a monkey on a tiny tricycle.

DonDaddyD

UndercoverElephant wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Define decent.

My current bike is the best I have ever owned/had a go on, except for the second-hand Apollo I bought number one son, who is nine. His bike rides a lot better than mine, even though I look like a monkey on a tiny tricycle.

Fair do's. What bike do you own, what do you use it for, if commuting how far do you commute? Do you do any additional social cycling?

My first venture out with Bassjunkie saw us meet some mates from his work. They both had Halfords Specials, one actually said £60.

I remember waiting for they by the bike doctor as they got their bikes fixed. One of the bikes bottom brackets had broke, they were new, lasted a day.

I don't think they overly enjoyed themselves. Or would/could have enjoyed themselves if they spent a little more and bought a Carrera Subway.

---

We know that when buying a bike most of the money should go on a frame. Frames can cost in excess thousands.

So if you're buying a £80 bike, how much money is actually going on the frame and fork, when that £80 has also got to buy groupset, wheels, tyres, seat post, saddle and finishing kit as well as make the company selling the bike a profit and make the company who made the bike a profit as well?

UndercoverElephant

Well it's an Aldi's special from eight years back, which cost £40. Up until recently I've been just pootling with the kids, but in the last 6 weeks I've taken up commuting 12 miles each way, three times a week.

Oh, and I've scalped hairy roadies on it too :twisted:

DonDaddyD

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Well it's an Aldi's special from eight years back, which cost £40. Up until recently I've been just pootling with the kids, but in the last 6 weeks I've taken up commuting 12 miles each way, three times a week.

Oh, and I've scalped hairy roadies on it too :twisted:

£40 8 years ago was a lot of money

What will be the telling of your bike is how well it stands being ridden (at pace) everyday for several months and/or throughout the winter.

I'm not saying its a bad bike just questioning how it'll withstand constant miles especially when the weather gets worse...

The Rookie

I think the best argument against BSO's is that for the same price they could get a well looked after used 'decent' (aka much much better) bike, it won't devalue as much (so if they don't like cycling and sell it they won't be out as much money) and will be a nicer ride, but they do need to get someone who knows what they are looking at to help them find a good one.

Alternatively build one, my Rincon was bought as a frame, I've built it up for how I want it (length of stem, rise on bars etc etc) as a commuter hybrid and its set me back £75 give or take.

Simon

rhext

It's a tough one this. I see a lot of BSOs clearly being used as regular transport. I've also got a garage-full of them for the kids, and they do pretty good service. They do tend to suffer a little with imprecise indexing, but nothing that requires more than a couple of minutes tweaking every so often. I also look back to the bikes I owned as a kid and I did thousands of miles on things of similar quality level and weight. Again, moderate fiddling required (particularly brakes and wobbly wheels), but something you had to live with.

So in a way, it depends on what you want it for. A bit of light excercise, pootling to and fro the shops, maybe the odd weekend spin, perhaps a BSO is not a bad choice. Day-in-day-out commuting 50+ miles a week, need it to be reliable and quick, £300+ would probably be better. Ditto any form of off-roading, where critical bits either get bent or start falling off BSOs very quickly indeed.

I'd steer clear of the MTBSOs though. £80 to £100 might get you a serviceable basic rigid set-up. Trying to stretch that to any form of suspension is pushing the envelope a little too far, and I do feel for the poor sods I see trying to exceed a walking pace on those things.

UndercoverElephant

DonDaddyD wrote:

£40 8 years ago was a lot of money

What will be the telling of your bike is how well it stands being ridden (at pace) everyday for several months and/or throughout the winter.

I'm not saying its a bad bike just questioning how it'll withstand constant miles especially when the weather gets worse...

I'm not saying it's a "good" bike, and I don't think it's fit for the purpose of a long daily commute. The wheels are starting to buckle a bit, and there are new creaks every day. For it's original intended purpose of sitting in the garage and occasional trips with the kids it was perfect. And cheap (even eight years ago)

rhext

But I also have to say, the most persuasive argument is for second-hand!

DonDaddyD

I bought my car second hand.... nowt wrong with that...

UndercoverElephant

Unless you don't know what you're buying, and end up with a second-hand BSO :shock:

rhext

So perhaps the answer to Mr_Si's original plea for help is not to provide him with killer arguments for why his mate should spend 3 times his budget on a bike, but suggest he helps his mate find the best bike he can for his budget ;-)

Deadeye Duck

rhext wrote:

So perhaps the answer to Mr_Si's original plea for help is not to provide him with killer arguments for why his mate should spend 3 times his budget on a bike, but suggest he helps his mate find the best bike he can for his budget ;-)

Hammer, meet nail.

If his friend can't stretch his budget, that isn't his fault, it's life. Second hand is obviously the market he needs to look in as he will almost definitely get more for his money, especially if his friend 'Mr_Si' helps him find one.

vorsprung

rhext wrote:

...suggest he helps his mate find the best bike he can for his budget ;-)

Yeah I said this on page 1 of this thread

It's unlikely to be a new bike, either a recycled one or a second hand one

Eau Rouge

UndercoverElephant wrote:

I must concede though that I have never actually ridden a decent bike, so perhaps I just don't know what I'm missing.

Do yourself (though not your bank balance) a favour and try a "decent" bike some time. They are magical to ride.

craker

Ooooh I didn't realise this thread was still going.

I got my mate a £120 ebay bike (item 320369669077, 9 yo merida hardtail in excellent condition apart from perished tyres. He loves it so much he's commuting to work on it and getting into cycling. That's why BSOs should be objected to.


His next question, (painful ar*e), why do cycling folk wear padded shorts instead of getting a padded saddle? Wait for the blisters to heal I say...

Headhuunter

UndercoverElephant wrote:

I'm a sole-breadwinner father of three, and I absolutely see your mate's point of view. I'm currently commuting on a BSO; no-suspension, nobbley tyres mountain bike I bought from Aldi eight years ago for £40.

It weighs a ton, I'll give you, but then I'm 200 lbs myself so knocking a few pounds off the weight of the bike isn't, as a percentage, a hill of beans. The only thing I have changed was that I bought a better saddle, as the one that came with it was taking all the enjoyment out of everything, not just cycling.

Maybe I was lucky, the bike I got has Shimano gears, which shift nice and accurately every time. The gearings a bit low for my use, but I can't be bothered upgrading much on this bike. I've been commuting now about six weeks, covering 300 miles in that time, it's not actually all that bad. In the past week I have noticed that the wheels are getting a bit buckled in places, but other than that there are no problems with it.

Now, here's the rub, for the first eight years of it's life, it probably only did about 50 miles, in the last 6 weeks, it's done 6 times that. My work are hopefully going to be starting a bike to work scheme and if they do, I will probably upgrade to a "proper bike". If they don't, will I really be able to justify £350 on the bike I fancy? Nope. Would I just carry on on my BSO? Yup. Have I got good value for money? Most definitely.

Sounds like the reason this bike has done so well is that you barely used it - 50 miles in 8 years??!! :shock: Any bike would survive that use, I do more than that on a single ride! It sounds like the stresses are starting to show now though, since you have started using it properly. Don't wait too long before you upgrade, I would be concerned that the cheap components may experience the dreaded "catastrophic failure".

Craggers

Someone point me to a relevant thread / article?

http://www.whycycle.co.uk/buying_your_b ... ed_object/

navt

It is still possible for people to buy good quality, value for money bicycles. Just pop down to Decathlon. After a long hiatus off the saddle, I bought a £80 Riverside bicycle from them. A year later, I sold that for £50 and used R2W to buy my Genesis Day 01, which retailed for £449.

So if you are unsure about spending too much money on a bicycle, just do your research and pick your retailer carefully.

PBo

I'd steer clear of the MTBSOs though. £80 to £100 might get you a serviceable basic rigid set-up. Trying to stretch that to any form of suspension is pushing the envelope a little too far, and I do feel for the poor sods I see trying to exceed a walking pace on those things.

I think this is the nub - the real problem is all the people bouncing around on cheap full-susser BSOs. I would say that the quality of the ride is off putting before the longevity of components even becomes an issue. It's not about the quality of the spec, its just the wrong spec totally for cycling around streets. But this seems to be what most BSO owners have - and what seems to be available.

My father in law still uses a rigid Apollo I bought from Halfords in 1994, which has had some hammer - but only had consumables replaced. Although "MTB" stylee, no uneccessary suspension means that the components that matter got some budget spent on them.

(£150 at the time was probably £50 more than cheapest available bikes - no Aldi/Lidl back then, Tesco did not yet rule the world, not sure Argos even sold bikes).

PBo