Bike snobbery - or is it?

[We_are_Stevo]

Oh and I love We-Are-Stevo's title, being referrred to as Stevo myself by some folk it greatly amuses me

It's actually a bastardisation of a Devo track from '79...

Oops! '78 rather - I'm older than I thought!

 

[Piperdave]

Hi,

my name is Dave, and i ride a BSO........

I came to Retrobike after returning to cycling after a long gap. The bike i have came from Halfords, in c1990 and cost £150.00. It was given to me by a friend, after my bike was stolen from my back garden.

When i first posted on RB, LGF was very kind, and informed me gently that my bike was nothing special, in a kind way.

I have been out on RB rides, and no-one has suggested that i go away because of my bikes lowly origins. If people have thought snobby things, they have kept them to themselves. I have always been encouraged to be out riding, because that is the most important thing, and the thing we all love doing.

I have not pushed my lowly bike on RB as i know it is heavy, and not equiped with the best parts, etc. It does get me out though so it serves its purpose. I am not prescious about it, its not worth that much.

Ultimately, skill and fitness make a cyclist, not the most expensive frame/ lightest parts.

Those practicing snobbery really only hurt themselves/ wind themselves up. :?

So thanks to all who have encouraged me to be out riding with them, those days have been great, and i wouldn't have been there without my BSO

Dave

 

[marin man]

Well done then dave and welcome

When I joined with my mount vision I got told.....look for cracks...a nice positive welcome that was after finishing my pride and joy :roll:

depend what peoples hormones are like on the day I suppose

 

[We_are_Stevo]

+1 to that...

 

[longun]

how is a trek 9000 a bso? :?

 

[We_are_Stevo]

Quite - 10% didn't think so back in '09...

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=69539

 

[saltyman]

if i had a battered old bike from a tip that still worked fine, id be happy, never been a bike snob and never will.

been lucky enough to be able to buy any bike i want, but its the fact that i love cycling, is all that counts to me.

yes its good to pass on our advice to others, for other peoples benefit.

my main rider is a £399 cannondale, not a £10,000 rare as hell bike.

i even ride alone 99% of the time, so dont want or need the attention.

i still believe in spending the time and effort to getting the best bike possible though......my cousin has just bought a £50 bike from a supermarket, and i could of built her a better bike from spares for nothing, but she insisted it was the bike she wanted.

 

[lou74]

hmmmmm........

read the 1st page.....
ok, now when i first found the site, i turned up with the now ledgendary totally f***ed funk. my 1st mtb was a saracen traverse 89 that a saved up my paper round money for 7 months to buy as even aged 15 i knew the difference between what is now called a bso & a mountain bike.
now, ad i see it, entery level (200 notes in early 90's) from specalized, trek, ridgeback, saracen, even raleigh where not top of the list they weren't that bad. 1/2 chromo frames, indexed shifting & if 1 has survived thus long, great, cos they possibly weren't as loved as higher end bikes. there is a 89 rockhopper, exage trail equiped, that i am tempted by.
HOWEVER, (& there is always a however), those turquoise emmelles, you know the ones with the red & yellow stripes, dead steel frames & pressed steel side pull brakes, were sh*t then & are sh*t now, regardless of the fact it may have managed to last 20 yrs!
if that makes me a snob, then so be it, couldn't give a #*$%! would you turn up to a drag race in a vauxhall chavette? would you hell!


ooops! sorry. :shock: got sucked in again. off to a dark corner to reflect.

 

[We_are_Stevo]

I would in the Chevette I had - 2.2 Firenza lump under the bonnet - bring it on Smartarse...

I also had a '68 Victor with a Daimler Dart 2.5 Hemi before that (actually one of these very engines, from the same guy; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04-eHQBm ... re=related) and that's just what mine sounded like driving through Croydon on a Saturday night - unbelievably I only got pulled the once!

...and an Emmelle...

 

[pete_mcc]

how is a trek 9000 a bso? :?

Because it was slated by all magazines and a large number of people who rode them as being like diving boards with a rear end that wobbles more than J-lo. They were heavy, had little damping, were expensive, crackedat the pivot, snapped at the bumper and were a design that lasted a couple of seasons and then died, never to be replicated by any other company. It was a bad bike with a bad rep for a good reason.

But other than that it was a great little bike.