The Cheap and Nasty

[poweredbypies]

They do last quite well thats cos pig iron is pretty tough stuff

 

[jax13]

it seems strange that my low end groupset arguement on this months cool wall of 'its not what but how' rears its head to this too!

I bought the missus a bike that is somewhere between a BSO & a very low end bike a few years back and to be honest, since tweeking it after the initial cable bedding in period it hasn't needed anything doing on it. an 18 speed gripshift riddled with tourney bits & naff generic steel sus forks requires far, far less maintenance than anything I own. without word of a lie, it has needed nothing other than air in the tubes each time it gets dusted off for the summer.

It is heavy, but it works just fine for her because it is still better than anything she has had before and insists i don't build her something half decent as she would never know the difference. I imagine that with a subtle upgrade to an alivio group, wheelset & a halfway decent fork it would ride a lot differently & almost be enjoyable!

 

[We_are_Stevo]

About four years ago, myself and a few friends got together in Yorkshire for a weekend away. A spot of motorsport on the Saturday and a day around Dalby on the Sunday was the plan.
A few days prior, in casual conversation with a friend, I discovered he was a closet mountain biker and he said he would like to come along.
Over breakfast on the Saturday morning he enthused about his cycling. Rode to work a few days a week, a few evening rides and a full day on Sundays. Much more riding time than me then. He then spoke of his steed. 'its a proper mountain bike, full suspension and everything. Wasn't cheap- ££129 from Halfords!'

We soon gathered around the back of his vanfrom which he pulled a 40lb behemoth with steel triple clamp forks, a hidious frame with rusty rear shock and inoperative V brakes. Oh how we teased.

That night I fixed his brakes, adjusted the gears and lubes the chain before a quick spin around the car park. This thing was horrible. The 73 degree head angle and rubbish forks made riding around a field a scary experience and the sheer weight of this thing was something to turn you into a wasted wreck in minutes. A truely dreadful bike.

The next day, bright and breezy we headed into Dalby. You could see the other riders smirk as he rode up and down the car park helmetless whilst we fettled forks, filled camelbacks and loaded ourselves with tools and the like.
That was the last we saw of Paul all day. He was gone in a cloud of dust and squeeking pivots. Up, down, on the flat, through the berms, over the jumps, down the drop offs, everywhere.... He owned us. We were his bitches. Flat out everywhere. Made us look like pillocks. And everyone else for that matter.
He loved every minute of it.

Nothing broke. He had a great day out. He still rides it today.

Funny things those BSOs.

The only post you'll ever need in this argument me thinks...

 

[skinnyboy]

Most plebs these days see our retro bikes as the "BSO" It is always interesting out on a retro ride the looks of astonishment or derision as we whizz past on double diamond black runs running 400mm bars and about an inch of travel. Horse for courses, I am just as unfit on a retro rig as I am on my modern, the only difference is down hill I can plough the weeds on the modern in a way I could only imagine on my old girls. At our local trails you see the parents and their kids out on BSO's and they are having fun, thats all that counts in my book.

 

[Woz]

I've been thinking about this recently - what makes a bike 'appear' quality?
I do believe pretty much anyone on this planet would pick out an XTR Zaskar (to use your example) as the quality bike over a £100 BSO just by looking at it.
But I can't work out why!
Is it just the shinyness of bits? The neatness of the way it's put together? Some knowledge of what parts are better than others (I think most people would 'know' than discs are better and more expensive than calipers)?

After browsing a few ebay auctions and listing sites recently, I can tell by a tiny tiny thumbnail what the quality of the bike is. I'm not sure whether that's years of experience telling me that or a natural instinct. I really couldn't tell you exactly what stands out that shouts 'crap' or 'quality', just that something does!

I would say experience and a good eye. I often go through the local ads - all 83 pages of all bikes from BSO to Carbon Team bikes to pick out a worthy project. I judge quick in the following order: Reflectors, Spoke Protector, Cranks, Brand of Frame, Seatpost, Mudguards, Stem. A quality bike as some sort of balance and proportion that "just pops out" - in most cases the owners have not made a pigs hear of butchering it with an orthodox position.

 

[Tazio]

About four years ago, myself and a few friends got together in Yorkshire for a weekend away. A spot of motorsport on the Saturday and a day around Dalby on the Sunday was the plan.
A few days prior, in casual conversation with a friend, I discovered he was a closet mountain biker and he said he would like to come along.
Over breakfast on the Saturday morning he enthused about his cycling. Rode to work a few days a week, a few evening rides and a full day on Sundays. Much more riding time than me then. He then spoke of his steed. 'its a proper mountain bike, full suspension and everything. Wasn't cheap- ££129 from Halfords!'

We soon gathered around the back of his vanfrom which he pulled a 40lb behemoth with steel triple clamp forks, a hidious frame with rusty rear shock and inoperative V brakes. Oh how we teased.

That night I fixed his brakes, adjusted the gears and lubes the chain before a quick spin around the car park. This thing was horrible. The 73 degree head angle and rubbish forks made riding around a field a scary experience and the sheer weight of this thing was something to turn you into a wasted wreck in minutes. A truely dreadful bike.

The next day, bright and breezy we headed into Dalby. You could see the other riders smirk as he rode up and down the car park helmetless whilst we fettled forks, filled camelbacks and loaded ourselves with tools and the like.
That was the last we saw of Paul all day. He was gone in a cloud of dust and squeeking pivots. Up, down, on the flat, through the berms, over the jumps, down the drop offs, everywhere.... He owned us. We were his bitches. Flat out everywhere. Made us look like pillocks. And everyone else for that matter.
He loved every minute of it.

Nothing broke. He had a great day out. He still rides it today.

Funny things those BSOs.

He's my nemesis. I've got good bikes but I can't ride worth a shit.

 

[legrandefromage]

Now, as much as I hate BSO's, there is a BSO hierarchy. You get your one cro-mo tubed frame with the no-nonsense, tough, base model shifting thats just as smooth as XTR (and longer lasting). These bikes last and last and just wont go away. These are the mainstay of school runs and commuting. Coming in to the shop year after year for new blocks and chains, only being scrapped when the budget for new parts becomes more than a new bike.

Then you get your real nasty stuff, were the frame flexes before the brakes work or where the gears are so stiff its physically difficult to shift and nigh on impossible when wet. These are the nasties, lurking in your Toyz R Crap or Argooose. Halfords also sell these under the guise of quality cheap bikes. You know the ones, especially if you've worked in a bike shop for more than 5 minutes. These are the ones that are sold with steel hubs. The hub then wears into the spokes which in turn pisses the customer off because they then have to keep coming back for new spokes or a replacement wheel.

The resurgence in road bikes has spawned road BSO's that hark back to the days of awful slack angled cotter pinned nightmares. These bikes look great to the casual customer until you move in and realize thats a single pivot brake on there... What? I've got to PDI this?? But its unsafe. The brakes will never work! Really? Oh well...

Its these nasties that I loath and wish to see removed from sale, they are not real bicycles let alone mtb's or road bikes.

 

[orange71]

to be fair, assume you know nothing about motoribikes. Which is the good quality bike from a reputable manufacturer and which is the cheap chinese knock off? Unless you know a bit about bikes (which most people don't) then it's an easy trap to fall into.

 

[legrandefromage]

this is the cheapy as my mate had one...

 

[orange71]

correct, though to be fair the Honda badge is a bit of a giveaway, but you get the drift...