Post a pic of your bike for the jury. We are experts, can sniff out a badger amongst rats, and also not bad piss takers you know.
The decline of European manufacturing and the rise of the BSO
- Thread starter bikeworkshop
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Post a pic of your bike for the jury. We are experts, can sniff out a badger amongst rats, and also not bad piss takers you know.
Takingabreak
Dave Yates Fan
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£13 landed cost
. Sales price £199 inc VAT (probably for about the 2nd or 3rd time too), carefully positioned next to something well built at £299. Hidden £5 to take it to the tip after a couple of weeks. Other tax charges just to treat / ship the waste back again to dispose off.Not a Colnago.
Takingabreak
Dave Yates Fan
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@Takingabreak sorry in advance for a bit of my warped humour .... however:
- That Kalloy post, generic but quality.
- Stem .... oh huh .... there's too many out there now all similar, but generic.
- Transmission looks good. Can't quite ID it. Older Tiagra level?
- Brakes maybe Tektro, still up there and underrated.
- Frame Taiwan, selected from a catalogue and/or custom and/or with/without QC.
Cost savers: saddle, headset, hubs, rims, spokes, innertubes. BB may be something generic compatible like RPM. FSA cranks?
Tyres may be branded to sell, better ones being Kenda, Maxxis.
A good nice looking functioning bike for me. Not a BSO.
[I think I need to go back to the Inn. May be causing trouble
]
- That Kalloy post, generic but quality.
- Stem .... oh huh .... there's too many out there now all similar, but generic.
- Transmission looks good. Can't quite ID it. Older Tiagra level?
- Brakes maybe Tektro, still up there and underrated.
- Frame Taiwan, selected from a catalogue and/or custom and/or with/without QC.
Cost savers: saddle, headset, hubs, rims, spokes, innertubes. BB may be something generic compatible like RPM. FSA cranks?
Tyres may be branded to sell, better ones being Kenda, Maxxis.
A good nice looking functioning bike for me. Not a BSO.
[I think I need to go back to the Inn. May be causing trouble
]
Takingabreak
Dave Yates Fan
- Feedback
- View
@Takingabreak sorry in advance for a bit of my warped humour .... however:
- That Kalloy post, generic but quality.
- Stem .... oh huh .... there's too many out there now all similar, but generic.
- Transmission looks good. Can't quite ID it. Older Tiagra level?
- Brakes maybe Tektro, still up there and underrated.
- Frame Taiwan, selected from a catalogue and/or custom and/or with/without QC.
Cost savers: saddle, headset, hubs, rims, spokes, innertubes. BB may be something generic compatible like RPM. FSA cranks?
Tyres may be branded to sell, better ones being Kenda, Maxxis.
A good nice looking functioning bike for me. Not a BSO.
[I think I need to go back to the Inn. May be causing trouble
No offence taken, my own assessment is similar, the cost savers are spot onNo it's actually a bit weird this. Back to the original question in a way .....
A couple of years ago I wrenched on an old mid level-ish Motobecane to convert it to flat bar single chain ring up front knock about bike to help a neighbour out. We both lifted it from the local tip together because it looked his size. And he's a big fella.
What struck we was the effort and money ploughed into "ride quality" - Mavic rims, tubulars, double butted chromed spokes on the rear, skinny straight gauge on the front, ubiquitous Maillard hubs and freewheel.
Frame and paint finish couldn't fault, except weirdly a band on gear shifter set. Headset and BB all very good, quality metal. Bearings were good.
The cost savers were that dreadful saddle, Huret Eco derailleur set (even on a bike pitched on this range). SR Custom cranks, with that famous swaged outer ring and an unknown uncommon inner ring and cheaper steel cage pedals. EDIT: Oh yeah .... stupid narrow drop bars (which would have been the same size regardless of frame size) and suicide brake levers.
Daft wanna be racer boy gearing only suitable for a flat stage finish being led out by Sean Kelly. I felt a lot of the quality far exceeded the usability and convenance. Today, pretty sure the bike industry got that equation nailed.
A couple of years ago I wrenched on an old mid level-ish Motobecane to convert it to flat bar single chain ring up front knock about bike to help a neighbour out. We both lifted it from the local tip together because it looked his size. And he's a big fella.
What struck we was the effort and money ploughed into "ride quality" - Mavic rims, tubulars, double butted chromed spokes on the rear, skinny straight gauge on the front, ubiquitous Maillard hubs and freewheel.
Frame and paint finish couldn't fault, except weirdly a band on gear shifter set. Headset and BB all very good, quality metal. Bearings were good.
The cost savers were that dreadful saddle, Huret Eco derailleur set (even on a bike pitched on this range). SR Custom cranks, with that famous swaged outer ring and an unknown uncommon inner ring and cheaper steel cage pedals. EDIT: Oh yeah .... stupid narrow drop bars (which would have been the same size regardless of frame size) and suicide brake levers.
Daft wanna be racer boy gearing only suitable for a flat stage finish being led out by Sean Kelly. I felt a lot of the quality far exceeded the usability and convenance. Today, pretty sure the bike industry got that equation nailed.
Last edited:
bikeworkshop
Senior Retro Guru
The clubman is an honest cheap bike.
In a way, like the Mustang.
You coukd ride it round the world, but it doesn't have any finesse.
I liked your definition. Something obvious to me, and you, got lost from that list.
Absence of grease. Assembled dry.
At least an old Raleigh or Pug you can have faith it's there, and release things. May need some force or heat after 40 years, but it was there.
A BSO is assembled essentially dry, or barely sufficient for it's warranty period. Can be totally shocking if mechanically minded, but if you are a bean counter it makes perfect sense to save 0.20€ on 10, 000 examples. Every corner cut - hidden or apparent -I think could help define a BSO.
The landed cost price doesn't have a say for a breaking point of what is a BSO. The final sales price what someone is willing / dupped to pay does - we are not privy to many costs of manufacture and shipping , but lets add that 25% odd customs tariff to start with on finished imported goods and then you get a better idea of what you are actually paying for when comparing. That 25% went in the national coffers of the importing country and not on that headset grease or bottom bracket grease.
I don't think raleigh could imagine that it was worth not greasing the bb and headset - to save a couple of pennies!
It took a new style of businessman -
One not invested in the world of cycling, but able to concentrate on just how little you could actually deliver at the bottom of people's price expectations.
