whats the view of buzzbikes?

[andiewithanie]

lots around at moment, from 50 for a shitter to 90 for a minter. to my eyes they look pretty good value, rear hub alone is worth 50 notes (to someone looking for one). i fancy sticking some bmx bars and a sprung saddle on one.

obv i don't need one, i have a bunch of bikes all of which do the same thing, but theres something this that says 'hey, i may not have a triple butted prestige frame, cartridge bearings, or cold forged cranks. but im about as utilitarian as js mill shagging bentham in a millbank penitentiary. and if nietzsche dont like it he can choke on my looseball bearings'

so, what say you?

 

[swannymere]

Pardon?

 

[novocaine]

Pardon?

Bso rental for just a few tens of pounds a month, you to could ride a lump of pig iron around looking cool and trendy.

As its a new member I suspect this is spam, as such I will not be posting a link, this shitty approach to advertising can go get in the sea.

 

[andiewithanie]

is hi-ten really pig iron? and besides i thought the cool kids were all strapping sleeping bags to their bottle mounts these days? i guess im trying to talk my way out of buying a bike i really dont need

advertising? there's one near me on ebay for 65 that looks a bit rough, another in enfield for 90 that looks near mint. my ebay acct is user: do1fannybaws if you wanna add to my rep x

 

[winjohn]

I'd not heard of Buzzbikes so I did some quick and dirty research. They were a company trying to sell the idea of renting a bike for anything from just under £20 a month for a basic town bike to £70 a month for an e-bike. According to their website they leased out more than 20,000 bikes. They wanted to increase the amount of people using bikes as basic transport in cities, with a leasing model rather than the Boris Bike model.

The critical sentence from their website is this:
We still believe that cycling can address many of the challenges facing our cities, but unfortunately, the difficult macroeconomic conditions and collapse of our largest shareholder made it impossible to continue so sadly we closed in November 2024.


As for the bikes, it is difficult to get too much detail but the basic city bike seems, on the face of it, well designed with a three speed shimano hub gear, v brakes and basic steel frame that is reminiscent of the Temple cycles lightweight I just bought for £150, though that boasted an 8 speed Alfine, and Reynolds steel. So why not buy one if the price is right. and the desire is there to own a piece of historic failed entrepreneurial urban transport disruption?

 

[andiewithanie]

150 sounds like a steal, but part of the appeal tbh was the fact that it wasn't fancy - just something i could bang around and not worry about. anyway the booze has worn off now and i'm looking at sunday 29" bmxs instead