At what point is a BSO no longer a BSO?

[numbnuts]

A few years back I bought a full suspension MTB for £400 after a few days I found it was crap first the chainring bent and then the front suspension felt...well not good so I started to upgrade it.
Changed the whole group set to XT the wheels XT were hand built, front suspension forks Pace at a cost of £400 and the rear Stratos Helix Expert £250 after spending over £1000 it was a bike that was really nice to ride and I still have it today.

 

[snailracer]

It's a BSO until it becomes safe and pleasurable to ride

The "safe" bit would rule out a good number of relatively expensive bikes, where strength and durability are sacrificed for lightness.

 

[exbfb]

Ironically, the more useful/intelligent/enthusiastic you are, the more chance there is of you being able to get some use out of one of these crap bikes.

Now isn't that a big thought which stretches further than bikes ?
It's pretty sympomatic of the scoiety we live in where the unenlightened like to spend their money on an endless stream of overpriced brand new stuff only to chuck it away when they find themselves incapable of keeping it up and running ir it's just no longer the latest thing.
How many people are running around in brand new cars or cars a couple of years old, all because of the fear of an older one breaking down ?
My 10 year old Citroen people carrier (takes 3 bike in the back with 5 seats still in place) has just been through another MOT. £26 for a weld to the exhaust and a couple of number plate bulbs. Bingo, still going, still the best holiday car in the world.
Then again, I'm a bit like that. I like older stuff that works just fine to do the job.
Non bike people don't really want an expensive bike, they just want a bike. First time the brakes or gears fall out of adjustment, or God forbid, the tyres go soft or get a puncture, it stays in the shed forever.
Even a BSO can still be usefull if you have the wit to have a small set of tools and the will to fettle or fix it.

 

[Xiorell]

I think a couple of people mis-understood what I ment with the 700 compare to 3 grand bike.

I don't mean I think 700quid gets you a BSO, far from it, mine cost nothing near 700 quid and I love it.


I mean that it seems to me alot of people say a 200 quid bike is a BSO compared to a 700 quid bike, there for can the same not be said when comparing that 700 quid bike to a 3k+ bike?



Something would have to be really really shoot for me at my stage to call it a BSO, although I am stripping some parts off an old frame at the moment that is truely horrible lol. I remember riding the thing a few years ago and it was torture up hills.

 

[snailracer]

...
I mean that it seems to me alot of people say a 200 quid bike is a BSO compared to a 700 quid bike, there for can the same not be said when comparing that 700 quid bike to a 3k+ bike?
...

I would say no, because the 3k+ bike is very far out on (my) scale of diminishing returns.

IMO the person who buys a sub-£100 BSO is not usually comparing it to more upmarket bikes, but to getting around on foot. Compared to walking, even a BSO is much superior, so I can see why they are bought in huge numbers.

 

[sabian92]

I have a £200 bike from JJB (photo in my gallery) with tourney gears and was put together by idiots, I had it sorted and the wheels trued and the tyres replaced. It rides fine and I take care of it well enough. I will upgrade it as parts fail but for now it's fine.

Do I have a BSO?

 

[subaqua]

nowt wrong with tourney gears. daughters bike has them and once set up and adjusted correctly they run brilliantly

 

[Xiorell]

nowt wrong with tourney gears. daughters bike has them and once set up and adjusted correctly they run brilliantly

my hybrid has tourney gears and I am loving that bike.
It cost me 200 quid and it's brilliant, it's also blown this cycling business wide open to me.

 

[summerdays]

I mean that it seems to me alot of people say a 200 quid bike is a BSO compared to a 700 quid bike, there for can the same not be said when comparing that 700 quid bike to a 3k+ bike?

No a BSO is not a comparison to your own bike ... it is only about the bike itself and whether it is really fit to use or going to fall apart without constant maintenance. So barrel adjusters that are so soft that they become striped of their thread when you try to adjust them, or the part where the noodle sits in which bends open rather than helping the bike to brake, a child's saddle which can only be raised by an inch (how many children only grow an inch in the 2 years or so that a bike is meant to last), gears that constantly need adjustment, brakes that squeak because you can't actually tighten the mechanism enough to stop the whole arm moving.

That is a BSO - and yes you could replace all the components on a BSO to improve it ... but your average Joe Blogs who goes in and buys a bike isn't going to or if you offer to help - thinks you have done a rubbish job when it needs adjusting again a week later. And if you spent all that money upgrading it you soon want to upgrade the frame too probably since most of them weigh about the same as a baby elephant.

You could have squeaky brakes and a badly maintained bike which wasn't a BSO, because it could be adjusted and maintained if someone cared.


That said ... I got back into cycling when my daughter got a BSO that was big enough for me to ride .

 

[Andy_R]

If the brakes work, saddle doesn't spin round, handlebars turn the front wheel when you ask them to, wheels turn freely, pedals and chain go round without sticking then it is NOT a BSO. Anything else is just snobbery. I've turned up to teach at schools where bikes have been built by dad with bits from the tip and the kid loves her/his bike. Try telling them that they have a BSO. I don't think so! Some bikes are clearly not fit for purpose, but with a careful selction of second hand/reconditioned/unfasionable bits can become real crackers. A bike is a bike is a bike, and if you love it, it aint a BSO, no matter what anyone says.