BSO

[apollo179]

He should not be sold rubbish though. To the layperson a £70 bike from Tesco or Asda will function in the same way as a £400 pound bike from his LBS. If I bought a cheep car I would still expect it to last longer than a month and would expect a level of engineering competency put into the components. You do not get that with the Tesco and Asda bikes. If they were cars they would not be allowed to be sold.

Are they really that bad.
Thats the thing i have a problem getting my head round.
They may not be suited to you hammering up ben nevis but surely for joe public nipping down to the co-op they are adequate.
Or am i wrong

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Are they really that bad.
Thats the thing i have a problem getting my head round.
They may not be suited to you hammering up ben nevis but surely for joe public nipping down to the co-op they are adequate.
Or am i wrong

They are really that bad yes.

 

[abo]

So flat pack is ok for those capable to assemble but not for those not competent.
If joe public is attracted by the idea of a flat pack bike and all the fun of bolting it together what do you do ?

Ok 2 points:

1. The Cube came with proper tools and instructions, and the bike is of sufficient quality to assemble and adjust without drama

2. Not many Joe Publics will be dropping over a grand on a flat pack bike. I'd confidently state that the vast majority of such purchases are made by people who already know their way around bikes

 

[rowan 46]

Are they really that bad.
Thats the thing i have a problem getting my head round.
They may not be suited to you hammering up ben nevis but surely for joe public nipping down to the co-op they are adequate.
Or am i wrong

No you are not wrong I have seen plenty of kids riding their cheap bikes bought from tesco round the park and lots of people riding theirs up to the shops, but where everybody is right is these bikes look like mountain bikes and they are not suitable for mountain biking. most have a little sticker saying so. In which case its just extra weight and complication for people. But for nipping round the shops and cycling round the park most of them do fine.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

No you are not wrong I have seen plenty of kids riding their cheap bikes bought from tesco round the park and lots of people riding theirs up to the shops, but where everybody is right is these bikes look like mountain bikes and they are not suitable for mountain biking. most have a little sticker saying so. In which case its just extra weight and complication for people. But for nipping round the shops and cycling round the park most of them do fine.

A little extra weight? The one I have the displeasure of working on from time to time is as heavy as a DH bike!!!

 

[apollo179]

They are really that bad yes.

Better cancel my ben nevis ride planned for this weekend then

 

[rowan 46]

when I was a kid I had a royal enfield bike that weighed a ton you've all gone soft

 

[Angelfishsolo]

No you are not wrong I have seen plenty of kids riding their cheap bikes bought from tesco round the park and lots of people riding theirs up to the shops, but where everybody is right is these bikes look like mountain bikes and they are not suitable for mountain biking. most have a little sticker saying so. In which case its just extra weight and complication for people. But for nipping round the shops and cycling round the park most of them do fine.

Therein is another problem. They look like MTB's. How many people will scan the frame for a small sticker which says not suitable for off road use when they have a bike with suspension at the front (or even rear as well) and it looks the part. It is to my mind tantamount to fraud. How about buying a TV that has has HDMI ports that fail within minutes of a signal going through them, or fridges that will not stay cold? Unacceptable? Of course. So why accept such poor quality from a object pretending to be a MTB.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

when I was a kid I had a royal enfield bike that weighed a ton you've all gone soft

How long did it last for? IIRC those things were bomb proof.

 

[apollo179]

Ok 2 points:

1. The Cube came with proper tools and instructions, and the bike is of sufficient quality to assemble and adjust without drama

2. Not many Joe Publics will be dropping over a grand on a flat pack bike. I'd confidently state that the vast majority of such purchases are made by people who already know their way around bikes

Yes so your getting people who dont know their way around a bike buying a bike of insufficient quality without proper tools and instructions.
Why ?
Because they want to. (same with joe publics love affair with flat pack furniture and the 1000s of botched diy jobs happening as we speak. More power to joe public - if he wants to buy cheap flatpack rubbish then they arnt going to listen to anyone saying otherwise.

 

[benb]

This is worth a read.
http://road.cc/content/feature/12692-scrapheap-challenge

We now had five bikes with no brakes at all, one with a tacoed back wheel (the pilot reckoned it gave some braking in the turns as it rubbed against the chainstays), one bike with bent forks, one with collapsed front suspension. I had no useable gears and the saddle kept pointing to the sky no matter how tight I did the bolt up.

They were certainly not in a fit state to take on The Wall trail, so we retired back to the van and awaited the arrival of the last team member, who was on foot for the last 3km due to his catastrophic fork failure.
I have to admit to being surprised at how many had actually finished the ride, though the others pointed out that the above list of damage had occurred within the bikes first 11 miles from new. As for the question of whether these supermarket brand bikes are capable of anything a real mountain bike is…well, for a short, uncomfortable and terrifying period, they are! Assuming that you're willing to buy a new one each time – or spend some serious hours on repairs – you can take a BSO on proper MTB trails. We overtook people going up. And going down, but that was more by default than choice!

On a more serious note, however, most people will buy these bikes, build them in the living room with the tools supplied, and ride them on roads that they'll be sharing with HGVs, taxi drivers and teenagers in Citroen Saxos ... If you're coasting down to the main road and you find out then that your brakes don't work, it's a different – and much more serious – story. If you're going to own one, off road is probably the best place to ride it.

my bold

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Yes so your getting people who dont know their way around a bike buying a bike of insufficient quality without proper tools and instructions.
Why ?
Because they want to. (same with joe publics love affair with flat pack furniture and the 1000s of botched diy jobs happening as we speak. More power to joe public - if he wants to buy cheap flatpack rubbish then they arnt going to listen to anyone saying otherwise.

It isn't because they want to an more because they don't see why they shouldn't. IMHO.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

This is worth a read.
http://road.cc/conte...pheap-challenge



my bold

Sweet gods of mercy - they took those bikes around Whites Level at Afan - They are sooooooo much braver than me. I struggle with that on my cube!!!!

 

[jackm]

Totally confused now, for the last 12 months I was convinced my Apollo twin bouncer was a bso, bit hey, it did over 1000 miles in 9 months, regularly went out of adjustment though. I took it as a flat pack as Halfords wanted 2 days to build it( they must have had a good selling day that day!!) And managed to get it up and running in a couple of hours,adjusted half decently , it was all part of a valuable learning process. Now I have replaced it with a GT Aggressor xc2 I can certainly appreciate the difference, also looking forward to the next upgrade to road bike

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Totally confused now, for the last 12 months I was convinced my Apollo twin bouncer was a bso, bit hey, it did over 1000 miles in 9 months, regularly went out of adjustment though. I took it as a flat pack as Halfords wanted 2 days to build it( they must have had a good selling day that day!!) And managed to get it up and running in a couple of hours,adjusted half decently , it was all part of a valuable learning process. Now I have replaced it with a GT Aggressor xc2 I can certainly appreciate the difference, also looking forward to the next upgrade to road bike

Lets say the jury is split over Apollo bikes. Compared to a British Eagle (or the like) they are like high quality machines.