What is a BSO?
- Thread starter User76022
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
D
Deleted member 23692
Guest
Defo. It's elisitist crap and oft used by those who will maintain that cycling isn't snob filled and anything to that gets folks on a bike can only be a good thing.
I see that cheap full suss bikes are mentioned in several posts. Granted they are cheap and built to a price point but just cbecause it's cheap doesn't mean it's useless.....
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tPisv3x38Q
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
A free BSO mtn bike goes off road. The brakes fall off after 20 yards, the chain splits after 50 yards, the handlebars go 90 degrees after 100, the back wheel buckles after 200, the wheels collapse and the rider is thrown off after 300.
He's a skilled rider then. He's managed 200 yards with handlebars bent, and 100 with buckled wheels. Well done that rider.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
More specifically, one that doesn't work right and no amount of fettling will make it work right for more than a few hours because of some design flaw or cheap parts.
Why would you need a coat up there? Won't it be rather warm?
This makes perfect sense. I could comfortably accept terms with such a clear definition.
This is like the bikes a friend of mine used to buy. Roughly every 3 months he'd pay around 90 quid for a brand new full suspension mountain bike to replace the previous one that had broke. Thing is, he didn't even make them earn their 3 months of life. He only used them for tootling about town.
Bodhbh
Guru
That video proves the rider skill >>>> the bike, but it still comes off like a piece of crap. I'm 2/3rds thru and already there's play in the back end, the brakes don't work and rear mech has given up. But it's a good watch and I would be off at the first berm whatever I was riding.
/edit now it's "this suck's so much, I love it"
Bear in mind that often the description of the bike would give some advice about what the bike is designed to be suitable for.
My 260 quid Rockrider has mention in its description that its probably not suitable for downhill racing or some such.
Threevok
Growing old disgracefully
- Location
- South Wales
That said, I have owned several makes of suspension forks that had a sticker on them saying not for off road use
I always found that amusing
If the best thing you can say about a bike is that is "Shimano-geared", it's a BSO. If it cost £60 and came from Tesco, it's a BSO.
In the same way that cheap laptops will be sold to non-tech people because it has an Intel processor. Congratulations, so does a PC from 1978.
The entry-level hardtail that got me into cycling was not a BSO when I got it but by the end of its life it had definitely turned into one.
The Tesco jobby I borrowed while my hardtail was getting serviced lasted less than a single day's commute before the pedal sheared off. I was strong then, but not that strong.
In the same way that cheap laptops will be sold to non-tech people because it has an Intel processor. Congratulations, so does a PC from 1978.
The entry-level hardtail that got me into cycling was not a BSO when I got it but by the end of its life it had definitely turned into one.
The Tesco jobby I borrowed while my hardtail was getting serviced lasted less than a single day's commute before the pedal sheared off. I was strong then, but not that strong.
I've been cycling all my life, but until a few year ago I only had 2 bikes - a tourer and a mountain bike.
When I hit 50, I decided to get myself a "racing" bike so I could use cycling for fitness as well as just for fun. Not being sure whether I would like this kind of bike, I bought a Carrera Virtuoso from Halfords for £250, rather than splashing out megabucks on a "fancy" bike. The components were pretty basic, and I guess some would regard this as being a BSO.
However, I really liked riding a "racing" bike, so over time I have upgraded the wheels and tyres to something lighter, and fitted Tiagra groupset throughout.
This transformed the bike from being heavy and agricultural to being a really decent ride. I now also own a fancy carbon "racing" bike but, if I'm brutally honest with myself, my favourite bike to ride is the Carrera because it just "feels right".
I guess my point here is that if a BSO has a decent frame then, matched with the right components, it can be transformed.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Only if it is fake, the PC was launched in 1981.
Milzy
Guru
I may add I have mountain bike friends who buy £5000 mountain bikes to take part in amateur Enduro events.
They get panned by kids on £999 Bossnuts from GoOutdoors. Bike snobs is one thing but it’s even worse when they don’t have the fitness & talent to ride them well.
They get panned by kids on £999 Bossnuts from GoOutdoors. Bike snobs is one thing but it’s even worse when they don’t have the fitness & talent to ride them well.
mustang1
Legendary Member
- Location
- London, UK
Good point .Similarly what if one buys a good bike and then as parts wear out, then downgrade parts to make it a bso? Or, once you buy a good game, it could never become a BSO?
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Brexit Special Outers. They're a group of Brexireers who roam the country in packs outing people who they think may be gay. Being short of funding the group ride cheap machines from the likes of Apollo, Sports Direct or Boardman, and the group name of BSO has come to mean the very bikes themselves. (Worthy of the factoid thread, eh?)
