What's the cheapest Bike Shaped Object you've ever bought?

[DCBassman]

£17.50 paid for the Revell mixte, although that's a long way from being a BSO!

 

[bonzobanana]

Probably not strictly a BSO as actually quite a competent bike as no naff suspension and worked fine and not overly heavy or anything. It was the £29.95 plus £8 postage Exodus Havoc at Sterling House which came with a free cycle computer or was meant to. I had to email them a few times before they sent the computer. It had a simple 2x6 drivetrain which didn't need much attention and the V brakes worked very well. I actually had a Kona Lanai at the time and the Exodus was much better as the Lanai had terrible Suntour elastomer front suspension and a harsh unforgiving frame. It also had a very clicky Chin Laur bottom bracket that were recalled and a freewheel based drivetrain which was 3x7 and needed frequent attention. Probably Kona's worse bike. Also the quill stem meant the Exodus gave me a perfect bike fit compared to the kona as I could raise the handlebars easily. The one thing I remember about the Exodus was it came with a great instruction manual, very thick with lots of information on servicing the bike.

The bike rode really well and I think that was because the high tensile steel frame had a little bit of flex but most importantly the front forks tapered and were angled slightly as was the norm at the time on most bikes but many newer bikes with steel forks have straight blades that seem to give a harsher ride. Of course the Exodus was a mountain bike in name only but still a very competent commuting bike that didn't get the attention of bike thieves. The 12 speed gearing had a slightly limited range so a bit more relaxed than other bikes except going up steep hills. I rode it a lot more than the Kona out of choice it was the far better bike.

 

[Chris S]

Probably not strictly a BSO as actually quite a competent bike as no naff suspension and worked fine and not overly heavy or anything. It was the £29.95 plus £8 postage Exodus Havoc at Sterling House which came with a free cycle computer or was meant to. I had to email them a few times before they sent the computer. It had a simple 2x6 drivetrain which didn't need much attention and the V brakes worked very well. I actually had a Kona Lanai at the time and the Exodus was much better as the Lanai had terrible Suntour elastomer front suspension and a harsh unforgiving frame. It also had a very clicky Chin Laur bottom bracket that were recalled and a freewheel based drivetrain which was 3x7 and needed frequent attention. Probably Kona's worse bike. Also the quill stem meant the Exodus gave me a perfect bike fit compared to the kona as I could raise the handlebars easily. The one thing I remember about the Exodus was it came with a great instruction manual, very thick with lots of information on servicing the bike.

The bike rode really well and I think that was because the high tensile steel frame had a little bit of flex but most importantly the front forks tapered and were angled slightly as was the norm at the time on most bikes but many newer bikes with steel forks have straight blades that seem to give a harsher ride. Of course the Exodus was a mountain bike in name only but still a very competent commuting bike that didn't get the attention of bike thieves. The 12 speed gearing had a slightly limited range so a bit more relaxed than other bikes except going up steep hills. I rode it a lot more than the Kona out of choice it was the far better bike.

View attachment 638020

That looks very much like a Havoc 'Sabre' that I bought for £12 and sold for £10 a week later. The gears changed themselves whenever I hit the slightest bump and I couldn't get rid of the freeplay in the bottom bracket without it binding in some places. The brakes were good though.

 

[bonzobanana]

That looks very much like a Havoc 'Sabre' that I bought for £12 and sold for £10 a week later. The gears changed themselves whenever I hit the slightest bump and I couldn't get rid of the freeplay in the bottom bracket without it binding in some places. The brakes were good though.

Yeah it was a loose bottom bracket and I had to spend a bit of time getting it right but seemed good after that. I suspect if I'd taken it off-road the derailleur would have been hopeless as it was a very primitive clone of an entry level Shimano Tourney but it was strictly a road bike for me and the fact it was only a 6 speed freewheel with only a 2x chainring at the front meant it was easy to dial in for good shifting as the tolerances were very wide. I think the left shifter was non-indexed so you could easily get the right front derailleur position for where the chain was angled towards the back. I never had any issues there. A quick look shows the Havoc Sabre looks identical to me except maybe the rear derailleur looks a different colour.

 

[fossyant]

Cheapest £50. Bought a used Ridgeback MX24 kids bike. Needed new chain, freewheel, gripshifts, cables and pads. Probably cost about £50 to fix up, but my son used it for a school bike. We sold it during lock down, after owning it 8 years, for £120.

 

[froze]

I got a small greenish chrome looking plastic bike that was for a Christmas tree from something I bought for a bike (I can't recall what I bought that the ornament came with) but I got it for free, and my wife hung it on the tree!

 

[DCLane]

Thread revival and how have I missed this one? It's my area as I love very cheap bikes to mess around with ...

£4 for a gloss-painted blue Carlton, converted into an orange fixie by myself and my son. But it cost more than the small budget I allocated him - that was the last time I gave him free reign on my eBay account.

A free Corona MTB. Terrible BSO, sold for £20.

£21 for my Raleigh Pioneer, although I worked out that I've actually spent about £130 on it overall for 986 miles.

£5 for a Dawes Tekarra MTB. Rode it for a winter, sold it for £20.

A 99p Specialized Hotrock which was missing a wheel. We converted it to single speed with an over-long 400mm seatpost and used it as an over-size BMX on holiday. Sold for €40 to someone on the holiday site we were at in France. Brilliant fun and one of the bikes we regret selling.

They're the ones that have stayed, with others being moved on quickly instead.

 

[biggs682]

Been quite a few under a £5 bike purchases from car boots over the years and other places.

Majority of them have been re commissioned and sold on .

Quite a few have come with boxes of spares which is why my garage is full to bursting point .

 

[taximan]

When I retired in 2010 I bought a Barossa Monaco for £120. The first outing with it was a disaster but fortunately did not cost a great deal to put right. Having said that I kept the bike for another six years and I have it to thank for for getting me back into cycling after an absence of about 40 years. One day a local kid, knowing that I was a cyclist asked me to fix his bike for him which I declined to do because of the overall condition but I gave him the Barrosa instead. I still see it occasionally with some kid or other belting around on it so in the end I reckon it was £120 well spent.

 

[Chislenko]

EMT 4210 from Inter Marche in Olhao. 29 Euros which at the time was about £18. Went everywhere on it until some desperate person cut through two chains to steal it from the garage!

 

[HLaB]

Since this thread was originally started I bought a Viking Fixie which I used when I was commuting short distances in Chelmsford and Peterborough (circa 30 flat miles one way would have been the most). Although it saw hillier and longer rides at £199 it was perfect IMO for its commuting job.

 

[Gunk]

We’ve had a few bargains, a tenner for this

And £30 for this one

 

[rogerzilla]

A Raleigh Lizard "ATB" for £200 in 1990. I had some fun on it doing proper MTB stuff, which it really wasn't up to with its unsealed bearings.

 

[Andy in Germany]

We've got a pair of fugugly BSO's with a frame from what looks like scaffolding or possibly drainpipes. I suspect they'll sell for ca 70€ each, which is depressing...

 

[freiston]

I've only bought one bike that I would define as a BSO and it shouldn't have been a BSO but it was definitely a "lemon". It was a Dawes Chilliwack bought in 1997 for about £280 new. It had "Gripshift 7 x 3" transferred on the seat stays but came with Shimano Tourney SIS trigger/thumb shifters; it also had "aero tubing" stickers but round tubes. But that wasn't what made it a BSO. The (threaded) headset would not remain tight no matter how much I torqued the locknut up - it always worked loose and had to be tightened at least once each ride - I worked in a factory at the time and whilst there, I cut a couple of mini spanners from some gauge steel to carry with me. I could never ride it no-handed and if I took my weight off/loosened my grip on the bars, it would shimmy. The original bottom bracket gave up after 6 months. I never did get to the bottom of the problem but when bits started to need replacing, I salvaged what I could off it and got rid of it. It's a shame because it did look like a nice bike after I had put mudguards, Marathons and a rear rack onto it. I did manage to get about 16 years of sporadic use out of it though, including four years of short ride commuting. Photo taken about a year before retiring it permanently.