Servicing BSOs

Just finished servicing a BSO as
a favour.

Utterly painfull and a lot harder
than any mid-level neglected retro.

Just one
a cluster fook after another cluster fook.

Not a gram of grease anywhere,
plastic v-brake / canti hybrid flexy
thingies, 6 speed freewheel with unknown splines, brake
pads the wrong way,
pressed steel mechs from unknown
Chinese back streets making the Huret Eco look and adjust as if it was Campag, gripshit ratchets (no index) not having enough cable pull, rims buckled and splayed at the joints, cones finger tight, valve hole too small - innertube valves hammered in, left crank arm bent, two right side pedals so left crank arm cross threaded, right pedal (on drive side) missing dust cap and bearings,
top bearing race in headset inserted upside down.

The rear spacing was also around 160mm.

The bloody spoke protector seemed
to be the best component and worth
keeping if you like that sort of
thing.

Never again. Feel free to call me
a bike snob, but Altus is as low
as it gets from now on.

I sympathise with anyone who as to
deal with that *hit day in day out at a LBS.

Re:

pressed steel mechs from unknown Chinese back streets making the Huret Eco look and adjust as if it was Campag

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I've worked on a few of Halfords' finest, it's definitely a lot more effort working on really cheap stuff. Monkey metals and really poor quality fasteners that corrode together and don't fit tools properly make adjusting things and getting things working nicely virtually impossible.

You can go below Altus though, even Shimano's cheapest stuff, Tourney level, still works, it's heavy and ugly, but it is functional. It's the no-name stuff where it gets really bad.

Re:

I had the misfortune of servicing an Apollo Slant ( I think it was- I try and forget)

It was a few months old and in worse condition than a 40 year old Raleigh I bought a few months back :facepalm:

I've just shied away from servicing one. I should have done it, but in the end there's not enough time in the day.

Kid #2 has been on a week-long thing with his ice hockey team, loads of activities including a lot of mountain biking. Half the kids are riding BSOs or a small step above, including the neighbour's kid. Her bike was "kinda OK" very low end Decathlon but at least relatively new, at the beginning of the week I'd adjusted the brakes so they worked and tweaked the gears so they more or less indexed, but not much more. Thursday she flatted, circumstances meant she rode a mile or so on a flat, demolished tube, tyre and rim. Next day, she borrowed her brother's bike, which is more or less the same. I was off on Friday, so picked her up with her replacement bike, we were off for 10 miles with half a mile of vertical.

When she arrived, I oiled the chain (rusted pretty much solid), made the brakes brake, tightened the cones on the rear wheel, tightened the headset. Front wheel has shot cones, half an inch of play side to side probably limited by the disks now I think about it. Forks compress, but doing so blows the bushing and about a pint of rusty water out of the right hand lower.

Picked 'em up yesterday, after the 10 miles return trip the fork no longer compresses at all, she has 3 gears of 9 working on the back end and can only use the two biggest rings, headset needs re-adjusting and the brake levers hit the bars at the bite point. Front wheel's got a definite "wonk" to it, but given the noise the bearing are making, I wouldn't bother putting a spoke key anywhere near it.

No. Not touching that. Yeah, my neighbours are really nice, and very broke, but hey, I'm not ******* going near it.

My boys bike needs a new bottom bracket, but it needed one before anyway (goddamn hollowtech that's only good for 2000 km). Admittedly, my Sunn did need a bit of work. On the 20 mile round trip I did on Friday, I tightened a spoke that started going "ting".

They should be banned and a better minimum standard applied but then I want the moon on a stick.

I hate these bikes so much.

It ruins what should be a fun and pleasurable passtime. Jo Everyman (or Woman) goes and buys one of these from Tesco or even Halfrauds along with all the tat that they think they'll need (because some Mumsnet/ Facebook shouty page said so) and go 'cycling'.

Their immediate impression is that its hard work cycling, all those other riders must be mad, 'I'll go back to the car'. A bit of a general sweep but I'm sure you get what I mean.

These bikes have been around for decades, an easy way to take advantage of someone and to make money. Thats all they exist for, nothing else. The unit cost of these bikes is around $6 per bike or less per container load.

They are not even worth anything scrap because the materials used are so poor.

I try and explain to the neighbours that adjusting that plastic brake lever isnt going to make a blind bit of difference, it will still hit the bars first before the bike is able to be stopped...

Its on deaf ears. Instead of buying something nice that can be re-sold after they grow out of it, Timmykins gets a shiny pile of shite that then goes rusty a week later.

After being laid up for 7 months, my 1986 British Eagle was then given no more than a quick spray & wipe and taken on a fairly fast 36 mile yomp around the countryside. The only issue was the top jockey wheel bolt decided it needed to loosen off a bit - and that was after being chucked around a snowy and wet Peaks ride without fault.

You try that with a modern BSO British Eagle or anything else pumped out of the arse of the cycling industry.

Heres a gopping peice of Halfrauds shite:

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -road-bike

******* awful - pressed steel chainset, heavy monkey metal frame, awful brakes borrowed from the 1970's and I bet the wheels are out of true within a few miles

You can all have one of these....

It is like the normal rules of bike maintenance don't apply though. Utter shite.

Re:

Just read the Halfords sales info :shock:

This Is A Must Have Road Bike At A Crazy Price

Re:

I'm not the only one then....

Similar to above, the BSO in question was "given" (or lets
say dumped instead of it going to the tip) to my
neighbour to get him to start
cycling.

He doesn't have much coin and obviously doesn't want
to spend a fortune on something
that will be used recreationally
from time to time.

This is where I came in...

Wrenching on the shite, and trying to hide
the frustration stretched me
whilst trying to educate a would
be cyclist with a pleasant positive attitude.

I have suggested a visit to
the local 2nd store to pick
up something older but better
and will help him out with stuff
from my parts bin.

I'm afraid I may be less diplomatic next time and pull the trigger on the angle grinder to give the piece of shit a service
it deserves.

....grumpy? Me?

Re:

They should be banned and a better minimum standard applied but then I want the moon on a stick.

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That would make a lot of sense, with current concerns about consumption and waste it might discourage the really cheap stuff, that soon ends up being thrown away, from being made in the first place.

It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a series of standards that all bicycle must meet, we do it for cars and electronics. Why on earth are they still making new bicycles with things like freewheels and threaded headsets, it's great that they are still available to keep older bicycles running, but they are nearly 30 years out of date now.

Nothing wrong with freewheels and threaded headsets - just as long as they are to a minimum standard There are just as bad ahead systems and piss poor cassette hubs.

Its not what you are riding its the quality of whats available that needs to be addressed. You can still buy high end road bikes with threaded headsets and screw-on hubs are also widely available for the chie chie brigade.

Thats not the issue or the problem here, its those $6 dollar bikes that are marketed as excellent value as above with Halfords. Those brakes simply dont work. Plastic brake levers on my neighbours 'new' BMX - why?

Why is there always a race to the bottom?