B.S.O. Alert! Pictures Too

legrandefromage · Mar 18, 2009

Andy B":3mrlae7u said:
Sram MRX shifters?

Easy to get the cable out of, just pull the rubber away from near the highest gear indicated on the shifter & you should see the nipple. Push cable through from t'other side & job's a good 'un

They have a small metal part that can come adrift, or the plastic inside may have snapped, both are common issues with the MRX shifter. The metal part can be re fitted, if you know where it came from but if owt's snapped internally they're shot.

They are easy to set up for indexing LGF, I've not had any indexing issues with them

That bike is pretty standard for a £150 BSO, used to sell that sort of stuff by the crate. Unfortunately selling them by the crate wasn't enough to keep the bike shop going even with the repairs that they generated!

£150 BSO? Thats Luxury that is - we have here the really really awful copies of copies which have 'clicks' and not much else. They are very stiff to operate and arent really suitable for anything. Unfortunatly standard fare on Halfords/ Tesco/ Argos/ Toys R Us/ The News of the World £39/ £49 specialsThe MRX are a delight in comparison -

Iwasgoodonce · Mar 18, 2009

Andy, these damn things are branded Falcon. No cover as per Gripshift. You have to take the shifter off the bars and then try to weedle the old cable out. Needless to say it seemed to be welded in there!

Andy B · Mar 18, 2009

Some shifters have a small covered hole that you feed the cable through, usually around the front end of the shifter.

but I suspect that they're MRX copies and the cable will push through just under the rubber grip right next to the plastic collar with the gear indicator markings.

any better pics of the shifters?

perry · Mar 18, 2009

that sounds familiar , i remember spending ages working out how o get a cable out of one and it involved pulling the grip part away

Iwasgoodonce · Mar 18, 2009

perry":3kti98du said:
that sounds familiar , i remember spending ages working out how o get a cable out of one and it involved pulling the grip part away

That's what I had to do in the end. You take the grub screw that tightens against the bars all the way out and replace the cable like that. Only I haven't because the PLASTIC pawls have worn down flat.
SCRAP!

cornholio's RC200 · Mar 18, 2009

Iwasgoodonce":4zleloq8 said:
SCRAP!

Didn't you mean (S)CRAP?

I remember assembling a BSO that my mother bought for my little brother once (£99 from Argos) and it basically had everything wrong with it. There was no way this could have been ridden up and down the garden path let alone on a road. Danger - Brakes set up so they rubbed on the tyre, headset loose, cones on hubs loose, seat loose on the post, it really was a nightmare.

I told her that I could have built a half decent bike for her from bits for something like that cost. As it was, he left it outside the local shop a month or so later and fortunately someone stole it..... More fool them

Iwasgoodonce · Mar 18, 2009

Wow! I just assumed it was making a lot of noise when I turned the cranks because of the large tubing. After a bit more thinking, I decided the BB must come out. After an epic struggle I undid the non drive side cup. It meant chipping bit off my stilson and wearing out a hammer but out it came.

I wish you could see the results. A photograph wouldn't show it. Of the 18 bearings, I have found 15. The two cages have disintegrated and the rest of the filings and swarf bust be the missing bearings!!

If they did pay £150 for this...more like £70 would be over priced. My son's Islabike cost only £170. Why?

hamster · Mar 18, 2009

I know, it's crazy.

People would never buy a new car for £3000 but for some daft reason think that a whole bike should be affordable (and decent) for less than a pair of forks.

Andy B · Mar 18, 2009

Iwasgoodonce":hdruywt3 said:
If they did pay £150 for this...more like £70 would be over priced. My son's Islabike cost only £170. Why?

cos it az dool supenshin innit m8 :roll:

perry · Mar 19, 2009

my heart used to sink when someone in the shop insisted they had to have it

would rather have a cheap boingy bike that would last 6months than something of even moderate quality

B.S.O. Alert! Pictures Too

legrandefromage

Iwasgoodonce

Old School Grand Master

Andy B

perry

Iwasgoodonce

Old School Grand Master

cornholio's RC200

Iwasgoodonce

Old School Grand Master

hamster

Retro Wizard

Andy B

perry

Similar threads

Latest posts