Comments on: watchdog: bicycle shaped objects

By: fat_cyclist

fat_cyclist — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:04:20 +0000

My sister has a cheap Townsend bike, which would have cost her maybe £70 – £80.

Shes had the bike 10 years, and whilst it doesnt get that much use, its more than capable of the sort of leisurly sunday morning towpath type riding she does.

In 10 years its needed the odd tune up, brake pads and tyres.

Horses for courses IMO

I do agree you get what you pay for but if you only do a few leisurly rides in a month some of the cheaper branded bikes are up to the task, its maybe just a minefield choosing between the competant and the dire in this segment of the market

By: John Girvin

John Girvin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:04:15 +0000

Thanks for sharing your story Alan – I hope it makes some parents think twice about what they’re buying.

I’ve no problem with cheap bikes so long as they are safe and the purposes for which they are suitable are made clear. It’s deliberately confusing and, as you found, dangerous to refer to a bike as “mountain style” when the last thing you should do with it is take it off-road.

By: Alan Anderson

Alan Anderson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:18:57 +0000

12 years ago when i was just a young pup my parents bought an ‘entry level’ bike @ about £100 for a downhill event cannot remember the actual brand but lets just say it was a decent one, dual suspension and even front suspension was only coming in on high end models, I had to install v brakes myself onto this model, anyway long story made short, I entered a downhill event in the Republic of Ireland and in the second day of the event, whilst coming round a particularly fast section in the course I hit a mound too hard and the frame of the bike buckled throwing me off slap bang into a tree.

This lead to 1 week in hospital bed paralysed from the neck down, not knowing if I would walk again due to the swelling around my spine, safe to say i was fine after the swelling released the pressure but from there on in I stuck well above entry level for competing and even for pleasure. A recent trip to centreparcs in Cumbria scared me as kids as young as I had been were flying down hills and off road tracks in cheap self assembled dual suspension bikes fit for road use, not as the users thought, for off road pursuits.

Go to specialist stores and if you do buy one of these supermarket bikes, at least take it to a professional cycle shop (not halfords) and have it calibrated by someone who knows what their doing.

By: John Girvin

John Girvin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00:28 +0000

To be fair, the programme concentrated only on adult bikes so I can’t comment on the quality of any kid-sized rides. But the cautionary notes about assembly still stand!

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:57:31 +0000

A timely warning thanks. I’d spotted the Tesco’s half-price kids bikes, thinking they just needed the handlebars put on or so (being an expert with the Toys’R'Us scooter assembly) but will view them a bit differently now.

By: Joby

Joby — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:50:07 +0000

I bought a £35 bike from Argos for my daughter and that was an absolute nightmare to put together – never again!

I’d rather buy a 2nd hand unicycle with a popped tyre than a BSO from one of those companies!