are there any really bad bikes anymore?

[MikeF]

Many mornings I see a lad on his paper round pushing his shiny bike up our road that is a noticeable gradient (1in10?). It's a suspension mountain bike with disc brakes. I'm puzzled why he can't ride it up the road - it's virtually traffic free as it's short and a no through road for motor vehicles. Could it be a bad bike to ride?

[drossall]

I think there are far fewer bad bikes than there were in, say, the 70s. I'm not saying that there are no bad ones, just fewer.

It's still the case that, by and large, if you don't buy from a cycle retailer, you'll get what you deserve. However, there are high-street chains of cycle retailers, such as Evans, and people recognise their names. Halfords no longer only sell cheap bikes. And a colleague of mine went round Ride London quite happily on her Apollo (although not on the original wheels); for its normal purpose of commuting, I think it's a good choice.

Lower-end bikes tend to have Shimano Acera and the like, which works quite decently. The old pressed-steel three-part hub shells are rare.

Although people still want bikes to be cheap, bikes are also now very much a luxury item, so there are forces in both directions. That wasn't so in the 70s; only nutters spent large amounts on bikes, and you couldn't spend what you can spend now, allowing for inflation, even if you ordered a custom build with Campag Record throughout.

That's my 2p anyway.

[Samuel D]

If Deliveroo had been around in the 1970s, what would the delivery cyclists have ridden?

[drossall]

Single fixed probably. In that era, there was still a corporate memory in club cycling of the days when all club riders used fixed through the winter. And keener riders were a fair part of the courier community before courier riding went mainstream.

Couriers were riding fixed before it became fashionable again.

[Roadster]

I too think that budget bikes are of better quality now than they were before. One reason might be that consumer protection has improved drastically over the last couple of decades, and also buyers themselves are more aware of their rights. This has been a Good Thing, because it's given manufacturers a greater incentive to raise quality at the lower end of the market and thereby reduce warranty claims.

[MarcusT]

My memory may be failing me, but I don't recall ever seeing a bike for less than 100 (cost adjusted) in the 70's 80s. My first MTB in 1984 cost 325, quite a price in those days and even though it served me well and was built like a tank, it would be the equivalent of a supermarket bike today. Just last year I restored it and even though it is heavy there are still those little details that do not exist on today's bikes like engraved fork crowns.

[tatanab]

My memory may be failing me, but I don't recall ever seeing a bike for less than 100 (cost adjusted) in the 70's 80s.

As recently as 15 years ago I was asked by a work colleague about buying Sunday supplement mail order bikes where they were £50 each or 2 for £60. I do not recall the exact figures, but that is close enough.

[ScottishGeek]

Absolutely anything with BB30?

Like TrevA above I was asked by a woman at work to suggest a bike to suit her needs and recommended a B'TWIN as it proved good value for money for her. She saw it as just over the top end of her budget so bought another from Halfords. Didn't like that one so took in back and swapped it for another. Got fed up with that after another month so sold it then went and bought the B'TWIN I recommended. That was two years ago and she still rides to work most days on it.

[drossall]

One more measure of changed expectations - bike hire companies often offer high-end road bikes. Decades ago, they had bottom-of-the-market gas-pipe specials.

[pjclinch]

First define your value of "bad"...

With my Bikeability Instructor hat* on I see the whole range from rusting BSOs to top of the line Islabikes with hydraulic disc brakes (some, but not all, of the latter have evidence of being used for what they were meant for!).

The BSOs often have a notional 18 gears but actually have a not-very-well-running 1, and they have suspension that goes "boing" but otherwise does little but sap energy, and they weigh a tonne. By many standards these are rubbish (and the one where a pedal fell off, I think by any standards)... but still kids are out on them getting about and enjoying them.
I don't doubt they'd have a better time on something lighter and smoother running, but they're good enough for the job.

Pete.


* usually a Walz cap, but a wide-brimmed Tilley-a-like if it's especially sunny or rainy

[mercalia]

well I indicated some the aspects of the bad bikes of yesteryear - steel wheels with chrome plating that sooner or later went rusty ( and didnt brake in the wet ) - I am sure many here remember seeing rusty chromed wheels; spokes that were just tin plated? and also went rusty sometimes so rusty as to be quite nasty, more rust than metal; heavy cottered steel cranks where the cotter pin worked lose and didnt do its job so the crank wobbled; heavy guage steel frames that a hammer wouldnt dent; never ready lights where the contacts and switches became un reliable; heavy steel handle bars; standard tyres that wore out very quickly and went bad with cracked sidewalls; side pull brakes that you could never quite centre so the braking was poor as you had to keep it all lose inorder to avoid rim rub; bottom bracket bearings that needed constant adjustment and probably never were adjusted; heavy base metal mudguards. I am sure others here could add more items that describe the basic bike that non enthuisiasts rode

Now a cheap bike will have alloy frame and chainset and sealed bb, alloy wheels etc

I dont think it is consumer protection that explains why fewer bikes are like those lumbering dinos of yesteryear but the cheap availability of alloy parts of basic good quality, where you would have to try hard to make poor quality ones?

Did any one here ever get/see one of those £50 bikes?

[MikeF]

well I indicated some the aspects of the bad bikes of yesteryear - steel wheels with chrome plating that sooner or later went rusty ( and didnt brake in the wet ) - I am sure many here remember seeing rusty chromed wheels; spokes that were just tin plated? and also went rusty sometimes so rusty as to be quite nasty, more rust than metal; heavy cottered steel cranks where the cotter pin worked lose and didnt do its job so the crank wobbled; heavy guage steel frames that a hammer wouldnt dent; never ready lights where the contacts and switches became un reliable; heavy steel handle bars; standard tyres that wore out very quickly and went bad with cracked sidewalls; side pull brakes that you could never quite centre so the braking was poor as you had to keep it all lose inorder to avoid rim rub; bottom bracket bearings that needed constant adjustment and probably never were adjusted; heavy base metal mudguards. I am sure others here could add more items that describe the basic bike that non enthuisiasts rode

Many of those things were standard items on bikes of yesteryear. They weren't "bad bikes" for that, any more than M/C s with kick starts, 6v lighting, friction dampers etc., or cars with starting handles, rod/cable brakes, leaf springs, crash gearboxes, thermo siphon cooling etc. were bad.

[drossall]

I'm with Richard Ballantine, who said that weight was a major factor. Poor bikes used weaker materials, so, although all steels weigh roughly the same, the manufacturers had to use more materials to make up for the weakness. Hence, bad bikes looked approximately like better ones, but weighed an awful lot more.

Not sure that's so much an issue now.

[Audax67]

Our club used to run a cycling school. It was heartbreaking to see an 8-year-old turn up with a 69 € full-suspension supermarket special weighing more than my full-size MTB. About one child in ten stuck it for a full school year, mainly because of the struggle they had getting those lumps up muddy paths in the forest: but when they came back the following year they'd have something half-decent.

There are plenty of bad bikes and plenty of idiots who buy them.

[Mattyfez]

Some people don't seem to understand, if you go really cheap it will rubbish, this is true.
Friends dad who recently retired asked me to find him a commuter type bike, I found something pretty good for about £400, but that was way more than he expected to spend, and he's quite well off.

It's only for riding about on, is the general mindset, so it shouldn't cost more than a hundred quid.. yeh riding about on something cumbersome that you won't enjoy riding..