Why do some people refer to some bicycles as BSO?
01-18-19, 09:20 PM
#76
Rhapsodic Laviathan
The difference being....A Honda Civic is a perfectly serviceable vehicle that will last a very long service life if maintained, and presuming it fits the users needs.
A $100 (PRIME!) GMC Denali "road bike" off Amazon...will last 6-months to a year before the all bearings are junk, the wheels are blowing spokes because of never being stress relieved, etc...just from casual funsies bike path riding once a week or two a mile. Much the same WalMart cheapo bikes will fail in the same way--presuming it was even assembled properly to start with.
I have a coworker on his 6th El Cheapo BSO off Amazon in 6 years. Because it is cheaper to buy them and throw them away than fix them. All he does is ride a mile or so to work and back.
A $100 (PRIME!) GMC Denali "road bike" off Amazon...will last 6-months to a year before the all bearings are junk, the wheels are blowing spokes because of never being stress relieved, etc...just from casual funsies bike path riding once a week or two a mile. Much the same WalMart cheapo bikes will fail in the same way--presuming it was even assembled properly to start with.
I have a coworker on his 6th El Cheapo BSO off Amazon in 6 years. Because it is cheaper to buy them and throw them away than fix them. All he does is ride a mile or so to work and back.
01-18-19, 09:41 PM
#77
Rhapsodic Laviathan
And like those other bikes; their walmart line is nothing like their pro/boutique lines... that you don't find in Target or Cabellas.
01-18-19, 10:42 PM
#78
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The problem with HelMart bikes is that they have gotten worse as time goes along. A Huffy from 1990 was a much, much, much better bike than a Huffy today. The problem is that the Huffy from 1990 sold for about $100 as does the Huffy today. To put it another way, the 1990 Huffy is worth about twice as much as the one today. To accomplish this, HelMart (or the company that makes Huffys for them) has to make the bike for half as much as they did in 1990. They cut corners to do so. On a regular basis, I see Huffys at my local co-op that have twisted bottom bracket spindles, bearings that are ground down to hemispheres, derailers that are too loose to shift properly, cranks made of steel that are eroded at the taper and/or the pedals threads, etc. The bottom bracket spindle isn’t just sheared but twisted around the axis of rotation
It wasn’t placed in the same place. The engineers who designed the car found the problem prior to production and identified solutions like moving the gas tank to the same position as the Capri which was above the axle and out of the way of the bolts that would punchture the tank as well as keeping the filler neck from ripping off the tank. The solution was known but ignored because Ford thought it would cost too much to fix. It was quite possibly the greatest example of corporate malfeasance in US history.
There have been a number of US made cars that were seriously flawed. But none were as callously calculated as the Ford Pinto’s problem.
There have been a number of US made cars that were seriously flawed. But none were as callously calculated as the Ford Pinto’s problem.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
01-19-19, 12:45 AM
#79
Tragically Ignorant
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It wasn’t placed in the same place. The engineers who designed the car found the problem prior to production and identified solutions like moving the gas tank to the same position as the Capri which was above the axle and out of the way of the bolts that would punchture the tank as well as keeping the filler neck from ripping off the tank. The solution was known but ignored because Ford thought it would cost too much to fix. It was quite possibly the greatest example of corporate malfeasance in US history.
There have been a number of US made cars that were seriously flawed. But none were as callously calculated as the Ford Pinto’s problem.
01-19-19, 02:44 AM
#80
Senior Member
I drove a 74 Pinto for 4 years and really liked it. Thankfully it never blew up or caught on fire, or got rear-ended with enough force to cause the aforementioned maladies. I did rear-end someone with it, though. Stood up to it like a champ! Good car and I'd get another one if needed.
The shameful decision of the execs in charge of the project to let the design flaw pass through says a lot about the condition of the human soul. It is no different than a thousand other design flaws most car companies allow to go through. It does remind me of a problem Specialized had with wheels on their comfort bikes back in the early and mid 200's. The rear wheels blew spokes within a few hundred miles. Our shop was fixing and replacing wheels every other week. Of course SBC denied any issues, however when talking to dealers they all laughed at SBC's denial, because they all had the same problem with those bikes. Instead of recognizing the problem, they denied it because it affects the company and ultimately their job, and self-interest is more important than doing what is right. It is a condition of the human soul.
It is said that "we are all born into sin." There is truth in that statement.
The shameful decision of the execs in charge of the project to let the design flaw pass through says a lot about the condition of the human soul. It is no different than a thousand other design flaws most car companies allow to go through. It does remind me of a problem Specialized had with wheels on their comfort bikes back in the early and mid 200's. The rear wheels blew spokes within a few hundred miles. Our shop was fixing and replacing wheels every other week. Of course SBC denied any issues, however when talking to dealers they all laughed at SBC's denial, because they all had the same problem with those bikes. Instead of recognizing the problem, they denied it because it affects the company and ultimately their job, and self-interest is more important than doing what is right. It is a condition of the human soul.
It is said that "we are all born into sin." There is truth in that statement.
01-19-19, 07:44 AM
#81
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I grew up near Detroit, and I think it was during the Chevy Citation brake fiasco, that the car maker announced they would assemble a team of experts to solve the problem. Almost immediately, the newspaper investigated on a rumor and discovered that the team of experts consisted entirely of a team of accountants and lawyers. This became the reputation of the car makers.
It hasn't changed in any moral sense. What's changed is that government safety standards, foreign competition, and consumer demand have imposed better discipline on the car makers, and the overall quality of cars is indeed better today.
It hasn't changed in any moral sense. What's changed is that government safety standards, foreign competition, and consumer demand have imposed better discipline on the car makers, and the overall quality of cars is indeed better today.
01-19-19, 07:50 AM
#82
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None of those are analagous to a BSO. There is currently nothing in the auto world (at least in the US) analogous to the BSO. Hasn’t been for a few decades
01-19-19, 08:30 AM
#84
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The term snob is often used by adult tricycle lovers with inferiority complexes.
For instance:
https://www.google.com/search?q=ryda...obile&ie=UTF-8
For instance:
https://www.google.com/search?q=ryda...obile&ie=UTF-8
01-19-19, 11:02 AM
#85
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My Roadtech did not break spokes or bend a wheel, nothing on it broke until I wrecked it. And I rode it hard. I only serviced it to replace parts that had not even wore out. Not all the bikes are that bad, but they could be better, or at least be built like it's 2006.
01-19-19, 01:44 PM
#86
Lopsided biped
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Just out of curiosity (and maybe to witness more fireworks), would anyone here consider this a BSO?
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
01-19-19, 01:49 PM
#87
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Weight seems to be a difference between a SmB & LBS of the same category.
If a cheap convenient bicycle is the goal, then a SmB equipped with decent sub assembly components should be fine enough to meet that goal; A Kia with a LS1, quadratec suspension, & Windsor leather interior.
If a cheap convenient bicycle is the goal, then a SmB equipped with decent sub assembly components should be fine enough to meet that goal; A Kia with a LS1, quadratec suspension, & Windsor leather interior.
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01-19-19, 09:01 PM
#88
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Just out of curiosity (and maybe to witness more fireworks), would anyone here consider this a BSO?
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
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Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
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Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
01-19-19, 09:35 PM
#89
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Just out of curiosity (and maybe to witness more fireworks), would anyone here consider this a BSO?
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
01-19-19, 09:38 PM
#90
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Just out of curiosity (and maybe to witness more fireworks), would anyone here consider this a BSO?
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
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01-19-19, 11:26 PM
#91
Banned
Bike as a tool
Just out of curiosity (and maybe to witness more fireworks), would anyone here consider this a BSO?
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
https://www.worksmancycles.com/inb.html
01-19-19, 11:44 PM
#92
Banned
Still YGWYPF ...
the factory workers at the big OEM main, bike shop supplying companies In Taiwan ,do a much better job preparing them for shipping...
Lowest cost as the bottom line has a ripple effect ...
outside assemblers, that travel between big box stores, often are on piecework,. so bring power tools..
...
Last edited by fietsbob; 01-20-19 at 04:28 PM.
01-20-19, 08:19 AM
#93
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Bicycling Times did a piece on Worksman Cycles about 5 years ago (one of their first issues) Unless something has drastically changed since then, those bikes are 100% legit, albeit heavy tanks.
01-20-19, 08:46 AM
#94
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The term snob is often used by adult tricycle lovers with inferiority complexes.
For instance:
https://www.google.com/search?q=ryda...obile&ie=UTF-8
01-20-19, 09:34 AM
#95
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Not discounting if it's legit. It might be an acquired taste yet it's still going to be heavy, as a matured oink oink.
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01-20-19, 12:04 PM
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01-20-19, 01:26 PM
#97
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Really, though, this is a slightly overbuilt--okay, very overbuilt (*cough*3/16" chain*cough*) version of the balloon cruisers that everybody knew so well in the '40s and '50s in America. And unless I'm mistaken, the pioneers of mountain-biking began with just those bikes, stripped of their fenders and other flotsam.
01-20-19, 02:29 PM
#99
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Worksman's are definitely designed with durability first. Since they also build all manner of trikes, basket bikes and other specialty cycles, I'd put them in to the category of 'Specialty Builder
The 'Heavy-Duty, Built in America' is their marketing angle for 'civilian' bike sales. Their popularity is probably due to that rather than any actual design advantage. We are, after all, a country that sees a 3/4-ton, crew cab 4x4 truck as a 'daily driver'
You can spec one out with lighter wheels, nicer headsets/BBs, and more aluminum parts, but the base model is a basic as it gets.
'No special tools' means every thing is hex heads, so one of your plant mechanics can probably attend whatever it needs, rather than stocking 'specialized' bike tools, or dragging it to a shop for repair.
The 'Heavy-Duty, Built in America' is their marketing angle for 'civilian' bike sales. Their popularity is probably due to that rather than any actual design advantage. We are, after all, a country that sees a 3/4-ton, crew cab 4x4 truck as a 'daily driver'
You can spec one out with lighter wheels, nicer headsets/BBs, and more aluminum parts, but the base model is a basic as it gets.
'No special tools' means every thing is hex heads, so one of your plant mechanics can probably attend whatever it needs, rather than stocking 'specialized' bike tools, or dragging it to a shop for repair.
Nice that someone here gets it, and I can't imagine how cyccommute and Troul perceive pretension when the product is aimed at industrial use. And I think that one of the selling points not mentioned on their site is that no special tools or fixtures are required to service them, and no exoic training for the maintenance workers. This also makes them ideal for use in third-world conditions. Read all the specs and options.
Really, though, this is a slightly overbuilt--okay, very overbuilt (*cough*3/16" chain*cough*) version of the balloon cruisers that everybody knew so well in the '40s and '50s in America. And unless I'm mistaken, the pioneers of mountain-biking began with just those bikes, stripped of their fenders and other flotsam.
Really, though, this is a slightly overbuilt--okay, very overbuilt (*cough*3/16" chain*cough*) version of the balloon cruisers that everybody knew so well in the '40s and '50s in America. And unless I'm mistaken, the pioneers of mountain-biking began with just those bikes, stripped of their fenders and other flotsam.
01-20-19, 04:31 PM
#100
Banned
Honestly the Boeing Aircraft factory floor Everett WA, the largest indoor space 4,280,000 sq ft , is quite flat..
Last edited by fietsbob; 01-20-19 at 04:44 PM.