Originally Posted by
wahoonc
That and at least in the US the lower end bike market has been flooded by the BSO(Bike Shaped Objects) that Walmart and the other big box retailers sell. I have been messing with bikes for over 40 years and used to think that old US built Huff was the epitome of a junk. Now I have had to reform that opinion that stuff that comes out of WM now makes the old Huffy's from the 1980's look pretty decent.
Aaron
That certainly is the truth. I was looking at a bike in Tesco (not quite walmart, but as omnipresent), and it was diabolical. A horrible machine. In fact calling it a machine would be flattery. It depresses me to think that this is all kids will have to pull apart and rebuild in the future. When I was young, we had all those great 40s and 50s bikes to go at with our wrenches.
The other depressing thought is that people buy these things with all the best will in the world to do some cycling, and the experience they have of this glorious activity is about as enjoyable as Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.