MEversbergII

The biggest issue lies with the assembler from what I've gathered (and others have said). If you happen to have a really good assembler, it'll be fine. If not, it could be dangerous.

M.

anthonygeo

Ill be finding out if my Sears cruiser is a POS BSO

gpsblake

Several 1,000 miles a year on my Walmart BSO bike. Toured all the way to Texas on another BSO Walmart bike. Dozens of BSO bikes parked in front of the chicken plant, how do they ever get to work????

I went over the running forum, all the time those who spend $250 on running shoes are blasting those using $25 running shoes WAIT: I am making that up, I've never heard ONE TIME over there about running snobs. Because they don't exist. Maybe cyclist should learn from that.

Mobile 155

Anybody else feel like there is a treble hook loaded with Salmon eggs here? One post and Poof?

Mobile 155

So you are saying no one in the running forum would recommend the best equipment someone can easily afford to make running easier? They would "never" suggest that someone got blisters because they were using cheap shoes. They would never suggest someone should use a watch they didn't get at the corner Bodega for $1.98?

rebel1916

Running can be surprisingly expensive.

Astrozombie

Waaah?

chandltp

I just bought a used WalMart Thruster fixie. I wanted to try a fixie without a big investment. Is it as nice as my Trek? No, but it works for what I wanted it for. It doesn't have great brakes, but it doesn't feel like it's going to self destruct underneath me, either. It is pretty ugly though.. so it might be a theft deterrent.

I wouldn't buy a bike with a full suspension and disc brakes there.. but I might buy a non suspended bike with rim brakes if I needed a cheap replacement. I've been buying big box bikes for parts for other big box bikes, and as long as I keep it simple, I've not had any problems. I'm not going to ride a nice bike in the snow and salt with the lack of cleaning I do in the winter.

Department store bikes are all my kids will have until they are full sized.. ideally they'll get used ones with the limited size range today's bikes seem to have. They ride them for a year or two and then get another one. They like them just fine.

anthonygeo

This is how I roll, I have nothing against store bought bikes especially if you can upgrade like this guy did. I'd rather find one used/free though.

https://hughsbicycle.blogspot.com/2012/01/thrasher-fixed-gear-bike-walmart.html?m=1

https://hughsbicycle.blogspot.com/2012/01/thrasher-fixie-finished-and-under.html?m=1

no1mad 

Any hobby can be expensive, as well as any sport one has dreams of being compensated for at some point.

hybridbkrdr

If you want to talk about exceptions, I can tell you about a freewheel that does go down to 11T except it takes a specialized tool to take it off. So...
https://www.niagaracycle.com/categori...-nickel-plated

CycleTrick

Outlaw cars?? lol whys that??

CycleTrick

You mean the assembler at the factory, or the shop assembler who fits the bike from the box??

cplager

The latter: You often find a lot of the "BSO"s assembled with the fork on backwards, brakes not working, etc...

CycleTrick

Some of the BSOs I am talking about can be found here: https://www.akmatro.com/index.php/cycle/bicycle.html
The BSOs start at less than 10,000 takas

The popular bike that most people ride here is this: https://www.akmatro.com/index.php/cyc...ite-cycle.html

So what do you think of these BSOs?? Are western BSOs on par or better than this??

Wilfred Laurier

hard to tell from the pictures
but pretty similar i think

i think our misunderstanding comes in
in a few places

1
the use of the bike

like someone said above
a lot of this website is focussed on recreational riding

a mountain bike used off road for long recreational rides
has different requirements than one used for utility
even on rough bangladeshi roads

also
how one deals with a breakdown is different
if a man in houston texas or red deer alberta
has a wal mart bike for recreational riding and exercise
and it breaks down
he is pretty likely to just stop riding it
and it will either sit for years in his garage
or be thrown into the trash

if a shop owner in dhaka
has a cheap bike for getting to and from his shop
and it breaks down
he will get it fixed at the first repair shop he sees

2
your claim that most bangladeshis ride cheap geared bikes

i did a google image search on
bangladesh bicycle
and while most or all of them were cheap
at least half were single speed
which
in my opinion
disqualifies them as bsos

bsos
imho
must have at least one suspension mechanism
that barely works when new
and stops working entirely after a year of use

3
your claim that none of the bangladeshi bikes have broken down
or needed replacement parts

not only is this unrealistic
but you have no way of knowing

and most of the bikes i saw
had parts that didnt quite match
indicating that there had been breakdowns

3
the nature of internet forums
where
if a useful comment is
you should try to get a higher quality bike
and it might increase your enjoyment
it is often expressed as
bsos are all crap yo
get a real bike and get a life looser

sreten

Hi,

Turns out a particular genus of budget road bikes in the UK, I've got one,
are made in Bangladesh. Various badges are applied and various minor
details vary but they are essentially the same bike. I can now spot one
very easily underneath all the different decals and paint jobs applied.

My online "bike-in-a-box" cost me half (£130) of what the LBS was
charging (£260) for essentially exactly the same bike. All the
things I've changed I would have changed on both bikes.

I'm very happy with it and its certainly not a BSO.

rgds, sreten.

CycleTrick

My internet was down so couldnt reply.

First of all, I agree with number 1 and 4. Bangladesh is mostly a delta and people who rides for utility or for recreation usually take on flat country terrain which is quite easy on the bike. And to my experience most of the internet forums are extremely unhelpful towards people who dont fit in the western price bracket.

Secondly, these days most people in the Dhaka city have started to ride geared bikes. Comparing with the rest of the country that would be around 20% using geared bikes; while locally it would be around 70%.

Third, theres a way I found out the statistics. The only and most popular bike club with around 30,000 riders is called BDCyclists and I found the statistics from a survey of the members and the number is quite accurate statistically. The reason why the bike parts didnt match is because, the sale of bikes dont work in the regular style. Theres no "fixed" model of a particular bike. The manufacturer Meghna sends bikes to retailers and the retailers change parts; change color however they say fit.

Finally, the bikes do break apart. Though the thing is people have been riding and repairing the same BSO bikes for 5 years, without changing to a higher priced bike. A few people report that rear suspension and shifters break after a few weeks; while for the rest it works fine for 6000+ km. Even with the breakage people repair or upgrade. In short the BSOs work fine for 5 years in moderate terrain; while people say otherwise.

CycleTrick

My internet was down so couldnt reply.

First of all, I agree with number 1 and 4. Bangladesh is mostly a delta and people who rides for utility or for recreation usually take on flat country terrain which is quite easy on the bike. And to my experience most of the internet forums are extremely unhelpful towards people who dont fit in the western price bracket.

Secondly, these days most people in the Dhaka city have started to ride geared bikes. Comparing with the rest of the country that would be around 20% using geared bikes; while locally it would be around 70%.

Third, theres a way I found out the statistics. The only and most popular bike club with around 30,000 riders is called BDCyclists and I found the statistics from a survey of the members and the number is quite accurate statistically. The reason why the bike parts didnt match is because, the sale of bikes dont work in the regular style. Theres no "fixed" model of a particular bike. The manufacturer Meghna sends bikes to retailers and the retailers change parts; change color however they say fit.

Finally, the bikes do break apart. Though the thing is people have been riding and repairing the same BSO bikes for 5 years, without changing to a higher priced bike. A few people report that rear suspension and shifters break after a few weeks; while for the rest it works fine for 6000+ km. Even with the breakage people repair or upgrade. In short the BSOs work fine for 5 years in moderate terrain; while people say otherwise.

CycleTrick

Quote:

Originally Posted by sreten

Hi,

Turns out a particular genus of budget road bikes in the UK, I've got one,
are made in Bangladesh. Various badges are applied and various minor
details vary but they are essentially the same bike. I can now spot one
very easily underneath all the different decals and paint jobs applied.

My online "bike-in-a-box" cost me half (£130) of what the LBS was
charging (£260) for essentially exactly the same bike. All the
things I've changed I would have changed on both bikes.

I'm very happy with it and its certainly not a BSO.

rgds, sreten.

The cycling industry of Bangladesh is quite competitive. Infact based on media reports, a major number of high-priced bicycles are made in Bangladesh and tagged with foreign brand names. E.g. Meghna is the most prominent bicycle manufacturer and it manufactures and exports for brands like Raleigh, PCM and Motor and Sports of the UK and Aldi of Holland, Bacht-enkirch Interbike of Germany, M&F De Schee-maeker and Formula Cycling of Belgium.