Originally Posted by
Ironfish653
Those really, really bottom end bikes are almost better than the $200 full-suspension bikes. Ten-speed or 3x5 with thumb-shifters, bolt on wheels, one-piece cranks and stamped steel calipers; they're like AK-47s. They're loose and sloppy, and they never work well, but they're so simple, they always work, through the kinds of treatment/abuse that would break other, supposedly better bikes.
It's when mfgrs try to add features on the cheap like disks and suspension, that you get truly crappy bikes.
I’m with you in general, but I really don’t know if ”always work” and ”stamped metal calipers” can be used in the same sentence without something horrible happening to the fabric of reality....
Sure, they can be made to go through the motions. And they have more stopping power than wishful thinking. And perhaps they can be used as training tools for people about to manouver fully laden oil tankers.
But to call their level of performance for ”work” is really stretching it considerably.
Or maybe there are models less incredibly sucky than the ones I’ve encountered.