acidfast7

TGIF, long week and busy weekend in UK.

stats:

310km/192mi
£395/$635 total
£1.27/km
€1.52/km
$3.30/mi

photo:

bigbenaugust 

Three words: Kitty litter bucket.

Also, I have put 4300mi/6900km on my Fantom Cross Uno, and I only paid $329 for it ($428 with the second set of wheels). That should put it in the running for low cost per mile/kilometer.

acidfast7

i'm keeping the cost of the bike + lights + lock + cycloputer + all consumables (tires/tubes/etc...)

get back to me with a number for that info and i'll put you in the posts as a control

edit: don't forget to include all taxes

bigbenaugust 

I've had the darned thing for a year and a half and most accessories I use with it predate it, some "creative accounting" may be required.

acidfast7

me too ... i use my XC ski clothes mostly

however i would like to compensate for extra calories eaten and bus fare saved (£4.70/day for bus - £2 for a healthy 400kcals).

acidfast7

also, what happened to your first set of wheels? did they really fall apart/become unusable? i'm curious what kind of life I'll get out these wheels.

bigbenaugust 

The original rims had some bad reviews, so I ordered some 29er MTB wheels (Alex SUBs on high-flange hubs) to go with the bike. I never used the originals (Jalcos) and just built the bike with the Alex wheels. But I recently switched back to the originals after knocking one of the Alexes out of true and appreciate the weight loss and lower profile in the wind. I just need to learn to keep them true and not treat them like MTB wheels and they should be OK.

Truing is kind of the last frontier of bike maintenance for me. I am getting there now.

acidfast7

nice ride ... working at home on a Sunday so no riding ... brake pads have a little wear

stats:

332km/206mi
£395/$632 total
£1.18/km
€1.41/km
$3.06/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

I-Like-To-Bike

Don't know about you but I enjoy eating and if biking allows me to eat more food without gaining unwanted weight so much the better. I would consider the cost of the food as irrelevant to bike cost considerations.

Do really eat just for fueling purposes?

acidfast7

No, I usually eat/drink really well.

Going to make some Lecsó for tonight and this week at work:

acidfast7

really nice ride in the evening ... felt almost like summer but darker

stats:

350km/217mi
£395/$631 total
£1.12/km
€1.34/km
$2.90/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

photo:

acidfast7

i'm a little sluggish today

stats:

369km/230mi
£395/$628 total
£1.07/km
€1.26/km
$2.73/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

photo:

cobrabyte

Sorry, that's not a BSO...what you have there is the British version of a Mercier Kilo TT...an inexpensive steel single speed. I've been commuting on one for years & all I've had to change after 3500 miles is brake pads, tires & the chain after they wore out. Not much can go wrong with these bikes so I can't say yours is a fair test.

A BSO is a clunky heavy crap bike from a cheap department store built up by some stocker in the back room that probably knows nothing about bikes. Get yourself one of those and come back in a couple years with a report ;-) you're playing it safe, pal...I'm not impressed.


aucdoc by (cobrabyte), on Flickr

jeffpoulin

^^^ At least the forks are installed correctly. Half the BSOs I see around here have the forks installed backwards for some reason. I thought it was some kind of fad at first, but now I realize it was simply put together by someone who knows nothing about bicycles.

acidfast7

That brings back a lot of memories from when I lived in the states.

Phil_gretz

My wife and I were driving last weekend and waiting our turn at a stop sign. A girl rode across on what was obviously a department store cruiser bike. I said to my wife, "did you see that?" Sure enough, the fork had been installed backwards. I guess that it's a common problem?

As to whether the OP's bike is a BSO, I'd say that it's a matter of degrees. His original claim was that he was unable to find one much cheaper, so... his is close enough for the lighthearted purposes of discussion. Had he been able to find a Walmart Thruster equivalent in London, then everyone would be nodding in agreement on the BSO claim.

acidfast7

good weather today

stats:

388km/241mi
£395/$633 total
£1.02/km
€1.22/km
$2.63/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

photo:



edit: sorry photo is backwards (forgot flip photo)

acidfast7

and a video for you as I'm off to CPH for 6 days:


in this video, you can understand why I go so often

noglider 

My God, that's heaven on earth. I want to move there where I grow up.

bigbenaugust 

mmmm, scandinavia.

PennyTheDog

I'd think it was perfect if they didn't say hugge so much.

acidfast7

super nice. even the swede is impressed

mmmmm.

that's kinda the point ... no real word exists in English ... just a loan word from German that I've never heard anyone say ... Gemültlichkeit ... like "lagom" in swedish where no English exists

and it's hygge

noglider 

acidfast, where are you from, originally?

acidfast7

Wells, Maine, USA then
Orono, ME,
College Station, TX,
Stockholm, Sweden,
Frankfurt, Germany,
and now the UK (70%) / CPH (30%).

always looking through the new positions out ... seems to be a few good positions right now in Freiburg, Germany ... close to here:



and my gf's parents in Baden-Württemberg

spare_wheel

i think the usanian cognate is "hipster".