The disposable MTB?

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bigredddaddy

bigredddaddy

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Sep 30, 2007
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This weekend, I ended up with 3 Roadmasters, 2 24"s and a 26" with hardley anything wrong. The one 24" (free) had a bent back wheel, but I had one. The 26" ($3) had a flat and the other 24" has a broken front break and was at the town dump! So the question I have is are they so cheap that even minor repairs arn't worth the time or effort? I know these three bikes arn't high dollar rides, but an innertube is $3 and that's what they let my wife have it for. But after some wrenchen and coffee :D , two of them are at 96%. I don't get into these SUV's with pedals (as I call my wife's big fancy Mongose) but I see lots of them at garage sales and can show you one that looks like it blew a tire and the angry rider left it in the alley a week ago. Just seems like a big waste.
 
Sad but true. Most of the local police auctions have these bikes. The problem is not many LBS will work on them. Also the components are meant to last until the bike gets out the door. I have worked on a couple for a charity. The linear pull brakes(Vbrakes) usually have the return spring mounted in plastic. Once the spring augers the hole, the brakes are shot.
 
I went to our city auction and everybody wanted MTBs. Great for me but watching them squeeze the tires then start bidding, not even checking to see if the rims are bent (and most were) and then proudly walking away with a piece of junk they over paid for was painful!! :roll:
 
Markm said:
I went to our city auction and everybody wanted MTBs. Great for me but watching them squeeze the tires then start bidding, not even checking to see if the rims are bent (and most were) and then proudly walking away with a piece of junk they over paid for was painful!! :roll:
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theres on born every minute :?
 
It's unfortunate, but a lot of department store bikes (aka: BSO's, or Bike Shaped Objects) are so badly built, and with such incredibly bad quality components, they truly are disposable. It doesn't take a lot to make a good solid, basic and durable bike. BUT when the buying public wants flash and gimmicks at a low price, you know the quality is going to suffer big time.

Many years back I worked at Canadian tire as a bike assembler. I understand why bike shops won't touch them.

On the plus side, if a BSO gets somebody into biking, that's not a bad thing.

-Mp
 
I gave the 24"s to my kids, they could use the upgrade. But I've been beatin' on the 26", it is fun out on the back trail around the lake and does make me miss my old bmx. Two problems with it, 1. I feel odd, like one of them 2. it is a ladys bike. All the stuff works great and I've been thinking about swapping parts to a cooler frame, even drew it up. But a garage sale today had a Murry cantilever that was in good shape, sweet deal too ( I can't remember how that "Code" thing worked :roll: ) So I'm gonna build a hybrid, old frame meets new stuff. Monster Garage kinda thing :mrgreen:
 
I think they sell those bikes by the pound. About $1 per lb.

Personally I'd love to get involved with teaching kids bike repair. There was some talk of the Christian Center here in town offering a program for kids. Something along the lines of if a kid fixes so many bikes they get one to keep.

I just remember back to my dad teaching me how to build bikes. We'd pick 'em off the dump, tear 'em down, and build 'em back into usable bikes. It wasn't until years later that I realized it was because we were poor. For real though, over the years I've barely spent anything on bike repair labor.
 
Had plans on doin' up the swap to the MTB and the Murry today but that was before I noticed some dirt bag stole the 26" MTB last nite :!: :x :x :x Still have the cruiser, gave it a quick tune up waiting on KPD to do another stolen bike report. Can't stand people, get a job loser and buy your own bike :x Okay, I'll relax some :|
 
HA HAAA :!: My wife called me friday and said she seen a bike that looked like mine by this apartment and so I pulled up and there it was! The people on the steps said they had no idea where it came from, whatever. Tossed it in the trunk and brung it home, score one for the good guys :!: :mrgreen:
 

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