Sterlinghouse mountain bikes 7 months on...some pictures

In September last year, I endured a decidedly uncomic comedy of errors
ordering some bikes from Sterling House.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....61f4ca52a09cf/

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.
Be aware that these were kept in an open-sided lean-to, out of rain.
It gets misty round here from time to time, but they weren't ridden in
the rain or exposed to the elements.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...t=100_5170.jpg
Look for the "next pic" link to the right - there are four pics.

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

digitaltoast said the following on 14/04/2008 14:43:

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.

They lasted that long???

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

They should probably go back under the Trade Descriptions Act. I mean,
people might think they'll be getting bicycles :-)

I reported a while ago on my own comedy of errors in getting a couple of
Sterling House "bikes" vaguely useable - not mine, I hasten to add! On
one of them, the chain lasted less than a couple of miles before
breaking. Maybe that's why the wheels wouldn't go round - to stop
people discovering that these bikes are not actually meant to be ridden.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

In article 94c6522d-6ca6-4d3c-855f-f23a217ca0b8
@a5g2000prg.googlegroups.com, digitaltoast
says...
In September last year, I endured a decidedly uncomic comedy of errors
ordering some bikes from Sterling House.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....61f4ca52a09cf/

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.
Be aware that these were kept in an open-sided lean-to, out of rain.
It gets misty round here from time to time, but they weren't ridden in
the rain or exposed to the elements.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...t=100_5170.jpg
Look for the "next pic" link to the right - there are four pics.

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

You can't expect to keep a bike outside in winter (or even in an
unheated garage of you ride in the wet) without it acquiring some
corrosion (unless it's all anodised, stainless, titanium ...) and a
cheap steel bike will always fare worse than most. Get some fine wire
wool, a small wire brush and a can of WD40, and get polishing. An
occasional squirt and wipe with WD40 would probably have prevented a lot
of the damage.

In article ,
Rob Morley wrote:

In article 94c6522d-6ca6-4d3c-855f-f23a217ca0b8
@a5g2000prg.googlegroups.com, digitaltoast
says...
In September last year, I endured a decidedly uncomic comedy of errors
ordering some bikes from Sterling House.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....thread/ed461f4
ca52a09cf/

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.
Be aware that these were kept in an open-sided lean-to, out of rain.
It gets misty round here from time to time, but they weren't ridden in
the rain or exposed to the elements.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...use/?action=vi
ew&current=100_5170.jpg
Look for the "next pic" link to the right - there are four pics.

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

You can't expect to keep a bike outside in winter (or even in an
unheated garage of you ride in the wet) without it acquiring some
corrosion (unless it's all anodised, stainless, titanium ...) and a
cheap steel bike will always fare worse than most. Get some fine wire
wool, a small wire brush and a can of WD40, and get polishing. An
occasional squirt and wipe with WD40 would probably have prevented a lot
of the damage.

My cheapo hybrid lived outside for many years before being pinched from
Kingston. Mind you it was ridden every day to work and back and did get
the odd squirt of lube and a pump up. No corrosion to speak of and very
much easier to chain up than the new one, which only has a teeny gap to
push the cable through.

4:30 - less than an hour to go :-)

--
Sara

The teeth are free at last! Fly free, young teethies!

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:43:20 -0700 (PDT), digitaltoast
said in
:

In September last year, I endured a decidedly uncomic comedy of errors
ordering some bikes from Sterling House.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....61f4ca52a09cf/

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.
Be aware that these were kept in an open-sided lean-to, out of rain.
It gets misty round here from time to time, but they weren't ridden in
the rain or exposed to the elements.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...t=100_5170.jpg
Look for the "next pic" link to the right - there are four pics.

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

Tempting though it is to laugh and gloat (well, OK, I will do that
later) I have to say that no bike will exactly shine under those
conditions. What you have exposed is that parts which on other
bikes might be aluminium or stainless, are made of ordinary steel.
This is hardly a surprise, but aluminium does corrode as well.

So: get some proper bikes and build a fully-enclosed store of some
sort. But do complain to sterlinghouse about the shoddy plating,
you never know, they might give you some of your money back. DO ask
them for that, rather than replacement bikes, as the bikes are
clearly not of sufficient quality for the intended use.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

digitaltoast wrote:
In September last year, I endured a decidedly uncomic comedy of errors
ordering some bikes from Sterling House.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....61f4ca52a09cf/

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.
Be aware that these were kept in an open-sided lean-to, out of rain.
It gets misty round here from time to time, but they weren't ridden in
the rain or exposed to the elements.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...t=100_5170.jpg
Look for the "next pic" link to the right - there are four pics.

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

A Sarcano "MTB" was ridden to my workplace for one day and then
abandoned in the bike shed because it had a puncture, as so often
happens. 20 months on (our estates people are useless at shifting
them), and everything steel on it is crumbling. This is a covered bike
shed, although it leaks a bit in very heavy rain.

"digitaltoast" wrote in message
...
In September last year, I endured a decidedly uncomic comedy of errors
ordering some bikes from Sterling House.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....61f4ca52a09cf/

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.
Be aware that these were kept in an open-sided lean-to, out of rain.
It gets misty round here from time to time, but they weren't ridden in
the rain or exposed to the elements.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...t=100_5170.jpg
Look for the "next pic" link to the right - there are four pics.

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

A little bit of preventative maintainance would have reduced the rusting
somewhat. I have a Honda motorcycle that has spots of rust developing on
parts that have not been oiled/greased/lacquered. A quick scrub and a wipe
with an oily rag gets rid of the red stuff and delays its re-appearance.
The bike is kept in an unheated garage along with my bicycles. Even though
my bicycles are much more expensive than yours, they will rust if I don't
keep on top of the cleaning and oiling game. One or two of my allen headed
screws have gone rusty. A friend of mine routinely replaces all of the
screws and bolts on any new bike with stainless steel equivalents.

Bikes don't have to ridden in the rain to go rusty. Atmospheric moisture
and a bit of grime is enough to accelerate the rusting process.

digitaltoast wrote:

Do you think they should go back? That plating must be microns thick.
I know they were cheap tat - but surely??......

What did you expect, leaving them (effectively) outside with what looks
to be minimal to non-existant maintenance? You knew they were ****e
before you bought them ... No they shouldn't go back, really, but it's
always worth trying it on and SterlingHouse try it on themselves enough
....

--
Paul - xxx

'96/'97 Landrover Discovery 300 Tdi 'Big and Butch'
'98 Suzuki DR 200 Djebel 'Small but perfectly formed'
Dyna Tech Cro-Mo comp "When I feel fit enough'

I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.

You should be reported to the RSPCB :-)

Dave.

Multiple replies in one, here!

On Apr 15, 10:18 am, "Paul - xxx" wrote:
What did you expect, leaving them (effectively) outside with what looks
to be minimal to non-existant maintenance? You knew they were ****e

On Apr 14, 3:18 pm, Rob Morley wrote:
You can't expect to keep a bike outside in winter (or even in an
unheated garage of you ride in the wet) without it acquiring some
corrosion

On Apr 14, 4:43 pm, "Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote:
What you have exposed is that parts which on other
bikes might be aluminium or stainless, are made of ordinary steel.
This is hardly a surprise, but aluminium does corrode as well.

Fair enough, but....

On Apr 14, 4:32 pm, Sara Kirk wrote:
My cheapo hybrid lived outside for many years before being pinched from
Kingston. Mind you it was ridden every day to work and back and did get
the odd squirt of lube and a pump up. No corrosion to speak of

Well, yeah. I have a still-cheap-but-actually-ridable-properly
Halfords Apollo bike I bought for about £130, must be 6 years ago now.
That used to get locked up at the station, outside, for years, and was
kept in the same leanto that the Sterlinghouse bikes are kept.
So I think the phrase "can't keep a bike outside" is probably a bit of
a generalisation. If a bike isn't meant to be outside, what IS it
for?!

On Apr 15, 4:27 pm, "David Lowther"
wrote:
I thought you'd be...intrigued...to see some pictures of how they
fared over the last 7 months.

You should be reported to the RSPCB :-)

Regrettably, Sterlinghouse Plating Corrodes Briefly?
Really **** Plating, Crap Bike
or
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Bikes? (I think you
might have had this one in mind!)