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#11
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Dreadful bikes, awful bikes, triage and maintenance
Simon Brooke wrote:
If you inspect the sheds and cellars in your average suburban street, you will find several dozen sub-£100 bikes which have been bought, ridden once, put in the shed/cellar, and never taken out again. Why aren't they taken out? Because they're no fun to ride. A bike which isn't fun is pointless and a waste of money, because it won't get used. Do people who have cheap bikes hardly ever ride them because they're cheap, or do people who hardly ever ride bikes have a cheap bike because they hardly ever ride them? We may be of the opinion that cycling is a fun activity that everyone would enjoy if only they could be bothered and/or had the right equipment. But some people just aren't interested and only want a vehicle for the 2 nice weekends in the year when they have the time and the inclination. Why tie up a lot of capital in an occasional play thing? |
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#12
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Dreadful bikes, awful bikes, triage and maintenance
in message .com,
buzz_ig ') wrote: Simon Brooke wrote: If you inspect the sheds and cellars in your average suburban street, you will find several dozen sub-£100 bikes which have been bought, ridden once, put in the shed/cellar, and never taken out again. Why aren't they taken out? Because they're no fun to ride. A bike which isn't fun is pointless and a waste of money, because it won't get used. Do people who have cheap bikes hardly ever ride them because they're cheap, or do people who hardly ever ride bikes have a cheap bike because they hardly ever ride them? People who don't intend to ride bikes don't buy bikes. Everyone of those bikes was bought because the purchaser expected it to be ridden. The fact that the bikes aren't being ridden means the people aren't getting the value they expected for their money. We may be of the opinion that cycling is a fun activity that everyone would enjoy if only they could be bothered and/or had the right equipment. But some people just aren't interested and only want a vehicle for the 2 nice weekends in the year when they have the time and the inclination. Those people rent bikes. Why tie up a lot of capital in an occasional play thing? Why tie up /any/ money (and shed space) on an occasional play thing, when renting gets you better playthings at lower cost? -- (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/ ;; First they came for the asylum seekers, ;; and I did not speak out because I was not an asylum seeker. ;; Then they came for the gypsies, ;; and I did not speak out because I was not a gypsy... ;; Pastor Martin Niemöller, translated by Michael Howard. |
#13
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Dreadful bikes, awful bikes, triage and maintenance
Simon Brooke said:
People who don't intend to ride bikes don't buy bikes. Everyone of those bikes was bought because the purchaser expected it to be ridden. Agreed. The fact that the bikes aren't being ridden means the people aren't getting the value they expected for their money. But they may well have only expected to ride it on a couple of weekends. If that's the value they expected, that's the value they've got. We may be of the opinion that cycling is a fun activity that everyone would enjoy if only they could be bothered and/or had the right equipment. But some people just aren't interested and only want a vehicle for the 2 nice weekends in the year when they have the time and the inclination. Those people rent bikes. Not necessarily. Making the decision to rent implies that 1) you know bike hire is available at all and 2) your rides will be in places and at times when rental is viable. Why tie up a lot of capital in an occasional play thing? Why tie up /any/ money (and shed space) on an occasional play thing, when renting gets you better playthings at lower cost? Because for many people there is no perception at all of this. Why spend fifteen quid a day on a hire bike, when for seventy quid you can get a perfectly good one (or, sometimes, two) from Sterling House, or Cycle King, or innumerable other places, and have it available whenever you want to use it? Better bike? It can't be that much better, surely? A good friend of mine went through exactly this 'logic' process a while ago, getting two bikes for the price of one - where one was well under a hundred quid. I suggested renting, I suggested secondhand, I told him he'd regret any new bike under a couple of hundred pounds, and he wasn't having any of it. And, having ridden one of the bikes, I was forced to eat my words. It's not a good bike, but he had taken on board my advice about avoiding suspension and any glitzy bits, and it is an astonishingly good value bike. Spending fifteen quid on slick tyres and twenty minutes truing the wheels were worthwhile but made less difference than I expected. The brakes work, the gears work, and for towpaths, or cycle trails, or for gentle pottering around town it is actually very capable. In fact, because it was too big for his wife but just the right size for my girlfriend, I took it off his hands ... John |
#14
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Dreadful bikes, awful bikes, triage and maintenance
buzz_ig wrote:
Do people who have cheap bikes hardly ever ride them because they're cheap, or do people who hardly ever ride bikes have a cheap bike because they hardly ever ride them? IME (sample size of 1), the former. A few years ago, my sister wanted her BF (now her husband) to buy her a bike for her birthday. He had a budget of £100. I pointed out that, to get a decent bike for that price, it would have to be second hand. Then I took a day off work and spent it riding round Sussex looking for second hand bikes. I found that Cuckoo Cycles in Heathfield sold ex-hire bikes that were within budget and of good quality. I took her along at the weekend to test one and she found it a pleasure to ride, but it had 2 flaws. It wasn't new and it wasn't red. She was willing to do without one or the other, but she wasn't willing to do without both. She ended up with a £100 bike from Halfords. That was 8 years ago, it's been ridden 3 times. She still (says) she wants to go out cycling, the problem is that her bike is crap. On the bright side, I spent a very pleasant April day riding round Sussex and when I wanted to buy a bike for my GF (now my wife) I knew exactly where to go. -- Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address) URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine |
#15
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Dreadful bikes, awful bikes, triage and maintenance
In article , Danny Colyer wrote:
I found that Cuckoo Cycles in Heathfield sold ex-hire bikes that were within budget and of good quality. I took her along at the weekend to test one and she found it a pleasure to ride, but it had 2 flaws. It wasn't new and it wasn't red. She was willing to do without one or the other, but she wasn't willing to do without both. She ended up with a £100 bike from Halfords. That was 8 years ago, it's been ridden 3 times. She still (says) she wants to go out cycling, the problem is that her bike is crap. Too late now, but Halfords do sell red spray paint. Not as durable as a professional job, but more likely to fit in a £100 budget with a second hand bike. |
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