On the cycle path this morning...

It's not uncommon. I've seen a few Kmart type bikes around with backwards forks, probably bought cheap in the box.

I just spent an hour assembling one such bike - a Huffy with dual suspension - for the neighbour's daughter in exchange for piano lessons for our daughters.

Yes, I had to turn the forks around and apart from the usual assembly tasks I had to rectify:
tight wheel bearings
tight bottom bracket even though the lock ring was loose
straighten both wheels
and derailleur adjustment was a pig.

I've asked them to bring it back to me after a few months because I know it'll need a retune. Hopefully riding this clunker won't cause her to lose all enthusiasm for cycling by the time she grows out of it.

By contrast, I also assembled a low to mid range GT Outpost from the recent warehouse sale for my daughter. It took about half an hour and the wheel bearings where a little tight, but everything else went together without a fuss. Even the gears were pretty much spot on out of the box.

BT Humble said:

Is this a common thing to happen with K-Mart/Big W bikes? Or do kids
flip them around because it looks cool?

The K-Mart bikes come with "some assembly required", and the
documentation is often pretty dodgy.

Quoted message said:

[2] A Dunlop K-Mart bike with front suspension forks.

My son's 20" is a Dunlop. Of all the cheapy bikes I have bought
(and that is about 2 per year because the kids grow out of them
pretty quick) the dunlop is the best, and it was the only one to
have a useful manual.

BT Humble said:

[2] A Dunlop K-Mart bike with front suspension forks.

Otherwise known as a [censored]. Hell I don't have much bling in the fleet, but what I do possess is a reasonable range of bikes that can be tweaked with. Education, awareness, basic mech skills .. ah fuggit, another a.b regular can flesh that out.

I've seen the same thing. The fellow next door bought his son a bike in a
box from one of those big stores that required minimal assembly and he did
the same thing. He fitted bottom fork backwards, plus had the saddle angled
backwards as he told his son it looks cool that way. In the past he's I've
also seen his son with helmut backwards! I told him the changes that needed
to be made which he did, but couldn't see what difference it would make as
it's only a bike! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr I usually pump up his son's tyres from
time to time as he believes pumping tyres every few months at a servo is all
that's required. I feel sorry for the little guy!
This is one bloke that doesn't have a clue and only made my suggested
(actually required) changes after advising him that he's putting his son in
danger.

"BT Humble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I overtook a young lad[1] on his way to school on a cheap MTB[2] with
about 5psi in the tyres.

Then I thought about it, slowed down and asked him if he wanted to pump
his tyres up, since he was making pretty hard work of it.

After I'd showed him how to use the pump, I noticed that the forks were
fitted backwards (ie. the handlebars needed to be rotated 180 degrees).
I pointed it out to him, and mentioned that it would steer and handle
a whole lot better once he fixed it. I gave him a bit of paper with
the Sheldon Brown website URL on it too, hopefully that'll get him
sorted out.

Is this a common thing to happen with K-Mart/Big W bikes? Or do kids
flip them around because it looks cool?

BTH
[1] About 13YO? Damned if I know, I don't have kids.
[2] A Dunlop K-Mart bike with front suspension forks.

BT Humble said:

Is this a common thing to happen with K-Mart/Big W bikes? Or do kids
flip them around because it looks cool?

damn kids these days!.....just wait 'till he upgrades to STI levers and installs them in reverse 😉

I hope you gave the QR some good attention... you don't want the irate neighbour breaking down your front door with a lawsuit...

BTW, if the fork, saddle and helmet were back-to-front, it might be simpler to swing the bike+rider assembly around by 180*... less total bits end up facing the wrong way?

cfsmtb said:

BT Humble said:

[2] A Dunlop K-Mart bike with front suspension forks.

Otherwise known as a [censored].

For most peeps in breeding mode, a string of [censored] are a reasonable
kids bicycle purchase.

Not many peeps have the DIY skills to strip, repaint, rebuild older
kides bikes.

cfsmtb said:

BT Humble said:

[2] A Dunlop K-Mart bike with front suspension forks.

Otherwise known as a [censored]. Hell I don't have much bling in the
fleet, but what I do possess is a reasonable range of bikes that can be
tweaked with. Education, awareness, basic mech skills .. ah fuggit,
another a.b regular can flesh that out.

Mmm, I'm familiar with the "Bike Shaped Object" argument. I do think
that for basic daily transport one of those $150 K-mart bikes would
work out OK for a year or two *provided the owner performed regular
basic maintenance on it*.

Your average $150 bike today generally seems to be a whole lot better
constructed than your average $150 bike from 1986, suspension forks
excluded. ;-)

BTH
(Currently riding a ~30-year-old Batavus road bike, retrieved from hard
rubbish and given a new front derailleur cable & a patch on the front
tube).

Terryc said:

cfsmtb said:

BT Humble said:

[2] A Dunlop K-Mart bike with front suspension forks.

Otherwise known as a [censored].

For most peeps in breeding mode, a string of [censored] are a reasonable
kids bicycle purchase.

So you buy a bike from a chain store and it's got front and rear
suspension. Wow! A good price! But you don't notice the small print
that says "not suitable for off-road use". Which is a bit optimistic,
because it should say "not suitable for use". But, never mind. The
kids know they're not allowed to jump over things. It's worth saving
$50 because they'll grow out of it in a year.

Like a gamble, do you?

Quoted message said:

Not many peeps have the DIY skills to strip, repaint, rebuild older
kides bikes.

There are some bike shops that have restored, serviced second-hand
kids bikes. e.g. Barry Waddell just down the road from me.
--
Regards.
Richard.

"BT Humble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I overtook a young lad[1] on his way to school on a cheap MTB[2] with
about 5psi in the tyres.

Then I thought about it, slowed down and asked him if he wanted to pump
his tyres up, since he was making pretty hard work of it.

After I'd showed him how to use the pump, I noticed that the forks were
fitted backwards (ie. the handlebars needed to be rotated 180 degrees).
I pointed it out to him, and mentioned that it would steer and handle
a whole lot better once he fixed it. I gave him a bit of paper with
the Sheldon Brown website URL on it too, hopefully that'll get him
sorted out.

Is this a common thing to happen with K-Mart/Big W bikes? Or do kids
flip them around because it looks cool?

Probably both. K-mart bikes are [censored] and kids are stupid 🙂

One joker I knew at high school inflated his tyres with *water*.

"BT Humble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

(Currently riding a ~30-year-old Batavus road bike, retrieved from hard
rubbish and given a new front derailleur cable & a patch on the front
tube).

I would have sworn you'd go for a pedal-powered GPX.....

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:55:56 GMT, "Tex" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"BT Humble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

(Currently riding a ~30-year-old Batavus road bike, retrieved from hard
rubbish and given a new front derailleur cable & a patch on the front
tube).

I would have sworn you'd go for a pedal-powered GPX.....

No, these days it would have to be an ex-Postie bicycle.

Andre

Richard Sherratt said:

So you buy a bike from a chain store and it's got front and rear
suspension. Wow! A good price! But you don't notice the small print
that says "not suitable for off-road use". Which is a bit optimistic,
because it should say "not suitable for use". But, never mind. The
kids know they're not allowed to jump over things. It's worth saving
$50 because they'll grow out of it in a year.

Like a gamble, do you?

ROFL, some peeps are really really stupid. Sure kids do jumps, etc. It
is a $50 bike, who cares. If they are at a growth spurt, you'll be
replacing it soon anyway.

Have you ever been into junk-mart and lifted up one of those bikes? Once
you do, you'll know why we had a shortage of lead pipe recently.

Those bicycles are good enough for the basic beating that kids give
bicycles.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Not many peeps have the DIY skills to strip, repaint, rebuild older
kides bikes.

There are some bike shops that have restored, serviced second-hand
kids bikes. e.g. Barry Waddell just down the road from me.

Owwww. WOWOWOWOWOW, but not everyone lives just down the road from Barry
Waddell.

<it must be the weather with nut cases coming out all over the places
from the humidty. Just finished listening to Tony Jones and Ian Campbell
pissing on about how the Mildura solar station can cater for base load
power requirements. HELLO, the sun has gone down guys, wakey, wakey>

Tex said:

One joker I knew at high school inflated his tyres with *water*.

Well, they do that to give grip to tractors.
Was this in a rural area?

Quoted message said:

"Terryc" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tex said:

One joker I knew at high school inflated his tyres with *water*.

Well, they do that to give grip to tractors.
Was this in a rural area?

Nope 🙂

Terryc said:

Tex said:

One joker I knew at high school inflated his tyres with *water*.

Well, they do that to give grip to tractors.
Was this in a rural area?

Hmmm... with technical creativity like that he'd be a natural for
Mythbusters.

Cheers,

Vince

"Do bicycles go faster downhill when their tyres contain water?"

Terryc said:

Richard Sherratt said:

So you buy a bike from a chain store and it's got front and rear
suspension. Wow! A good price! But you don't notice the small print
that says "not suitable for off-road use". Which is a bit optimistic,
because it should say "not suitable for use". But, never mind. The
kids know they're not allowed to jump over things. It's worth saving
$50 because they'll grow out of it in a year.

Like a gamble, do you?

ROFL, some peeps are really really stupid. Sure kids do jumps, etc. It
is a $50 bike, who cares. If they are at a growth spurt, you'll be
replacing it soon anyway.

But when that $50 cheaper bike breaks and the kid is impaled ...

Quoted message said:

Have you ever been into junk-mart and lifted up one of those bikes? Once
you do, you'll know why we had a shortage of lead pipe recently.

Those bicycles are good enough for the basic beating that kids give
bicycles.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Not many peeps have the DIY skills to strip, repaint, rebuild older
kides bikes.

There are some bike shops that have restored, serviced second-hand
kids bikes. e.g. Barry Waddell just down the road from me.

Owwww. WOWOWOWOWOW, but not everyone lives just down the road from Barry
Waddell.

Just an example.
--
Regards.
Richard.

Aeek said:

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:55:56 GMT, "Tex" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"BT Humble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

(Currently riding a ~30-year-old Batavus road bike, retrieved from hard
rubbish and given a new front derailleur cable & a patch on the front
tube).

I would have sworn you'd go for a pedal-powered GPX.....

No, these days it would have to be an ex-Postie bicycle.

As posted to aus.motorcycles:

It takes a special kind of man to ride a CT90
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/236/CT90pilot.jpg

BTH

Tex said:

One joker I knew at high school inflated his tyres with *water*.

Nah, that just means he was a fool. If he was a joker he'd have
inflated YOUR tyres with water! ;-)

BTH