Bikes in Catalogues

in message <[email hidden]>, John

(') said:

Would you generally say that the bikes in catalogues such as Argos are
trash?

Generally, yes.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Life would be much easier if I had the source code.

in message <[email hidden]>, David

Martin (') said:

Just zis Guy said:

I submit that on or about Sat, 06 Aug 2005 21:32:51 +0100, the person
known to the court as John <[email hidden]> made a statement
(<[email hidden]> in Your Honour's bundle)
to the following effect:

Quoted message said:

Would you generally say that the bikes in catalogues such as Argos
are
trash? There must be some reason why they are so low in price?

As a first approximation that will do nicely :-)

And a slightly more detailed response:

Every bike is a complex mixture of parts. Some of these are relatively
simple and easy to mass produce (eg chains, cheap tubing, frames etc.)
and there is little practical difference between them at the bottom
end.

This really is not true. I have recently done remedial work on a
'Universal' brand bike, bought at Tesco, and an 'Apollo' brand bike,
bought at Halfords. Simply as an example of the quality difference, the
drop-outs on the Universal were so flimsy you could bend them with your
fingers. While the frames on many cheap bikes are OK, at the bottom end
of the market even the frames are dreadful. In my experience, very cheap
aluminium frames are a bit better than very cheap steel frames, even
though they may be no lighter.

Quoted message said:

There are more complex parts and it is these that make the difference.
The cheapest way to make a part is to stamp it out of metal. This
however is not particularly accurate, nor able to be performed to tight
toleraces, especially as it is cheaper to make these parts out of
softer metal. To get better components, castings are used which are
then finished by milling and assembled. Adding small but useful bits
into the mix like bushings adds cost because of assembly complexity but
dramatically improve the longevity and performance of the parts.

All of this /is/ true. If you buy a cheap bike you can dramatically
improve it over time by replacing parts as they wear out with better
quality alternatives.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; When all else fails, read the distractions.

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

Quoted message said:

Would you generally say that the bikes in catalogues such as Argos are
trash? There must be some reason why they are so low in price?

John

'Bowt right :-)

The reason they are so cheap is that they are made of cheap and nasty
components where cost appears to be the only consideration. Quality of
components seems to be little considered, if at all.

Cheers, helen s