BV's free "bike"

Bailes said:

Being a bicycle store employee am a little troubled by the spate of bicycles
offered by bicycle Victoria. I'm open minded mind you but giving people with
almost no mechanical aptitude a bike in a box and getting them to do their
worst is troubling. It's great if it gets people on bikes but what level of
bike appropriate? Is this not basically undercutting the hard work "most"
bike shops do by offering their means of income effectively free of charge?

im astounded that there hasnt been more of a 'formal' complaint lodged by the retailers ove these. In a word, these bikes are [censored]! They may be free, but on that basis it is certainly true you get what you pay for 😉
To circumvent the local bike trade and give out dangerous,ill-fitting, un-made sends out so many bad messages to joe-average out there.
Bad BV! Harry barber has slowly turned BV into a wierd conflicting org.
He refuses to have anything to do with the BFA, so any federal issues are easily not taken seriously cos Oz's largest bike membership thinks its 'more right' than everyone else. Some of the local proposals for solutions to traffic have to seen to be believed! Wierd overly expensive and just pie-in-the-sky stuff and dont get me started on bike lanes!
F-must-have-coffee-now-D

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 28 Oct 2004 06:22:43 +1000

flyingdutch said:

He refuses to have anything to do with the BFA, so any federal issues
are easily not taken seriously cos Oz's largest bike membership thinks
its 'more right' than everyone else. Some of the local proposals for
solutions to traffic have to seen to be believed! Wierd overly
expensive and just pie-in-the-sky stuff and dont get me started on bike
lanes!

Hehe... sounds just like the Victorian Motorcycle Rider's Association.

(except for the "biggest" bit...)

Weird, self absorbed, full of silly ideas, not very effective
politically...

Does BV tear itself apart in factional splits every 2nd Thursday as
well?

It must be something in the water. (or the beer)

Zebee

"Bailes" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

Being a bicycle store employee am a little troubled by the spate of bicycles
offered by bicycle Victoria. I'm open minded mind you but giving people with
almost no mechanical aptitude a bike in a box and getting them to do their
worst is troubling. It's great if it gets people on bikes but what level of
bike appropriate? Is this not basically undercutting the hard work "most"
bike shops do by offering their means of income effectively free of charge?

You're not the only one...

http://www.recalls.gov.au/recalls_last30days.cfm?rcl_type=recalls_consumer&psa_id=10954

Bicycles Victoria 'Great Victorian' - All Sizes
Date: 25/10/2004

Supplier: Bicycle Victoria

Category: Pedal Bicycles

Product Info: Bicycles Victoria 'Great Victorian' - All Sizes (26" x 16", 18", 21" and 23"😉 Purple/Orange Colour, No serial numbers
available. Model FC30CS. Bike dispatched between 4 October and 11 October 2004.

Defect details: The front fork is designed to be fitted with a bolt on hub but has been supplied with a quick release hub. The
product fails the Front Hub Retention Test in Appendix C of the Australian Standard with this configuration. The associated risk is
if the quick release was released the wheel could detach from the bicycle and cause injury to the rider.

Consumer action: Customers should cease using the bike until the new skewer is fitted. For information on how to receive the new
skewers contact Bicycle Victoria on Free Call 1800 639 634.

Market Coverage: National

Recall Coverage: National

Parbs

Quoted message said:

http://www.recalls.gov.au/recalls_last30days.cfm?rcl_type=recalls_consumer&psa_id=10954

Quoted message said:

Bicycles Victoria 'Great Victorian' - All Sizes
Date: 25/10/2004

Supplier: Bicycle Victoria

Category: Pedal Bicycles

Product Info: Bicycles Victoria 'Great Victorian' - All Sizes (26" x 16",

18", 21" and 23"😉 Purple/Orange Colour, No serial numbers

Quoted message said:

available. Model FC30CS. Bike dispatched between 4 October and 11 October

2004.

Quoted message said:

Defect details: The front fork is designed to be fitted with a bolt on hub

but has been supplied with a quick release hub. The

Quoted message said:

product fails the Front Hub Retention Test in Appendix C of the Australian

Standard with this configuration. The associated risk is

Quoted message said:

if the quick release was released the wheel could detach from the bicycle

and cause injury to the rider.

Quoted message said:

jeez guys, cut em some slack. The majority of bikes were distributed on the
same weekend as the Round the Bay and each and every one of them had their
skewer replaced with a non quick-release one.

Anyway,, I really cant see these bikes putting the LBS out of business. Its
Kmart and Woolies that'll be feeling it on sales and the LBS can only gain
from the extra business when those yellow & purple terrors get dragged in
for a service.

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 at 09:27 GMT, Flaps (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

if the quick release was released the wheel could detach from the bicycle

and cause injury to the rider.

jeez guys, cut em some slack. The majority of bikes were distributed on the
same weekend as the Round the Bay and each and every one of them had their
skewer replaced with a non quick-release one.

Anyway,, I really cant see these bikes putting the LBS out of business. Its
Kmart and Woolies that'll be feeling it on sales and the LBS can only gain
from the extra business when those yellow & purple terrors get dragged in
for a service.

Look. I [censored] bought $440 worth of accessories today. I bought $40
worth of accessories the day I assembled the bike, and $140 the
weekend after. I'm not having some [censored] come up to me and say BV is
taking business away from some place[1] when I go and by $620 worth of
accesories from some LBS a within a couple of weeks[2].

[1] Not that given LBS has some ghod given right to make money anyway,
but this is my [censored] communistic tendencies coming out again, so
I'll shut up now.

[2] You're as bad as the Record Industry Association of America if you
think I am taking business away from you simply because I "steal"
$10,000,000,000 worth of music from you. Hint hint: I have a feeling I
can't afford that anyway, so I wouldn't exactly buy that, and hence I
wouldn't exactly be "stealing" $10,1000,000,000 from you anyway.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
"Perhaps the truth is less interesting than the facts?"
-- Amy Weiss, RIAA's Senior Vice President of Propogander^WCommunications

TimC said:

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 at 09:27 GMT, Flaps (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

if the quick release was released the wheel could detach from the bicycle

and cause injury to the rider.

jeez guys, cut em some slack. The majority of bikes were distributed on the
same weekend as the Round the Bay and each and every one of them had their
skewer replaced with a non quick-release one.

Anyway,, I really cant see these bikes putting the LBS out of business. Its
Kmart and Woolies that'll be feeling it on sales and the LBS can only gain
from the extra business when those yellow & purple terrors get dragged in
for a service.

Look. I [censored] bought $440 worth of accessories today. I bought $40
worth of accessories the day I assembled the bike, and $140 the
weekend after. I'm not having some [censored] come up to me and say BV is
taking business away from some place[1] when I go and by $620 worth of
accesories from some LBS a within a couple of weeks[2].

[1] Not that given LBS has some ghod given right to make money anyway,
but this is my [censored] communistic tendencies coming out again, so
I'll shut up now.

[2] You're as bad as the Record Industry Association of America if you
think I am taking business away from you simply because I "steal"
$10,000,000,000 worth of music from you. Hint hint: I have a feeling I
can't afford that anyway, so I wouldn't exactly buy that, and hence I
wouldn't exactly be "stealing" $10,1000,000,000 from you anyway.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
"Perhaps the truth is less interesting than the facts?"
-- Amy Weiss, RIAA's Senior Vice President of Propogander^WCommunications

Whoah! Wale into the guy why don't you!

He was just making a technical judgement. I'm going along on the GVBR as a mechanic - just offer up prayers to the relevant saint on our behalf, if you don't mind: stress at the best of times, with over half the bikes on the ride being these sub-$400-retail jobbies,"no sleep till Brooklyn".

Specific gripes:

[censored] seat. Thousands of sore arses before Apollo Bay.

Extremely cheaparse shifters/derailleurs. Lavers Hill? Yeah, right. Chain Suck-O-Rama with extra cheese.

Amateur builds. Not to hurt anyone's feelings, but it sure takes avery trick in the book to get the brake springs tensioned/the shoes reliably secured and aligned/ hitting the rim squarely 3 times out of 5.

Weight. Over 14 kgs in most cases. Lavers Hill? Ha - a snap. Or rending screech.

Cheap tyres - hope we don't pass any bindii paddocks.

Recall on front wheel skewer. If this simple design consideration has been overlooked, what else is lurking in the shadows?

But, to look on the bright side, the rear wheel has a cassette hub. Hooray! We can carry on rebuilding hubs suffering the consequences of overtightened wheel bearings, and won't have to worry about replacing hundreds of snapped rear axles.

M "back to the funhouse" H

mfhor said:

Whoah! Wale into the guy why don't you!

He was just making a technical judgement. I'm going along on the GVBR as a mechanic - just offer up prayers to the relevant saint on our behalf, if you don't mind: stress at the best of times, with over half the bikes on the ride being these sub-$400-retail jobbies,"no sleep till Brooklyn".

Oh dear God, you're a sucker for punishment, aren't you? Will be making the appropriate prayers on your behalf

mfhor said:

Weight. Over 14 kgs in most cases. Lavers Hill? Ha - a snap. Or rending screech.

Do believe the Hello Kitty SS for sale on the Sanrio site is lighter....

mfhor said:

Whoah! Wale into the guy why don't you!

He was just making a technical judgement. I'm going along on the GVBR as a mechanic - just offer up prayers to the relevant saint on our behalf, if you don't mind: stress at the best of times, with over half the bikes on the ride being these sub-$400-retail jobbies,"no sleep till Brooklyn".

M "back to the funhouse" H

see you there. I might give you my Look to play with to brighten up your day then:-)

I'm one of the "suckers" that scored the free BV great Victorian. I asked for it to be delivered, and it was - in a bike box. I assembled it without problem.

I have been riding bikes and doing alot of my own maintenaince for about 30 years. My principal bike is a custom touring bike.

In terms of the quick release for the front wheel, it came with a bolt in quick release. I am happy with this. It appears Learspot rectified the problem promptly.

The pedals were really cheap. I have since bought new pedals and toeclips.
The gear levers on the handlebar feel really cheap, but they work (for how long?) The bike comes with an excellent range of gears (which is what I wanted)

I went out to a bike shop and spent about $140 on accessories, which included: pedals, toeclips, mirror, front light, rear rack.

The bike is mainly to be used for light commuting and towing a single wheeled kiddie bike with my daughter on the back.

All told, I'm pretty happy with the deal. My local bike shop is happy because I buy accessories from them, and they will service the bike eventually.

Win-win.

🙂

takver said:

I'm one of the "suckers" that scored the free BV great Victorian. I asked for it to be delivered, and it was - in a bike box. I assembled it without problem.

I have been riding bikes and doing alot of my own maintenaince for about 30 years. My principal bike is a custom touring bike.

In terms of the quick release for the front wheel, it came with a bolt in quick release. I am happy with this. It appears Learspot rectified the problem promptly.

The pedals were really cheap. I have since bought new pedals and toeclips.
The gear levers on the handlebar feel really cheap, but they work (for how long?) The bike comes with an excellent range of gears (which is what I wanted)

I went out to a bike shop and spent about $140 on accessories, which included: pedals, toeclips, mirror, front light, rear rack.

The bike is mainly to be used for light commuting and towing a single wheeled kiddie bike with my daughter on the back.

All told, I'm pretty happy with the deal. My local bike shop is happy because I buy accessories from them, and they will service the bike eventually.

Win-win.

🙂

Last weekend me and girls did the Bright-to-Warby rail trail. we saw about 10 of these bikes (on the trail and around rutherglen).
Saw 3 stopped with varying problems.
One guy had come down a hill and said the brakes failed. He had to go bush and jump off.
The second had a cracked seat tube!!!
and the third had what appeared to be a broken rear axle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now all 3 people werent especially girth-challenged and whilst the first one could have been a simply bad build job on the boxed bike the latter are ownright scary.
I have heard of cracked seat tubes on decade old bikes but a broken rear axle is downright Downhillers-slalom material.
Which lube would you recommend for that one mfhor? :-)

flyingdutch said:

Last weekend me and girls did the Bright-to-Warby rail trail. we saw about 10 of these bikes (on the trail and around rutherglen).
Saw 3 stopped with varying problems.
One guy had come down a hill and said the brakes failed. He had to go bush and jump off.
The second had a cracked seat tube!!!
and the third had what appeared to be a broken rear axle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now all 3 people werent especially girth-challenged and whilst the first one could have been a simply bad build job on the boxed bike the latter are ownright scary.
I have heard of cracked seat tubes on decade old bikes but a broken rear axle is downright Downhillers-slalom material.
Which lube would you recommend for that one mfhor? :-)

well mine has come with badly adjusted brakes, loose rear wheel axle, a seat that I wouldn't put my bum on, a seat tube that is too short for me and the wrong sized stem. All bar the first two could and probably would happen with any cheap cheap bike. The first two would hopefully be fixed before it left the bike shop. I'll spend time and money making mine roadworthy but I'd worry that many others won't.

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 at 04:51 GMT, ProfTournesol (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

flyingdutch said:

Last weekend me and girls did the Bright-to-Warby rail trail. we saw
about 10 of these bikes (on the trail and around rutherglen).
Saw 3 stopped with varying problems.
One guy had come down a hill and said the brakes failed. He had to go
bush and jump off.
The second had a cracked seat tube!!!
and the third had what appeared to be a broken rear axle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now all 3 people werent especially girth-challenged and whilst the
first one could have been a simply bad build job on the boxed bike the
latter are ownright scary.

One thing I noticed on yeterdays ride, was that I have barely any back
brake pads left. After 2 weeks of riding. And not using the back
brakes overly much (and not using them down stretches of hill), and
with them well adjusted - certainly neither of them are rubbing, and
they are both worn equally (they looked almost melted, but I
discovered the "melt" around the edges of the pads was just powder
that was easily rubbed off.

Are there degrees of quality and longevity in brake pads? Brakes pads
I've always used have been as good as new after *years*!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have heard of cracked seat tubes on decade old bikes but a broken
rear axle is downright Downhillers-slalom material.
Which lube would you recommend for that one mfhor? :-)

well mine has come with badly adjusted brakes, loose rear wheel axle, a

I take it you didn't assemle your yourself? The guy at the front told
us just how to get the brakes just right.

Quoted message said:

seat that I wouldn't put my bum on, a seat tube that is too short for me

The seat was easy to fix 🙂 The very first thing I bought.

Reading that forum that they advertise for the GV (why can't people
just use USENET for these things (same could be said of those evil
cycleforums posts that gateway onto here, which don't come with the
proper headers)?!), makes me think everyone ordered a bike one size
too small for them. I fell just in between the height ranges that they
suggested for the 18" and 21" inch frames, so decided to go for the
18". It is too small, and I only just fit on it with the seat at it's
minimum insertion point.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
TELESCOPE, n.
A device having a relation to the eye similar to that of the
telephone to the ear, enabling distant objects to plague us with a
multitude of needless details. Luckily it is unprovided with a bell
summoning us to the sacrifice.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

"TimC" <[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Are there degrees of quality and longevity in brake pads? Brakes pads
I've always used have been as good as new after *years*!

Yes. Hard/soft compounds, compounds for carbon braking
surfaces, compounds that stop you, compounds that don't,
pads that destroy your rims, pads that don't..

E.g.
http://www.koolstop.com/brakes/

hippy

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 at 05:56 GMT, hippy (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

"TimC" <[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Are there degrees of quality and longevity in brake pads? Brakes pads
I've always used have been as good as new after *years*!

Yes. Hard/soft compounds, compounds for carbon braking
surfaces, compounds that stop you, compounds that don't,
pads that destroy your rims, pads that don't..

Just rememebered what may have caused the premature failure.

The alloy rim was not joined properly, and there was a tiny bit of
ridge at the seam. It has reparied itself now, but for the first week
or two, using the rear brake would get a thump thump thump thump thump
when stopping. That would be a nice effective way of removing brake
pad, wouldn't it! 🙂 Just keep planing the brake off, until there is
none left. I'm certainly glad I discovered this before going off on
the Great Vic.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Black holes are where God divided by zero. -- Steven Wright

ProfTournesol said:

see you there. I might give you my Look to play with to brighten up your day then:-)

What - you trust me with something made out of *proper* plastic after I've done the umpteenth BB rebuild on BV [censored]? I'll be wielding wrenches with an eye to volume rather than exactitude - be warned 😉

M "sucker for it" H

BV "Free Bike"

Did the Warby trail yesterday and saw them in plague proportions.

I agree with previous posters that they are real cheapos.

I am not a particular fan of BV but struck by one comment made by one of the persons riding one of these machines.

"If BV hadn't made the package offer of entry fee plus a bike I would not have bothered to enter"

This may turn out to be a new lifetime rider and LBC customer ( if he survives the ride on his BV special!)

Cheers

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 at 08:08 GMT, coppershark (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

"If BV hadn't made the package offer of entry fee plus a bike I would
not have bothered to enter"

This may turn out to be a new lifetime rider and LBC customer ( if he
survives the ride on his BV special!)

Precisely. "More people riding more often".

They also got at that in the recent survey - they were trying to
ascertain whether indeed they succeeded at that mission.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
An engineer is someone who does list processing in FORTRAN.

TimC said:

Quoted message said:

"If BV hadn't made the package offer of entry fee plus a bike I would
not have bothered to enter"

This may turn out to be a new lifetime rider and LBC customer ( if he
survives the ride on his BV special!)

Precisely. "More people riding more often".

They also got at that in the recent survey - they were trying to
ascertain whether indeed they succeeded at that mission.

Valid point. But I wonder how much of the starry-eyed enthusiasm will still be there when I give them the bill for a new r. derailleur, shifter and bb rebuild on day 5 of the ride?

BV only needed to spend another approx. $50 at manufacturing level to bring it up to speed for a multi-day tour.

I don't want to come across as a bike-snob ("Too late!" comes the cry), but I think BV is dallying dangerously with the concept of consumer leisure - anything will do as long as it has a pretty backdrop. Their cashflow problems are not exactly a closed book - and tactics for 'dollars in the door' can only be justified so far. You couldn't call the basic option a boutique tour anyway.

I just want to get people functional on their bikes so we actually *retain* them as cyclists in the long term, not just as people who had a quick (disappointing) fling with the concept of a ride a bit longer than they are used to.

How's this: some of the people asking us to prep these purple and orange boat-anchors for training/the ride itself are taking them along IN PREFERENCE to their own often better-quality, lighter, perfectly roadworthy and feasible hybrids/commuter-equipped MTBs that they are used to and comfortable riding.

I don't understand this.

Is it a status thing? Can't be. Bike design excellence is diametrically somewhere else.

A belongingness thing? What? 4000 others - who in particular are you going to belong with?

Is it going to be, like some redneck locals have been heard to mutter in the past, a swarm with a group mind, devouring everything in its path? Bzzzzz.

Conversely - People who are training seriously on them are already needing them to be serviced (b/bs, gears, wheels etc.), and seem to be adding quite a few things to make them averagely comfortable: better seat; barends, racks, bidon cages (which they would have got for a substantially cheaper price on a bike bought from a shop).

They might devolve down to kids to ride to school on - now there's a place to start - free bikes for everyone under 15.

M "Doubting Thomas" H

mfhor said:

<snip>
I just want to get people functional on their bikes so we actually *retain* them as cyclists in the long term, not just as people who had a quick (disappointing) fling with the concept of a ride a bit longer than they are used to.

How many of these bike with rust in sheds after this years ride & then be hard waste in a few years time?

mfhor said:

How's this: some of the people asking us to prep these purple and orange boat-anchors for training/the ride itself are taking them along IN PREFERENCE to their own often better-quality, lighter, perfectly roadworthy and feasible hybrids/commuter-equipped MTBs that they are used to and comfortable riding.

One rider I met on Cup Day said just that. He didn't care if the bike only lasted 600km. "Better than taking my good bike" He said. WTF???