BSO's......not necessarily all that bad
Posted: 20 Mar 2014, 6:26pm
So today my girlfriend, her dad and I drove to Decathlon to buy her a bike. She'd been talking about getting one ever since we met 6 months ago so I've been gently nudging her to go through with it ever since. Her last bike some 10+ years ago was a rust bitten hunk of junk and had pretty much put her off cycling for good unsurprisingly.
She was all set to buy a full suspension mountain bike complete with a snazzy paint job for the bargain price of £109.99 when I promptly told her that would be over my dead body and explained why.
Today's wonder machine was had for £180, a decathlon original 3. Not quite super bike status but better than utter pile of ****. The shop assistant offered her the next model up for £30 more boasting it had a gel saddle, an alloy frame and bouncy forks and stating that the gel saddle alone was worth £29! Wow! Those forks must be awesome! She took one look at me, noted my expression and politely declined this super offer.
The three of us agreed that eventually she'll need a rack and panniers and a stand. She and her dad went to look those over and I offered to go get the spare inner tubes which despite me not checking were clearly 700 x 40c. Pam asked if I had the right size and I told her I knew what I was doing before pointing out the clear as a bell 26 x 1.75 markings on the tyre. After watching her dad almost die laughing and recovering from the thump on the shoulder she gave me I trundled off to get the right size tubes
Upon getting home and looking it over for her, she took it for a spin round the block to get used to the gears and make sure we'd set it up right then the pair of us took a ride to asda for some shopping. 2-3 miles maybe and despite cold horrible weather, she had a smile a mile wide the whole way
She's been talking about cycling to work a few nights a week, rides with the kids and her dad and me and generally seems happy with her new bike.
A good day all round methinks
She was all set to buy a full suspension mountain bike complete with a snazzy paint job for the bargain price of £109.99 when I promptly told her that would be over my dead body and explained why.
Today's wonder machine was had for £180, a decathlon original 3. Not quite super bike status but better than utter pile of ****. The shop assistant offered her the next model up for £30 more boasting it had a gel saddle, an alloy frame and bouncy forks and stating that the gel saddle alone was worth £29! Wow! Those forks must be awesome! She took one look at me, noted my expression and politely declined this super offer.
The three of us agreed that eventually she'll need a rack and panniers and a stand. She and her dad went to look those over and I offered to go get the spare inner tubes which despite me not checking were clearly 700 x 40c. Pam asked if I had the right size and I told her I knew what I was doing before pointing out the clear as a bell 26 x 1.75 markings on the tyre. After watching her dad almost die laughing and recovering from the thump on the shoulder she gave me I trundled off to get the right size tubes
Upon getting home and looking it over for her, she took it for a spin round the block to get used to the gears and make sure we'd set it up right then the pair of us took a ride to asda for some shopping. 2-3 miles maybe and despite cold horrible weather, she had a smile a mile wide the whole way
She's been talking about cycling to work a few nights a week, rides with the kids and her dad and me and generally seems happy with her new bike.
A good day all round methinks