Buyer’s Guide to Bike Shaped Objects
Posted: December 7, 2009 at 11:17 amJust in time for the holidays, Cyclelicious has posted a guide to BSOs, or Bike Shaped Objects, a term cyclists use to describe department store bikes.
As much as us snobby cyclists like to turn up our noses at them, they sell and appear all over the place. Many people view bikes as a toy and don’t want to spend a lot of money on them. If you are going to purchase a cheap bike, do it right and read this guide, there is some great advice.
From my own experience, I can tell you even a pricier bike will need work once you get it home. After a friend of mine purchased a $200 Schwinn comfort bike from Target we had to do quite a bit of adjusting before it was ready to ride. Even if you get a quality bike, it has been assembled by someone who isn’t a bike mechanic. At the very least, get a department store bike looked over by someone who knows bikes before getting on the road.
