[TheThinkTank] low end bikes, Invisible riders

[Erik Ryberg]

Single-speed bikes are real bikes.  Like any tool there are all kinds of 
trade-offs to be made.  Brakes cost money, require maintenance, and 
weigh something, but on the other hand they are needed if you want to 
survive the ride, so most people opt to carry a set.  Gears have all the 
same disadvantages and if you live in a flat place and all your riding 
is done for straightforward utilitarian purposes, then it might make 
sense to stick with a single speed.  There's no need to tell a person 
that they don't have the sense of a child, or that they are ridiculous, 
or that they are not even an ordinary person just because they prefer a 
single speed.

I just wish there was a way to give the bike-criminals over at Wal Mart 
a bit of real competition, at least in a small way, with new bikes that 
actually work and that still only cost what the Magnas do.
-Erik


  ronald ferrucci wrote:

> If they get to
> the point where they need and understand the gears, I think they will
> realize it is time to upgrade to a real bike.
> 

> On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 7:52 PM, Michael Wolfe <gzuphoesdown at gmail.com> wrote:
>> the only "crime" i see here is converting a bike into a single speed.  While
>> such a ridiculous notion might be fine for bike messengers of days past
>> who did see the benefit of it being cheap and stupid such that no one would
>> ever consider stealing one, it's out of place for ordinary civilians.  Isn't
>> the point to get bikes to ordinary people?  Most people, as children learned
>> to ride bikes with gears which begs that even a child can see the benefit.
>> Even as this discussion was going on yesterday a neighbor pulled up to his
>> home with a 30 pack on the top tube of his Magna and then proceeded to
>> shuttle a child off to another destination in the same manner.  The notion
>> of a one gear bike to suffice for his daily activities would seem ludicrous
>> to him for sure.   The bikes they have stay outside all night and never seem
>> to disappear which seems to support the theory suggested yesterday.  hmmmf.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/29/08, kyle mckinley <bicirider at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> the biggest problems with the walmart bikes seem to be related to (a)
>>> shifting and (b) weight. both of these are mitigated by turning the bike
>>> into a single speed. The safest way to do this on the cheap is to take apart
>>> the freewheel and only leave one gear (so that it won't shift up and break
>>> the axel) and use just the middle chainring in front.
>>> The shocks on magnas and the like usually don't have much travel, so it
>>> seems to work pretty well to pull it off and replace it with an old rigid
>>> fork from the boneyard (as opposed to "real" modern mountain bikes that
>>> require a problemsolver rigid fork to not result in a dangerously steep
>>> headtube angle).
>>> I agree that it is a good idea to rehad these bikes. The problem for a lot
>>> of orgs is that there isn't the room to store both the walmart bikes and the
>>> older, nicer, communters and mountain bikes. And those old bikes are better
>>> for the rider, and less of a nightmare to fix up.
>>> Moreover, regarding this whole thread; I can appreciate the general sense
>>> that it is important to help everyone feel good about zer bike--even if it
>>> is from walmart--but I would still contend that by purposefully
>>> manufacturing bikes that break immediately, and are super difficult to fix
>>> when they break, these companies are perpetuating a crime against the
>>> bicycle... a crime so vast that the only point of comparison is the
>>> dasterdly deed of "carbon fiber".
>>> Surely there is a way that we can learn to articulate a rejection of the
>>> continued manufacture of these bikes (most of which, despite our best
>>> efforts, head quickly to the landfill) without blaming our patrons for
>>> buying them. How exactly we do that depends on the individual
>>> interaction--and how busted the roadmaster actually is.
>>> thanks-
>>> kyle


-- 
Erik B. Ryberg	
Attorney at Law
445 West Simpson Street
Tucson, AZ 85701
phone: (520) 622-3333
fax: (520) 792-6677