100+ BSOs later...

Werehatrack said:

Monday I spent the day taking BSOs that had been assembled by
volunteers and converting them into the nearest approximation of bikes
possible. This was part of a local annual group effort that
distributes bikes to kids in very poor neighborhoods at XMas. This
year's BSOs were all single-speed coaster-brake units of varying size
and style, all from one Chinese manufacturer. Since the 12th, over
12,000 of them have been assembled by large number of people.

While my sample was small, I was impressed by these points:

-- The unskilled volunteers, with only a short video presentation as
instruction, managed to get the right things in the right places
pretty much every time. In particular, the percentage of bikes
assembled with the forks turned 180 degrees was lower than I've seen
at many Wal-Mart and Target stores.

-- The number of bikes that had to be scrapped out due to a fatal
failure for which no spares were on hand was amazingly small, and
there had been no spare-parts buy with the bike purchase. All of the
bikes had cheesy stamped-from-rod Ashtabula-style cranks, and I found
only three failures of that part in the boneyard. With that type of
crank, I'd have expected more.

That said, I was antiwhelmed by these factors:

-- Many of the bikes had chain tension so high that it caused
perceptible drag; this was not due to volunteer error, as the frame
assemblies arrived with the rear wheel in place and the chain already
tensioned.

-- Many of the rear axle tabs (they had horizontal axle slots, so
they aren't "dropouts" per se, but they're the same part of the frame
as a dropout) were not parallel; the left tab was typically the one
which had a bit of toe-out as installed.

-- The 20" (and smaller) bikes used a pseudo-BMX-style quill stem
with a four-bolt clamp for the bars. The bolts had off-center round
heads, and needed to be positioned just right in their recesses in the
aluminum upper casting lest the process of tightening them down split
the side out of the clamp. Needless to say, this was a frequent
assembly error, though thanks to the instructions to the assemblers
(to the effect of "just snug the nuts down; they'll be fully tightened
during final inspection"😉 the number of caps split was actually very
small.

Overall, though, these units epitomized what I think of as the
rock-bottom KFB; a Kid's First Bike with minimal frills, built fairly
ruggedly but not grossly overweight, They had better seat clamps than
I've seen on low-end Roadmasters (which, for me, is the ultimate POS
in terms of quality for that part). The organizers went with
coaster-brake bikes this year after having discovered last year that
properly adjusting a hand brake setup can take as long as all of the
other assembly tasks put together...and it requires someone who knows
what they're doing if it's going to be right. (Side note: "Right" is
not an adjective I would generally apply to the V-brake adjustments of
bikes I've seen at places like Wal-Mart.)

Next year, if I do this again, I'm taking my own pedal wrench.

Good man. They were lucky to have you helping out.

BS (no, really)

In article <[email hidden]>, Werehatrack

Quoted message said:

Monday I spent the day taking BSOs that had been assembled by
volunteers and converting them into the nearest approximation of bikes
possible. This was part of a local annual group effort that
distributes bikes to kids in very poor neighborhoods at XMas.

<snip>

Your and your colleagues' efforts merit praise. I've no doubt that
they'll end in many smiles and much delight. Good for you!

Luke

Werehatrack said:

Monday I spent the day taking BSOs that had been assembled by
volunteers and converting them into the nearest approximation of bikes
possible. This was part of a local annual group effort that
distributes bikes to kids in very poor neighborhoods at XMas. This
year's BSOs were all single-speed coaster-brake units of varying size
and style, all from one Chinese manufacturer. Since the 12th, over
12,000 of them have been assembled by large number of people.

While my sample was small, I was impressed by these points:

-- The unskilled volunteers, with only a short video presentation as
instruction, managed to get the right things in the right places
pretty much every time. In particular, the percentage of bikes
assembled with the forks turned 180 degrees was lower than I've seen
at many Wal-Mart and Target stores.

-- The number of bikes that had to be scrapped out due to a fatal
failure for which no spares were on hand was amazingly small, and
there had been no spare-parts buy with the bike purchase. All of the
bikes had cheesy stamped-from-rod Ashtabula-style cranks, and I found
only three failures of that part in the boneyard. With that type of
crank, I'd have expected more.

That said, I was antiwhelmed by these factors:

-- Many of the bikes had chain tension so high that it caused
perceptible drag; this was not due to volunteer error, as the frame
assemblies arrived with the rear wheel in place and the chain already
tensioned.

-- Many of the rear axle tabs (they had horizontal axle slots, so
they aren't "dropouts" per se, but they're the same part of the frame
as a dropout) were not parallel; the left tab was typically the one
which had a bit of toe-out as installed.

Most of these, especially on kids' bikes, have super-silly
multiply-folded-over 1mm thick mild-steel dropouts to make a 3 or 4mm thick
dropout. These can all be bent back with an *adjustable wrench*.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Squid-in-Training said:

Werehatrack said:

-- Many of the rear axle tabs (they had horizontal axle slots, so
they aren't "dropouts" per se, but they're the same part of the frame
as a dropout) were not parallel; the left tab was typically the one
which had a bit of toe-out as installed.

Most of these, especially on kids' bikes, have super-silly
multiply-folded-over 1mm thick mild-steel dropouts to make a 3 or 4mm thick
dropout. These can all be bent back with an *adjustable wrench*.

In this case they were made from steel plate, around 3mm thick,
probably punched out. The spread of the stays appeared to be where
the variability came in; some were far enough apart that the axle nuts
apparently drew the tabs in several millimeters when the wheel was
installed. It looked like a QC/tolerance issue in the frame welding
process. Given the type of bike involved, though, I really doubt that
it will make any difference in the long run.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Squid-in-Training said:

Most of these, especially on kids' bikes, have super-silly
multiply-folded-over 1mm thick mild-steel dropouts to make a 3 or 4mm thick
dropout. These can all be bent back with an *adjustable wrench*.

My current beater, the non-dropout (but not track-end either) horizontal
slots are simply the end of the chainstay, flattened, and doubled over,
with a slot cut in them. It doesn't get much crappier than that -- but
it's surprisingly functional.

The same goes for those ashtabula cranks -- they're *way* cheaper than
even the cheapest drop forged steel 3-piece sets, but they're not all that
nonfunctional.

Jasper

Jasper Janssen said:

Squid-in-Training said:

Most of these, especially on kids' bikes, have super-silly
multiply-folded-over 1mm thick mild-steel dropouts to make a 3 or 4mm thick
dropout. These can all be bent back with an *adjustable wrench*.

My current beater, the non-dropout (but not track-end either) horizontal
slots are simply the end of the chainstay, flattened, and doubled over,
with a slot cut in them. It doesn't get much crappier than that -- but
it's surprisingly functional.

The same goes for those ashtabula cranks -- they're *way* cheaper than
even the cheapest drop forged steel 3-piece sets, but they're not all that
nonfunctional.

Well the _real_ Ashtabula was forged and nearly indestructible. Those things
would survive just insane cyclostupidity.

Ron