Bike Anti-Porn - When Things Go Wrong

I thought your point was that bikes were not toys...

I see what you're saying but the vast majority of children will ignore the decently-built 5sp and go for the shoddily built 21sp dualie because more gears=better and suspension=better and stupid stickers=better. Now if the parents do know something about bikes they'll probably buy the kid an Isla, but if the parents aren't cyclists (ie the vast majority of people), then they'll just buy what the kid wants, because they don't know any better. The reason nobody makes good cheap bikes for kids is that nobody wants them.

Now if a major retailer like Halfords got involved and started educating people about simple bikes and had their own range of £150 kids bikes, then we might be getting somewhere, but it's the more cycle-conscious people that'd be going to Halfords and they're less likely to buy a BSO in the first place. And £150 or even £100 is still a lot of money for some people.

My point (a short scroll upwards) was "Most parents don't see the value though, they see bikes as Toys" (that view is then transferred to the kids)

If the kid got to test ride the "Atomic Streetslayer*" against the Isla you can bet they'd choose the Isla. When did you eveer see a kid test riding a Tesco bike?

It's not in the retailers interest to educate people, as they're doing well enough out of selling BSO's.

• I'd sort of love to have the job of naming future BSO's. I'd be shit at it though.