General Category > Losing the stabilisers
Islabikes Second?
PaulF:
That's the plan :). Insulating tape FTW
jane:
We have a bike rack at school stuffed with heavy, clumsy, cheap kids bikes equipped with components made of cheese. Most of our families are not wealthy, by any means, the school is on a tower block estate in North Peckham and don't have the kind of cash to stump up for an Islabike. They scrape together 50 quid (often less, believe it or not) and trek down to the big superstores on the OKR. The only decent bikes in the rack are a Cnoc and a Luath belonging to children from a couple of the very few middle class families in our school community, who are employed in jobs that pay enough to fund the more expensive initial outlay. They last much longer, however, and these families, who are friends outside school, have got a kind of club going, whereby they pass these bikes around as various children grow out of them and into the larger models. I wouldn't be surprised if, over time, they save money compared to the poorer families, as the Islabikes will outlast the cheaper bikes by years.
clarion:
It's the same with a lot of things where the poor are sold short.
mattc:
I'm not claiming we were poor, but my dad kept me-n-sis in reasonable 2nd-hand bikes for very little money very effectively. [This is probably how he saved enough money for the Bentley].
We never had the 'glamour' brands of the era (Choppers, Burners etc ... :D )
jane:
I didn't have a first hand bike till I was 46 years old (do I hear the Four Yorkshiremen chuntering away in the background?) We seemed to have a store of solid old BSO's as kids, which older relatives, who had bike knowledge, helped us keep vaguely roadworthy. Trouble, is the cheap bikes of which I speak now, are never going to last long enough to be second hand. And those families who buy them, are not going to get access to any decent secondhand bike that's cheaper than those nasty new ones. As Clarion pointed out, it's a common trap that the poor get stuck in. Can't afford the initial outlay for anything of enough quality to last. So end up over a lifetime paying far more than those with more money pay out for stuff.
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