Your worst bike?

[drossall]

Yes, if you still have one, but I never made it work. Sanding down the tube to make the patch adhere wore off any crayon that I'd managed to apply

[Vince]

My worst bike is the a Dahon Helios^* folder AKA The Bendy Bike. I had a Gazelle steel folding bike which was fine, except for the limited single speed. When it got nicked, I decided to get something better and the Alooominininium framed 8 speed seemed to fit the bill.

• I don't think it is any lighter than the Gazelle.
• Not only does it fold, it also flexes.
• Who thought that plastic was a good material to make folding pedals from?
• It has a position similar to Mr Obree's non-superman hour record bike, but with less reach.

Its just unpleasant to ride.

* Nothing to do with the rather excellent small wheeled tandem of a similar name

(Still looking for a mk3 Moulton)

[Kim]

On the road, I don't mend the tube. I change it and mend it later.

Unless the cause is especially obvious, you still need to locate the hole in order to find the offending item in the tyre.

[clarion]

I use my lips rather than my cheek.  They are much more sensitive.

PEOPLE!  Why was this allowed to pass without comment?  Standards are slipping!

[Vince]

Dutch cycle shops sell an evil tool, a vorkuitzetter, that is used to stretch the dropouts apart, so only the non-gear side track nut needs to be undone. Allowing the tyre/tube to be removed without disturbing the chain tension



I suspect it only works because Dutch bikes are made from cheese, probably Edam. Well after all they don't eat Edam in Holland!

[CAMRAMan]

A Pashley, ex-Royal Mail postie bike. It was single speed when I first got it, but I converted it to  a 3-speed. The worst aspect - apart from its extreme weight - were the rod brakes. They were lethally crap in anything resembling moisture.

The Halfrauds one I bought as an interim bike when I got back to the UK just sat unused in the garage it was so bad.

[Robbo]

I've always fancyed a posties bike for just popping down the shop on.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I fancy a postie's bike so I can pretend to be Philippe Gilbert. 

[Julian]

Due to fabulous advice on this board (and its predecessors) I have never owned a bad bike 

However I do have a Roberts-shaped-decoration hanging on the garage wall - sadly the Ebay seller had been somewhat economical in his description of how much rust there was on it (stays rusted through -> unrideable and economically not viable to repair.)  I don't count that as one of "my bikes" though because I have never ridden it for the obvious reasons!

[phantasmagoriana]

I have an actual BSO. I bought it so I could have a bike locked up outside ready to go for short local trips, but in practice I find myself walking if I'm going somewhere that's under 2-3 miles away, and if it's further I just take the fixed instead (fewer nickable/tamperable bits than the other bikes). I've used the BSO once. It's not that bad, but the saddle's a bit low even at the highest point (despite being the right size in theory - maybe that's why I see so many BSO riders with ridiculously low saddles?!).

[CAMRAMan]

I've always fancyed a posties bike for just popping down the shop on.

The later Mailstars may well be the one to go for. They occasionally crop up on eBay, but if it's an ex-RM one, it would be of dubious provenance, as RM never sold any off, but donated them to an African charity, I believe. Should anyone still be tempted, I'd suggest they either have a wicker basket custom made, or look round for one that fits the support frame. Anything in the plastic basket rattles around like buggery.

[Robbo]

What are they like to ride?

[cycleman]

I worst ever bikes were Raleigh RSW 's . Raleigh s answer to the molton cycle. There were three models made and I had one of each at one time . Slow heavy poor handling rubbish  . They had a neat rack bag though 

[SteveS]

My worst bike was my first, an all steel (including rims) BSA with rubber pedals and a 3 speed Sturmey. I bought it secondhand (very) when I was 13 out of the wages for my first few weeks of my paper round. I really wanted a Viking Black Diamond, but couldn't afford it. This horrible BSA was also my best ever bike as I spent every spare minute on it until I could trade it up for a better one (a Sun racer) and nearly 50 years later I'm still cycling.

[clarion]

...Raleigh RSW 's . Raleigh s answer to the molton cycle. ...

I think they must have misheard the question!

[drossall]

My worst bike was my first, an all steel (including rims) BSA...

I took over my Dad's Raleigh All-Steel Bicycle as my first adult bike, when I outgrew my Norman of England child's bike. He'd had the Raleigh since he was a teenager. I really rather liked it. Once you got it moving, it went quite well.

I remember stripping and reassembling the SA 3-speed hub, looking for a reason why the gears slipped (it was, after all, 25+ years old by then). I didn't know enough to find the fault, and had to take the wheel to the LBS, who diagnosed and replaced a worn clutch.

I also spent some time replacing parts on the roller brakes, which had worn pivots, but never got them working well. In the end, a physics teacher at school, who happened to be a friend of Dad's, saw me braking at a junction with my feet on the ground, and suggested to him that a new bike was due.

A second-hand Falcon was found. I did my first club ride on that, and never looked back (except when turning, of course).

[CAMRAMan]

What are they like to ride?

Dunno. I've never ridden a Mailstar. The older Pashleys are just very heavy and you need a sixth sense to stay alive with those rod brakes!

[interzen]

Probably my orange Genesis Day One.
To call it my 'worst' bike is doing it a grave disservice though, since it's actually very nice machine indeed - however, it's now the only bike I own which doesn't have disc brakes of some description so it feels indefinably 'wrong' when I ride it, which could be why it has been confined to to the turbo for so long.

I'd prefer to call it my 'least best' bike