State Bicycles

With my new job starting soon, and it being a 4 mile commute, I thought I’d buy a cheap single speed to commute on.

I looked at several different bikes, Mango, wlkie and State Bicycle. I settled on the state bike. In all honesty, I regret that.

The bike arrived with some pretty deep scratches on the frame. Nothing to worry about as this is going to be a beater bike only used for commuting, but State did refund me £65 from the purchase cost for the scratches.

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However, I completely dismantled the bike and found everything dry, no grease on the bottom bracket, headset or fixed cog. The freewheel is non removable from the wheel. Tightening the chain, it’s good for half a crank revolution, then slack. The chain ring is obviously oval, this however, isn’t unusual, so I’ll cut them some slack for that.

The rear breaks cannot be adjusted without touching the tyre. The pads do not drop enough to make a decent contact with the rim.

The price of the bike certainly denotes the quality. I wish I’d spent the extra and gone for a Mango or wlkie.

Never mind, it’ll do for a few months until I chuck it to the charity shop.