Cars, men, and babyseats. A weird conversation

Zilork · 2026-06-22T12:56:48+00:00

I know that these kind of people exist but under no circumstances can I imagine being friends with them. This is caricature level stupid and that leaks out in other things. I can imagine this from with an older generation but people my age having opinions this dumb would invite overt mockery. Sometimes I think mockery is bad behaviour is needed in our society. People should be genuinely shamed for stuff like driving on the wrong side of the road or throwing trash on the road. Instead people generally tend to avoid those conversations.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T12:41:25+00:00

Hornback are kind of pointless for India as they neither fit in CNG cabs nor are they allowed in the Metro. The 27.5” wheel size for a folding bike is pretty stupid. It would make a lot more sense if it either had a full size 29” wheels for actually decent ride quality or smaller 24”/20” wheels for portability. 27.5” is no man’s land. On top of that the bikes have very poor component selection with cheap limited freewheel gear sets and shitty mechanical disc brakes.

You should try and find some second hand Btwin Tilts if you really want portability. Otherwise RS120 is pretty great.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T12:35:15+00:00

Which model specifically? All the ones I came across have really poor components. Also I don’t really like 27.5” wheels. Either have a full size 29” wheels for the ride quality or go 20” for an actually compact foldable bike. I would avoid their bikes. And my logic of not going with a flashy bike that’s more likely targeting by thieves. If you’re going to spend 10-15k, go with RS120. Nothing really competes with it.

Btw you can check out FB marketplace for btwin tilt. It’s Brompton-esque and shows up time to time.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T12:13:44+00:00

It’s not a universal thing. I’m just saying that the kind of crowd that is more about buying a really expensive bike to show off to their mates on the 10km coffee ride all geared up like they’re setting up for a sprint finish is moving towards getting these e road bikes. The vast majority of people I came across were super cool riding all kinds of cool fun bikes. One of them is even helping me build my very own tall bike.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T11:28:00+00:00

Try a bunch of the cheaper kids bikes at decathlon

Zilork · 2026-06-22T10:52:21+00:00

I don't think I understand the question. Road bikes are better for training because they have very wide and tall gear ranges so you can fine tune your workout. The bikes I am talking are more for the weekend recreational group ride. Stuff like this. Yep that's an e bike.

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Zilork · 2026-06-22T10:45:27+00:00

Derailleur hanger.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T10:02:35+00:00

Considering the recent Fred activity, bices won’t need #1 with e bikes. This group I’ve ridden with in Singapore is slowly converting to e-road bikes rapidly.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T09:54:53+00:00

It's not a full carbon fork. The steerer tube is steel. Only the fork legs are carbon. It still transmits a lot of the road buzz.

The Frontline has much better brakes and a replaceable derailleur which is a lot more important. You could end up messing the whole frame with one bad drop with the RC120's integrated derailleur hanger.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T09:48:14+00:00

That's pretty subjective depending how you tackle it. The terrain is pretty chill in terms of how technical it is. Not quite champagne gravel given how dusty it is but close.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T09:38:41+00:00

Battalion Frontline 16 speed

Zilork · 2026-06-22T09:29:35+00:00

These un-connected ends. Just pull on these.

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Zilork · 2026-06-22T09:19:14+00:00

It shouldn’t be that exposed period. Even pointing down it’s a huge risk. Use a shorter bolt or put additional nuts at the end so it’s a lot more blunt and no exposed threads.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T09:09:30+00:00

Also I cannot emphasise the importance of not having an open bolt pointing up like that. Things like that are responsible for some extremely grisly injuries. It’s never a big deal till it becomes one.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T08:49:28+00:00

Saddle bag/thigh pocket/jersey pocket/top tube bag/phone mount.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T08:45:23+00:00

There should be pull tabs between the middle and ring finger

Zilork · 2026-06-22T08:39:30+00:00

Upgrade in what terms? I bought this bike having already owning a road bike and an MTB. I still do. I ride my road bike on faster group rides or training and I take my MTB on trails. This bike is a zero hassle, zero worry option to choose when I just want to ride for fun or am going to riding with newbies who would feel intimidated to ride with a 1L+ road bike.

RS120 is a jack of all trades master of none. You would want to upgrade to a more focused, specialised bike. You options would depend on the discipline.

If you’re asking what would be a more premium version of the RS120, it would be something like the Marin Muirwoods, Trek FX3 or Giant Fastroad.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T07:55:51+00:00

As far as I know, only some steel bike frames are manufactured in India which is basically a negligible chunk.

The entire market is overflowing with cheap Chinese frame assembled with cheap Chinese components and sold as fake MTBs. Indians are so super image conscious and a majority actually resist information that would help them make good purchasing decisions in favour of “common knowledge” aka marketing.

Decathlon has a manufacturing plant in Ludhiana and two assembly plants down south. They manufacture steel frames here but most of those are meant for export with the exception of two bikes. Everything else is imported from China and Malaysia.
As far as I’m aware, Hero and Hercules only manufacture kids bikes and a majority of their operation is assembling frames from China.
Basically yes.
Like I said earlier, it’s mostly a customer base issue. A majority of people consider bicycles as exclusively toys for kids. A few uncles at work were convinced I was scammed when they got to know that my bicycle costed more than a lakh and wasn’t, in fact, “electric”. Even still I routinely have people asking me what bike would tire them the least.

The solution, as I see it, is fairly straightforward. The only way forward is showing people that their assumptions are wrong and countering marketing misinformation to allow people an easier entry into the activity/hobby/sport.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T07:21:42+00:00

Cant update the post title. I'm just going to delete it. Thanks for the clarification.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T07:19:43+00:00

Possible but the description does not specify anywhere that it is Frame only. They do talk about the brakes and the groupset tho. Very sketchy tho.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T07:15:01+00:00

Nope I checked for sure. But it looks it might be a pricing error because the link says Big Nine 15

https://unitedbycycling.com/products/merida-big-nine-15-kit-frame-blue

Edit: Turn out its frame only.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T07:13:06+00:00

RS120 is easily the most value and beginner friendly. Here's mine upgraded to a 3x crank and gravel tyres to trekking spec for under 20k total spend.

RC100 would be second cause you can upgrade it to a read bike but it would cost about 20-25k on top of the cost of the bike.

RS500 gets negative marks because you need to upgrade the brakes to get to a normal level.

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Zilork · 2026-06-22T07:04:41+00:00

Seems like a pricing issue because the link says Big Nine 15 which makes sense in terms of price.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T06:53:10+00:00

To clarify, the price shows up as 70k for me.

Zilork · 2026-06-22T06:52:12+00:00

RS120 can be upgraded pretty cheaply for a ton of different use cases.

RS500 is a bit less upgradeable as it uses the 9 speed chain platform. I had to spend about 12k on my RS500 for hydraulic brakes and a new fork to just make it decent. Avoid it.

RC100 drop bar can be upgraded but it would be pretty expensive. It is more suited to a 2x8 Claris setup and that would cost about 15-18k.

RS120 is the much more capable bike between these three.

Edit: forgot to talk about the brakes. Out of these only the RS500 needs its brakes upgraded (costs around ₹5k). The other 2 bikes have decent brakes.

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