Advocacy & Safety - Love Those Wal Mart Bikes!

(FROM REC.BICYCLES.MISC)


Who knew?


http://www.marinij.com/Stories/0,1413,234~24407~2712359,00.html


"A lawsuit filed yesterday accuses San Rafael-based Dynacraft Industries
Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of conspiring to sell bicycles they know are
defective and have caused injuries.


The lawsuit was filed in Marin Superior Court on behalf of nine children
from throughout the nation who were injured when the front wheel of the Next
brand bicycles they were riding detached, sending them over the handle bars.


The lawsuit claims Wal-Mart and Dynacraft have sold millions of "death trap"
bicycles with quick-release front wheels that were manufactured in China.
The bikes were imported by Dynacraft and shipped to Wal-Mart stores unopened
and unchecked for essential components."


You mean you can't trust your kids lives to a $50 Chinese bicycle assembled
by a minimum wage teenager with no training? What a shock!!


GG

Ummmm... all Walmart has to prove is that someone who has some "knowledge" of bicycle assembly was responsible for the bikes from box to sale. There is a good chance the person who assembled the bikes has experience -- even if it is one or two other bikes.

If the bikes were sold boxed and unassembled, the purchaser is responsible.

I am only thinking the way the company would, to defend itself.

However...

Having dealt two weeks ago with parents and bikes... oh dear, what parents get away with is astonishing. Whether it is Huffy or bike shop stuff, the maintenance is virtually zero. I spent so much time just pumping up tyres to 40psi. I could have spent three hours attending to problems with bikes from just six participants.

I have found that kids are amazingly adaptable to deficiencies with their bikes. No brakes. No gears. Way-out-of-true wheels. Rusty frames. Bent handlebars. No headset bearings. Way out-of-control BB bearings. Little or no lubrication anywhere.

But parents still let 'em ride.

Just who is responsible?

But parents still let 'em ride.

Just who is responsible?


Honestly I think Wal-Mart should be held responsible for the product they sell. They have carefully crafted an image that they sell things for less than anyone. They actually sell cheap crap and pass it off as quality goods for less money. Sounds like fraud to me. Not to mention these people should even have to sue, according to Walmarts own sign on the front of the store "satisfaction guaranteed". Walmart should be forced to honor their guarantee and satisfy those people.

I rode a Next brand walmart mountain bike for 2 years. Needles to say it was a POS.

I know of at least one LBS that won't even touch these bikes. The nuts and bolts are so poor-quality that they will break off just by "looking at them". When is the general public ever going to learn?

Just another reason for me as why I hate Walmart. You pay for what you get!!!

wal-mart is good to buy worms from when you go fishing. It's like $5.75 for 25 jumbo nightcrawlers, and these really are jumbo.

But everything else is crappy. Heck I bought a bag of potatoe chips from them once and I didn't think anything could be wrong with them. I mean their potaote chips...

But wal-mart failed again, my chips were stale. Now I just stay the heck away from that store.

(FROM REC.BICYCLES.MISC)...The lawsuit claims Wal-Mart and Dynacraft have sold millions of "death trap"
bicycles with quick-release front wheels that were manufactured in China. ...

Please, they make it sound like just because the quick-release front wheels are manufactured in china, it' automatically a deathtrap. I'm chinese and I find that kind of offensive, well, on the other hand, I avoid a lot of "made in china" stuff cause even I know, the quality's gonna be crap, I can just tell from the cheap chrome in front of that vcr.

I do not have to worry about being enticed by Wal Mart's cheap bikes...I have and will not step foot in the store...I despise box stores, let alone that one.

But parents still let 'em ride.

Just who is responsible?
someone else is always.

Please, they make it sound like just because the quick-release front wheels are manufactured in china, it' automatically a deathtrap. I'm chinese and I find that kind of offensive, well, on the other hand, I avoid a lot of "made in china" stuff cause even I know, the quality's gonna be crap, I can just tell from the cheap chrome in front of that vcr.
it's not crap because it is made in china there is good stuff made there. it is crap because that is what the american companies specified. thats all they paid for. but if you think it is crap the same thing for the same price made in america would be horrible.

Well then thats the problem. People are not willing to pay extra for quality goods.

How can we get people to realize that paying for quality items is better in the long run?

My friend sees me going off daily for rides and dicided to by a bike and join me, he didn't feel like making the financial commitment and bought a Wal mart bike. First ride out his chain kept skipping on hills, so I looks at it and it turns out that his front chainring has some very deformed looking teeth. So out of curiosity I went back to Wal-mart with him to exchange, I couldn't find a single bike there without a defective part. What Junk, He even had a hassle about getting his money back. He now ownes a used Fuji and is making his life effort to boycot Wal-mart. You Get what you pay for !

Well then thats the problem. People are not willing to pay extra for quality goods.

How can we get people to realize that paying for quality items is better in the long run?

this is what caused corperations to go to china in the first place. people are cheap for the most part.

What's missing here is the information on what actually happened that caused the front wheel to come off the bikes.

The problem is a lot of people view things as disposable.
When I buy a bike, I expect to have it for many years. I doubt the guy who buys the $59.95 mtb from walmart expects it to be able to last him more than a year.

Please, they make it sound like just because the quick-release front wheels are manufactured in china, it' automatically a deathtrap. I'm chinese and I find that kind of offensive, well, on the other hand, I avoid a lot of "made in china" stuff cause even I know, the quality's gonna be crap, I can just tell from the cheap chrome in front of that vcr.

MMhmm, there seems to be a nice fad that bashing chinese made products and walmart here is cool. I'm not saying there aren't some bad products but it is unfair to automagically say something is bad just because it was made in China.

I'm guessing the people who are saying that do not have a SINGLE product made in china that they own or use?

If you know what you are doing you can buy a perfcetly safe and rideable bike at dept stores. Anti-xmart zealots here are trying to turn a single piece of news item into another reason for a crusade.

How about we just wait and see what exactly the reason for the front wheel failure is?

Well then thats the problem. People are not willing to pay extra for quality goods.

How can we get people to realize that paying for quality items is better in the long run?

Let them die, one less to convince.

Anyway, were there Annoying Safety Dropouts on these forks? I'd think even foriegn manufactured would have those by now, if they didn't Walmart is screwed.

remember walmart paysit's employee's so little that every store genereates about 100,000 in welfare payments because they do nto make enough.

Wal-Mart sucks. Gender-Biased, SweatShop Promoting & Supporting, Sprawl Initiators Enablers, Low-Wage,Long-hour Worker Abuse, Violaters of Child Workplace regulations, Consumer society promoting, Homogenizing cocksucers

Yeah. I really wish they'd stop forcing people to shop there.

Bastards.

Yeah. I really wish they'd stop forcing people to shop there.

Bastards.


Tell me about it. My wife forced me into Sam's Club this morning at gunpoint. Lucky for me, I only spent $368.66. Plus, I spent NO money on bikes or bike-related gear. Sweet, huh?

Tell me about it. My wife forced me into Sam's Club this morning at gunpoint. Lucky for me, I only spent $368.66. Plus, I spent NO money on bikes or bike-related gear. Sweet, huh?

You sure about that? I bet you bought food that will be consumed before a ride and the calories burned as fuel for your ride.

Wal-Mart is responsible.

Dyno-whatever is responsible.

Parents are responsible.

Kids are innocent, but they probably need to take responsibility in a world that doesn't look out for them.

The QRs on those cheap bikes fail because the nut isn't tighened down enough and it works it way off, causing the QR to fall out and the wheel to come out of the dropouts.

Many of these bikes are put together, not assembled. Assembly implies a quality check was performed to some degree. That definition comes from a 35 year quailty control technician from Pratt and Whitney/United Technoligies.

Tell me about it. My wife forced me into Sam's Club this morning at gunpoint. Lucky for me, I only spent $368.66. Plus, I spent NO money on bikes or bike-related gear. Sweet, huh?


c'mon I betting Sam's Club is like a Costco, and you cruised the aisles for free samples!
(ha Ha) :lol:

I rode a Next brand walmart mountain bike for 2 years. Needles to say it was a POS.
I just ran a search on Google. I'm assuming "Next" went out of business and got bought out X-mart suppliers? Pity, since they used to make nice bikes.

Unfortunately, to much of the public bikes are just toys that their kids outgrow.
I knew a family whose young daughter broke a pedal on her bike. It was very serious. That bike never received any maintenance and sat out outside uncovered for several years. That's the prevelant attitude. And then there are the parents that tell their kids to ride against traffic. Problem is the ones that survive still do it when they become adults.

sun

Honestly I think Wal-Mart should be held responsible for the product they sell. They have carefully crafted an image that they sell things for less than anyone. They actually sell cheap crap and pass it off as quality goods for less money. Sounds like fraud to me. Not to mention these people should even have to sue, according to Walmarts own sign on the front of the store "satisfaction guaranteed". Walmart should be forced to honor their guarantee and satisfy those people.


Agreed.

Wal-Mart would never sell televisions sets or electronic equiptment in such bad condition. If fires were started as a result of a defective television set, they would face massive lawsuits.

They department stores KNOW the bikes are junk but they won't do a proper assembly becuase it was double the price of the bicycle so they are only after the bottom line.

You sure about that? I bet you bought food that will be consumed before a ride and the calories burned as fuel for your ride.

You might be right about that, but I have to take the high road and deny it. :P


[QUOTE=Marge]c'mon I betting Sam's Club is like a Costco, and you cruised the aisles for free samples!
(ha Ha) [QUOTE]

Alas, we were there too early for the samples-well, except for flooring. :(


I seem to remember my x-mart bike(a red huffy 10-speed) being assembled by my father. I'm sure that most stores carry them in a pre-assembled state due to demand from people unwilling/unable to assemble a bicycle. If more parents took the time to actually assemble the things, quality might be better. I think nowadays almost every 'toy' is bought to pacify rather than engage a child's mind/body in meaningful activity. Okay, gotta go, gettin' too serious....

Well then thats the problem. People are not willing to pay extra for quality goods.

How can we get people to realize that paying for quality items is better in the long run?

Some of us are. That's why both of my boys (3 and 5 years old) are riding Specialized Hotrock bikes. Of course, they're the only kids in the neighborhood with LBS/name brand bikes. Most others are Wacko World squeeky rusty junk.

However, I'm sorry to say my wife is with the Wal-Mart crowd. She just didn't understand why I would buy them $100+ bikes when she could get them for $30 at Wal-Mart/Costco or wherever.

As for maintenance......

http://www.wretchedheathen.com/100_0663.jpg

http://www.wretchedheathen.com/100_0665.jpg

Dang, thats cute! Specialized makes a really good line of kid's bikes. There's a kid in this neighborhood who rides around a beauty of a MTB, scaled down to fit a 9 year old. I compliment him on it whenever I see him, my way of encouraging the next generation of noncrap-riding cyclists!

Now how many times have you been told, samundsen, keep the hose away from pedals and other bearing areas! :D

However, great to see properly adjusted helmets. Good habits started early stay a lifetime. Sadly bads ones, too, but obviously you don't have to worry about too many of them.

I've been running a school holiday fun program for kids for about five years now. This is the first year where literally every second bike was a Huffy. Another to watch for/run away from is Northern Star. But Huffy was dominant.

I'll spend a bit of time in the bike check trying to fix up other bikes, but I have learned to just do the bike check report, given it an OK score, pump up the tyres and move on. It's just not worth it.

For me, there are just so many problems with most kids bikes offered up today, that it's worth a thread somewhere. Should be a flame-fest when I do.

However, consider this: As an adult rider, would you ride around on a bike that weighs almost as much as you do... or at least two-thirds? I bet you'd have a wow of a time trying to handle it. Now downsize that scenario... to these cheap waterpipe bikes that weight a tonne -- for some kids, 18kg is almost as much as they weigh!

Unfortunately parents have a single objective in *their* minds -- value for money. They rightly point out that a POS will get abused, and by the time it has worn out (quite rapidly), it's time for the child to move up to a bigger size. Or the bike is already three sizes too big, which compounds the whole problem.

Kids are amazingly adaptable, as I said in my previous post, but we get adults on learn-to-ride courses who have hurt themselves on a bike as a youngster. No need to guess why.

Drifted away from the thread a bit, but Walmart and its ilk service a market segment. And they have customers that keep that market segment viable.

Tell me about it. My wife forced me into Sam's Club this morning at gunpoint. Lucky for me, I only spent $368.66. Plus, I spent NO money on bikes or bike-related gear. Sweet, huh?


Only $368? We made our quarterly visit to the box yesterday, walked out $500 light just on basics.

Can never have enough toliet paper.

Only $368? We made our quarterly visit to the box yesterday, walked out $500 light just on basics.

Can never have enough toliet paper.
:mad:

Can never have enough toliet paper.

Man, did you hit a sore spot around here! :D

If we don't have enough reserve for the entire US Army for a month, we are "short on toilet paper."

Personally, I like to play it down to the last sheet of the last roll before forking over any $$ for more. But that is not how we do it.

But, I digress, and this has little to do about bicycles, except if you don't have TP it sure makes it hard on those cycling shorts!

Now how many times have you been told, samundsen, keep the hose away from pedals and other bearing areas! :D


You should have seen those bikes before they were hosed down! They had been riding in the mud, got it caked everywhere. The boys enjoyed washing their bikes too much to worry about minor details like that.....

Got 706.08 miles in 2005 on my Walmart bought Schwinn Sidewinder this year. Not a single problem, not a single flat, the bike is perfect. Only a minor rear derailer adjustment. Last time I visited the LBS, nearly all the bikes they were repairing were your more expensive bikes.

NEXT is still in business as it is owned by Pacific Bicycles but since Pac Bikes owns Schwinn and Mongoose, they usually sell using those name brands.

As far as this lawsuit against Walmart, it's bogus.

Got 706.08 miles in 2005 on my Walmart bought Schwinn Sidewinder this year. Not a single problem, not a single flat, the bike is perfect. Only a minor rear derailer adjustment. Last time I visited the

Somewhere I read a thread, blog, something about someone riding a Wally-World type bike everyday, giving it a real torture test or something like that. Think it was a Huffy Mt Fury or something like that. I'll have to Google for it.

Yeah, this lawsuit is just another one of those lawyers with too much time on thier hands type of deals......thank Christ for GWB and his class-action lawsuit reform.

Carl Fogel and the Roadmaster Fury. Sounds like some kinda low budget action movie. One of the many posts detailing the heroics of this endeavour.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.tech/browse_thread/thread/35007cf54e3dd2d3/7649f53d48f481b3?q=Carl+Fogel+Fury+Roadmaster&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fq%3DCarl+Fogel+Fury+Roadmaster%26qt_s%3DSearch+Groups%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d#7649f53d48f481b3

Somewhere I read a thread, blog, something about someone riding a Wally-World type bike everyday, giving it a real torture test or something like that. Think it was a Huffy Mt Fury or something like that. I'll have to Google for it.

Yeah, this lawsuit is just another one of those lawyers with too much time on thier hands type of deals......thank Christ for GWB and his class-action lawsuit reform.
MUST...RESIST...TROLLS..... ;)

I went to Target the day after Christmas to exchange something, and the person in line in front of me needed a repair on the bicycle that they had gotten their daughter for Christmas.

Casually glancing at it, I noticed that forks had been installed backwards (the dropouts were to the rear of the legs, but the brakes, stem, and bars all faced forwards).

So much for "trained help".

Got 706.08 miles in 2005 on my Walmart bought Schwinn Sidewinder this year. Not a single problem, not a single flat, the bike is perfect. Only a minor rear derailer adjustment. Last time I visited the LBS, nearly all the bikes they were repairing were your more expensive bikes.

NEXT is still in business as it is owned by Pacific Bicycles but since Pac Bikes owns Schwinn and Mongoose, they usually sell using those name brands.

As far as this lawsuit against Walmart, it's bogus.

There are always exceptions to every rule, including how often one is expected to flat. :D And maybe those repairs on expensive bikes you saw in the LBS were in fact the free tune-up. ;)

Back on topic, education of bike riders is a useful way to have them avoid buying stuff that isn't necessarily good for them.

I really liked (not) the pressed steel plate brakes on a cheap bike someone attended one of our courses with. They actually moved out of line by at least half an inch when engaged. Soon after he finished the course, he was on a more expensive non-*mart bike that has given him faithful service since, and his passion for short touring has grown immensely.

Yeah, this lawsuit is just another one of those lawyers with too much time on thier hands type of deals......thank Christ for GWB and his class-action lawsuit reform.

I work with lawyers every day and they laugh at GWB and his class-action lawsuit reform. Boy you really bought that one hook line and sinker!

Just a minute ago, the stated New York City is facing a RECORD number of lawsuits in the tens of millions! So much for lawsuit reform.

Please, they make it sound like just because the quick-release front wheels are manufactured in china, it' automatically a deathtrap. I'm chinese and I find that kind of offensive, well, on the other hand, I avoid a lot of "made in china" stuff cause even I know, the quality's gonna be crap, I can just tell from the cheap chrome in front of that vcr.

I ride a Chinese made frame, and no one would think of questioning the quality. Country of origin does not determine value, but if you need to have something manufactured to a certain price point, you go to the lowest bidder. Some people are just poor consumers (in more than one sense) and cannot understand the corners that must be cut to produce something for a given price. We buy a brand like Campagnolo not because of where it's made, but because we know the company spares no expense in building the best product they can, rather than to meet a certain price. The people that bought these bikes for their kids either put too much faith in a cheap product, or are just plain clueless, but the manufacturer still bears a certain amount of liability.

remember walmart paysit's employee's so little that every store genereates about 100,000 in welfare payments because they do nto make enough.

That certainly has nothing to do with this thread, but I've read the articles, and I just don't get it. Walmart doesn't pay its Salina Kansas workers enough to shop at their own store? If the wage is that low, they can work somewhere else. From my brief time living in the midwest, I'm willing to bet that Walmart pays one of the better wages. Nowhere in the article I read did they cite wages for comparable businesses in the area. I suppose that is the American way; to single out a company that's profitable, write a biased piece against it, but offer no solution.

I hate your "freedom". (http://www.responsibleshopper.org/) :p

Now how many times have you been told, samundsen, keep the hose away from pedals and other bearing areas! :D

However, great to see properly adjusted helmets. Good habits started early stay a lifetime. Sadly bads ones, too, but obviously you don't have to worry about too many of them.

I've been running a school holiday fun program for kids for about five years now. This is the first year where literally every second bike was a Huffy. Another to watch for/run away from is Northern Star. But Huffy was dominant.

I'll spend a bit of time in the bike check trying to fix up other bikes, but I have learned to just do the bike check report, given it an OK score, pump up the tyres and move on. It's just not worth it.

For me, there are just so many problems with most kids bikes offered up today, that it's worth a thread somewhere. Should be a flame-fest when I do.

However, consider this: As an adult rider, would you ride around on a bike that weighs almost as much as you do... or at least two-thirds? I bet you'd have a wow of a time trying to handle it. Now downsize that scenario... to these cheap waterpipe bikes that weight a tonne -- for some kids, 18kg is almost as much as they weigh!

Unfortunately parents have a single objective in *their* minds -- value for money. They rightly point out that a POS will get abused, and by the time it has worn out (quite rapidly), it's time for the child to move up to a bigger size. Or the bike is already three sizes too big, which compounds the whole problem.

Kids are amazingly adaptable, as I said in my previous post, but we get adults on learn-to-ride courses who have hurt themselves on a bike as a youngster. No need to guess why.

Drifted away from the thread a bit, but Walmart and its ilk service a market segment. And they have customers that keep that market segment viable.


Unfortunately, that's true!

However, how much of the "bike maintenance" (or, rather, non-maintenance) is the fault of parents
who do not make their kids take care of their things--OR ELSE!!

Or else?? Or else not have a bike!!

As for the weight problem, the manufacturers would claim that they have to make these bikes so heavy-overbuilding them as it were-because the kids will abuse them. :( Do they, to accomplish this,
need[I] to make them so heavy, really?? :(

I do not think so! ;)

Don't get me started on quality of components and assembly of an X-Mart bike. . .

:mad:

Bottom line, no company should sell a product that it can't deliver safely to the consumer. If Wal Mart can't consistently deliver safe bicycles to its customers, it should get out (or be driven out) of the bike business.

As to the lawsuit, the lawyer will have to prove that WalMart's bikes are unsafe. If the proof isn't there, the lawsuit will fail. If the proof's there, WalMart should pay through the nose.

If Wal Mart can't consistently deliver safe bicycles to its customers, it should get out (or be driven out) of the bike business.

Oh horsecrap.

If you're dumb enough to buy a bike from Wal-Mart which was assembled by some mid-range low-paid teenager, and not check it out when you get home, you deserve what you get. If you're buying a bike and you don't know how to buy one and end up buying a piece of crap from a department store, you deserve what you get. If you buy a cheapo deluxe bike from Wal-Mart because you couldn't get a $100 bike at a Local Bike shop and you expect the same kind of quality, you deserve what you get.

The consumers are buying the bike, Wal-Mart is not selling them to them. If you buy something, it's your responsibility to make sure it's safe to use. If you don't know how to do that, then don't buy it, and if you do, any consequences are yours, not the company who sold it to you.

This sue-crazy crap has got to stop somewhere. I know it's fashionable on here to bash the hell out Wal-Mart, the car industry, and so on. Wake up people. The gun is pointed at nobody's head and nobody is forcing people to shop at Wal-Mart.

When I went to buy my 1200, I hadn't bought any kind of bike in almost 15 years. 15 years people! So what did I do? Did I saunter down to Wal-Mart and buy the first shiny bike I saw? Hell no. I asked a friend who's races on weekends and we discussed my options and he convinced me on the 1200 over the 1000. Said I would enjoy the ride more.

If you don't know a person who can help you, go to a local bike shop, talk to the people there, and make an informed decision. If you don't have a local bike shop, go online and read about bikes.

Just for once, I'd like to see someone on here not reflexively pass the blame onto Wal-Mart. I know it's cool. I know it makes you feel real good. I know you just suck it all in and you can wear your little "I hate wal-mart" button and be the envy of your friends, but enough is enough. If you don't like it, don't shop there. If you think the labor practices suck, don't work there. If you think the products are cheap crap, don't buy them. But dammit, stop *****ing about the quality of the bikes there because someone was too dumb to learn how a bike worked before they purchased one.

Hell, people consult with ten friends before buying a CD or DVD. If they aren't willing to put that kind of effort into a bike, they pretty much deserve what they get.