Originally Posted by
bulldog1935
I wasn't picking on Specialized as an inferior product, at all. Though I think everyone here has to admit that there are unsafe carbon composite bikes and components coming from China.
But Specialized is a perfect target for litigation and these bikes will eventually wear out.
The first thing that happens when a private plane crashes is the manufacturer of the plane gets sued, regardless of the age of the plane, and he will have to defend himself.
Bicycles will never have an organization like the FAA certifying their suitability for service, and no local bike shop will ever be able to invest in the
technology and talent required to certify them.
Allow me to retort...
There hasn't been that much industry destroying, successful litigation involving bicycle manufacturers, or shops, and they maintain relevant coverage to manage risk. There is a very important concept to understand called assumption of risk, and while a manufactured good must conform with the purpose for which it is marketed (in other words a MTB should have some level of applicability to off road use) under the commercial code and in terms of negligence, the implied warranties are limited, the bike manuals all have stated limits of liability that would leverage settlements and the user's ordinary, reasonable level of care regarding sporting goods typically results in a rather large burden on the user for assumption of risk.
There are different types of risk...in terms of scale and the likelihood of occurrence. Infrequent, potentially large, forms of risk are the ones best addressed with insurance...and that's the kind that best applies to the bicycle industry.
You have mis-used the deep pockets concept of law in applying negligence in a crash in as far as the crash was caused by a component of the plane. Your underlying assumption is that primary negligence didn't exist.
The applicability of risk management, or litigation comparisons of the cycling industry to the aviation industry, is apples and tomatoes in terms of the scale of the risk and the assumption of risk by the user.
Cycling has managed to mostly survive litigation in the US since the 70s...including nearly 40 years of MTBs. Moving from one material to another is likely not a game changer.