Why are Firenze unsafe?
04-15-21 | 08:32 AM
#1
Thread Starter
So many roads ...
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From: Valley, NE -- where ALL roads are flat
Bikes: 2013 Specialized Tricross, a (almost) showroom condition 1987 Schwinn Collegiate 3-speed (for short coffee runs), KMX recumbent trike
Why are Firenzes unsafe?
I recently bought a 70s-ish Firenze GL2000 at a thrift store for $10 because it was rolling on brand new Bontragers that could be used elsewhere. (And I thought it was Italian. Sheesh!) Then I read somewhere that back then this Taiwanese brand couldn't be sold in the U.S. because it didn't meet safety standards, so they were given away as promotional items. Does anyone know what the safety concern had been, e.g., brakes, derailleurs, frame?
Last edited by TCollen; 04-15-21 at 08:35 AM. Reason: Spelling error
04-15-21 | 09:01 AM
#2
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From: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada - burrrrr!
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04-15-21 | 09:24 AM
#3
Bike Butcher of Portland
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From: Portland, OR
Bikes: It's complicated.
Two new Bontrager tires (I asume) for $10 is a good buy.
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04-15-21 | 01:05 PM
#5
Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
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I suspect that the odd shift lever location might be the culprit.
04-15-21 | 02:15 PM
#6
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From: Valley Forge: Birthplace of Freedom
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Apparently the frame can snap. If it were mine, after removing parts to sell, I would get this
out of my shed, then throw the pieces into the revycle bin.
out of my shed, then throw the pieces into the revycle bin.
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04-15-21 | 02:33 PM
#7
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04-15-21 | 02:41 PM
#8
It's MY mountain
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From: Mt.Diablo
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So it's possible that they didn't meet safety standards, but it's unlikely that that's the reason they were given away rather than sold. More likely it was just some unusual business arrangement between the manufacturer and these two stores. Having seen quite a few of them, they are awful bikes but not orders of magnitude more awful than a low-end Walmart bike. What's funny is why people who've never seen them before seem to think they have a value greater than the cost to dispose of them at the dump.
04-15-21 | 05:21 PM
#9
Thread Starter
So many roads ...
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 128
Likes: 111
From: Valley, NE -- where ALL roads are flat
Bikes: 2013 Specialized Tricross, a (almost) showroom condition 1987 Schwinn Collegiate 3-speed (for short coffee runs), KMX recumbent trike
Okay, so except for the bike's spokes being as brittle as uncooked spaghetti, and the Firenze frames tending to break apart at random, everything seems wonderful. 
04-16-21 | 07:02 AM
#10
Old fart
Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Appleton WI
Bikes: Several, mostly not name brands.
"Firenze" was a low-end bike, often used as a free "give-away" with some unrelated purchase. "Crazy TV Lenny" in Madison WI probably gave away thousands of them with the purchase of a random appliance from his store. There was at last one year where those bikes did not meet the CPSC requirement that the rear brake be able to cause the rear wheel to skid (itself a rather questionable requirement), and TV Lenny had to replace the stock brake pads on his give-away bikes with high-end Mathauser pads to meet the CPSC requirement. I used to walk around UW Madison student housing at end-of-semester with a 10mm wrench looking for Firenze bikes dumped on the curb as trash to salvage the Mathauser pads for my bikes.
