Big Box Bikes, a Disaster Waiting to Happen: Inside Investigation Its Christmas time and for many that means purchasing a new bike. With the massive numbers of bikes being sold, local bike shops are concerned about the safety of many bikes on the market, particularly retailers without professional staff on-hand. Statistics from the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA) say that last year in the US 74% of the 16 million bikes sold were bought at big box or supermarket retailers. Local 6 news Orlando, Florida, have brought attention to the reality of buying a bicycle from retailers who may not have the expertise to correctly assemble the bike in the first place. They bought four bikes from supermarket retailers and took them to a Kyles Bike Shop for a basic safety check with alarming results - Most were not only put together badly but were dangerous to ride. Big Box Bike Building Hall Of Shame Clearly the person who built this bike has no understanding of bike building or mechanical knowledge. This could quickly end in a visit to the emergency room. Not as dangerous as it is comical. It is easy to tell the skill level and attention to detail supermarket bike builders have. I would not let my kids ride a bike built by this person. Who built my bike? You should really have the confidence and assurance that the bike youre purchasing has been put together correctly. A lot of times the people assembling it are the people assembling your patio furniture, your barbecues, your grills. Sometimes the bicycles are assembled by contractors hired by the retailer. Those contractors are often paid for each bike they put together, giving them a financial incentive to assemble the bikes quickly. At the completion of the local bike shop safety check, three of the four bikes failed purely as a result of the way they were assembled in store. Some of the biggest safety concerns discovered were loose handlebars and stems which are an accident waiting to happen. Other problem areas were poorly adjusted brakes and loose wheelnuts. Issues like these have already led to serious injury and legal action. What can I do? While every industry professional would prefer people purchased from a local bike shop, the reality is that these bikes are often double the price to those found in a big box retailer. Those bikes are quite expensive to fix/repair, so there is a huge place for the $225.00 and up bicycle. The staff has fielded phone calls, and seen the mayhem up close, and have seen much of the same thing coming through the workshop door. We recommend if you buy from a supermarket retailer, take the bike straight to a bike shop for a professional tune-up and safety check. The extra $50 may be what prevents a bad accident in the future. Add in the $50 to the $85-$150 bike, and its the price of a quality bike. As bike manuals often state: Improper assembly of this product may result in serious injury or death These bicycles are coming off mass assembly lines for multiple companies, same bicycles, and are designed for 6 hours of riding. Chinas QC is non-existent, so anything defective gets boxed up as well. The other issue consumers should be aware of is that even with a safety check, many big box retailer bicycles are constructed so poorly from the factory that if you get 6 months of reliable riding you may be doing alright - no matter how well adjusted it is. If you can afford a bike from a local bike shop then dont hesitate in walking past the supermarket racks.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 15:46:32 +0000
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