Boy killed on "kit bike"

So sad.

Having worked in a bike shop I know my boss drummed it in to me when repairing anything on a customers bike, to check EVERYTHING and then check it again, and if there was something major that we couldn't justify financially changing/repairing, we made damn sure the owner knew of our concerns in no uncertain terms. I can't believe any bike shop owner that wanted to stay in business for more than 10mins now wouldn't do the same. If his mother ran a chain of bike shops in the U.S. she at least should have had a working knowledge of bikes, and to have bought a Surly shows they knew something about bikes and hadn't just bought a BSO out of a catalogue...

This is undoubtedly a tragic accident and the family have suffered a tragic loss.

I just fail to see what point the reporter is trying to make saying about this being a 'Kit Bike'....

You know if I brought my car to the garage to have the brakes fixed, and they told me they were fixed and I drove the car and had a crash as the brakes didn't work, it is there fault. Same goes here. He can stand by his work all he likes, simple fact is the rear brake did not work after it had been fixed by the lbs. i would do more than sue them. If it was my son that died I would be taking them to the top of a very steep hill and strapping them to a bike with no brakes and sending them into traffic. That would be for starters

This is nothing to do with a litigious society

hmmm

A teenage cyclist was killed after the brakes on the kit bike he had built from scratch apparently failed as he rode down a hillside

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The biggest clue i will use for myself there is apparently. and TBH till more established facts come out i will refrain from opinion on heresay and conjecture.

Obviously I was not there - but why the hell didn't he try to bail... After about a second or so, you'd know the brakes weren't going to help you.

ringo":25267125 said:

Obviously I was not there - but why the hell didn't he try to bail... After about a second or so, you'd know the brakes weren't going to help you.

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In those circumstances some people will bail, some will drag their feet or try to put their foot on the tyres. However some will just freeze.

I know from experience that I'm in the latter category myself, which is all the more reason to keep my bikes in perfect shape.

When I was 12 I was given the choice, when my brakes failed, of cycling into a cake van or doing a u'turn, I decided to u'turn and was knocked over by the car I was trying to avoid I was knocked out and had 20 stitches in my head, could of been worse I could be like that lad. Surely if a bike shop had tested the brakes they should have worked. I can't blame a bike shop for my accident, my bike had no serviceable brakes and was multiple sizes to big for me, I remember just wishing I could say to the poor chap, "I'm sooo sorry, as it was all my fault".

Alison