Banging my head against the wall....

[awaycaboose]

It always amazes me, given how increasingly regulated our society is, that there is no onus on sellers of these 'bikes' to make sure they can go and stop safely when they leave their shop.

I was just about to say the same thing. We're always being told that bikes should obey the same rules as other road users and yet there is no minimum safety check when one of these 50 quid specials leave the shop. You would think that one of the rules of the road is to make sure that your vehicle is safe and not a danger to either yourself or other road users.

Now I'm not saying that there should be some kind of bike MOT but surely shops do have a responsibilty to sell something which is safe and fit for the use specified.

 

[BenR]

I used to work in a bike factory in Darlaston where they made el-cheapo specials for Brown Bros, Vindec etc. They even made a sit up & beg bike callled a Flying Pigeon, which they exported to China! It was a real job to lift those into the backs of the trucks.

The bikes were a pile of garbage, nobody cared a damn, the brakes were adjusted before they left the factory by one obese barsteward called Keith who would bend the brake arms with a screwdriver. Keith was also the shop steward and to intimidate the (mostly Asian) workers he sometimes used to throw bikes across the assembly floor.

I used to sit at the end of the painting line with a piece of sandpaper, rubbing off the pigeon-shit caused when boiling water bubbled out of the holes in the forks and ruined the paint as the parts went through the oven. The workers used to heat their chapattis in the same oven.

 

[reanimation]

Mad isn't it, the age old situation. clearly a better bike by far, just by looking. :roll:

would the same people buy a new Lada instead of a couple year old FSH VW? (ps I do actually prefer Lada so londg as its 20+Y.O.)

If its cheap, new, try work out how they did it specially with scrap metal so expensive!
Bits that are dumped together and stuck on a ship container, still boggling though. Primark is no better, look how popular they are, ethics go out the window with common sense!

Where abouts are you? I have a mate who might be interested, He's began commuting on a slightly posher cheap bike he got given, but i'm trying to get him on a urban bike or even a rigid MTB.