Walmart asked not to sell bikes

[tacochris]

Say what, now? I guess I haven't looked at a Wal-Mart bike in a while...
I do agree that the quality should be better on lots of things, but you're not going to stop people from selling their crap as long as people "think" they want to buy it.

I certainly cant stop freedom of enterprise but i can certainly make sure anyone in my life never buys one. Who puts plastic stems on a bicycle marketed as a bmx bike...

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

I worked at a large hub department store as a bicycle mechanic in the early eighties, as it also handled catalogue sales that shop could shift over 100 bikes on a sunny summer Saturday. They carried these eastern European bikes as their entry level stuff. We had an outside firm doing assembly leaving me, the in house guy, to handle repairs, tune ups and custom work. While this was long before plastic cranks and levers (ugh!) those eastern block jobs could never be made to run well. The brakes always dragged, wheels went out of true just sitting on the floor... they were, in short, crap.

the bottom of the heap department store bike has been crap for ages and I guess will continue to degrade until it reaches the lowest quality that sells. Its too bad, but some people just don’t care about quality and longevity, just saving a buck. Walmart is catering to that crowd and making tiny margins on a ton of bikes.

once in a while someone would walk into the shop and ask for one of the top line bikes and then have me install better running gear, brakes, gears.... the works... those jobs were always a pleasure, a pleasure that often involved extensive testing. I once crashed one of those jobs heavily enough that it was faster to build another bike up than repair the wreck, that was a scary time.

i remember that working on the mid range Bridgestone bicycles were a pleasure, while not the best bikes they could be made to run beautifully with little effort.

 

[nightrider]

The whole root of the problem is the buy, use, throw mentality. Long ago, when you bought something, you expected it to last for years. When it broke you had it fixed. Because you spent your hard earned money on it. Then came Walmart, and probably a few before them. But Walmart is the main one that brought these junk, cheap products to the mainstream. Brought them to every small town in America. Slowly, we became complacent with this cheap crap. But it, use it till it breaks, then throw it away and start over. Yes it is capitalism. If you sell it ( cheap enough) we'll buy it! But it is also destroying us. Quality, proudly built in the USA, Products used to mean something. Just like Italian or German products. But now it's " oh, it costs too much to make it here, let's go to China". But let's not just get cheaper labor, let's use cheaper materials too. Consumers have been conditioned to buy this crap for decades. I didn't have poop when I grew up, neither did my friends. Some people make up for that now, buying this cheap crap. Most people want " more". More stuff is good! I say " quality over quantity" Capitalism is good, but it also has its demons.

 

[nightrider]

And I must say. I grew up with Kmart bikes in the 70s. They were way better than the Walmart or Target bikes today!

 

[SirMike1983]

The article cites a legitimate problem of low-quality and poorly-assembled bikes breaking down and posing safety risks to consumers. However it offers a non-functional solution (a petition and Wal-Mart, Target, etc. just not selling bikes anymore) and then throws in an unsupported assertion that the real problem behind all of this is "capitalism".

On the non-functional solution: let's say the big box stores do what is suggested. It does not necessarily follow that consumers looking for budget bicycles will suddenly pony up the higher money for a bike shop bike. They may continue to ride and buy what are essentially junk bikes, just from different sources and Chinese drop-shippers. The big box crowd won't go $250 more upscale, they'll just go online to something like Amazon or Alibaba, or eBay and buy a junker from there.

The blaming of "capitalism" is a left-wing dog whistle. The author doesn't offer any real, working alternative (communism? barter? bikes assigned by a lottery? invasion by space aliens?). The term "capitalism" originated in Europe before Karl Marx, but it was Marx's Das Kapital that made the word what it is today. "Capitalism" in the usual sense exists mainly to be contrasted with communism or at least a socialist type system. Apparently, without any real evidence of anything related to the ownership of the means of production, stores, whatever, the fault is "capitalism". The author and people asserting these things know no more about economics than the designers of the plastic stem know about safety.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

Huffy and a (brinelled) race to the bottom...

 

[Xlobsterman]

It is a simple supply and demand issue! You get what you pay for!

 

[Schwinny]

The problem has nothing to do with Bikes or Wal-Mart.
Its the idiot writer that doesn't realize their story is non-sequitur, circular nonsense. And then the "editor" that ran it.
This is a fluff story not validated or followed through by anyone, used as filler when there wasn't enough "news" in the 24 hour cycle to discuss. "Human interest" is no longer.
Probably one of those infernal Google-bait stories,

Heres a story;
"Man gets carpel tunnel and sues Craigs List for displaying so many Wal-Mart bikes for sale to sift through"

 

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

The blaming of "capitalism" is a left-wing dog whistle

We live in a society where everyone wants a singular answer to everything. "capitalism is the problem" We no longer put blame on the small pieces that make up the whole story. The story should point out that the only reason we are at a point where we can even choose where and what we buy is because of capitalism. The problem like sir mike said is not with capitalism itself but the unconcerned or uneducated buyer who has no idea what they are buying only that it is a "new" bike. It is a large part of our society that is the problem not capitalism. Education is what we lack in this country mindless idiots who just buy for the sake of buying. I do like the policy in North Korea that you are only allowed a certain amount of garbage each month and when you exceed that you are charged for it. Maybe this would make consumers think a little more before they buy throw away items. I doubt it. Wallmart sells cheap poorly assembled bikes because Americans keep buying them.

 

[T. W. Day]

As far as I am concerned, all bikes built since the early eighties are “junk” bikes. Having restored cars, trucks, Tonka toys, pedal cars, bikes, etc., I have seen the lack of quality control and product design decline since 1980. Tell me this, how many bikes built today will be around 60 or 70 years from now like old Schwinns, Columbia’s, Roadmaster’s and so many more that we work on
and restore today. How many cars will you be able to restore 70 years from now that are built today. When brought down to the simplest terms even high end bikes quality today can’t match a low end bikes quality of the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s. And I it’s not capitalism that is the problem, it’s inflation that makes bikes and other products cost too much brought on by stupid market policies.