Walmart asked not to sell bikes

[borgward]

But but but where will I get tires and tubes from

Not at Walmart!

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

to further comments made on future restoration of products currently made with plastics. The photo below is of a 50s Sunbeam shaver. It sat unused in my parent's home from some time in the sixties until I discovered it in he late nineties. Interestingly, all off the plastics used to make the body of the shaver have disintegrated leaving only dust, the glass fibre reinforcement which used to be in the plastic and the metal components of the shaver.

As I was heavily involved in the engineering of plastic bearing components for the automotive industry when I found this I was able to review it with polymer engineering team at DuPont's Detroit office, kind of the mother ship for all things plastic. Their comment was sort of a "yeah, it'll do that sometimes"... we all thought it was funny as hell actually.

So good luck restoring your resin impregnated carbonfibre wonder bikes in 40 years.

 

[GTs58]

• make bike out of cheap materials and overseas labor for $25.00
• sell for $169.88

I am sure manufacturers will stop immediately......

The safety factor is also a major consideration on these inferior products. So where are the Ralph Naders?

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

The safety factor is also a major consideration on these inferior products. So where are the Ralph Naders?

Oh don’t worry, the manufacturer is safe from litigation far away from the end user.

or did you mean someone else perhaps?

 

[GTs58]

These POS are made in China for Schwinn, Huffy and other brands, so those are the ones that need to be accountable for this junk. Not the bozos that are producing them. Or am I missing the boat here?

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

These POS are made in China for Schwinn, Huffy and other brands, so those are the ones that need to be accountable for this junk. Not the bozos that are producing them. Or am I missing the boat here?

Nope, you are right.

the Chinese manufacturers can simply hide behind their government, who don’t really give a rat’s ass about our safety.

but I think equally responsible is the north American importer who knowingly brings this poop in. He’s obviously interested in little more than his bottom line, kids safety and the environment be damned.

 

[Coyote]

the Chinese manufacturers can simply hide behind their government, who don’t really give a rat’s ass about our safety.

or theirs really.
I read a book about the North Carolina furniture making industry and how it met a fate similar to Schwinn Chicago.
Outsource all your designs and expertise to another country who can build it for you cheaper.
Surprise!!!
They don't need you anymore because they have the materials and the know-how.

Anyway, what stuck with me is these foreign companies get people from the outbacks to spray aerosols
and work with toxic chemicals without protective equipment (No OSHA).
After three months, they give them $100 which is probably a fortune there and send them home.
The person is "used up" and will probably later develop cancer; no lawyers on TV.

That's why the price of the foreign products are so cheap, just like life there.
I don't buy their products on that principle.

 

[T. W. Day]

These POS are made in China for Schwinn, Huffy and other brands, so those are the ones that need to be accountable for this junk. Not the bozos that are producing them. Or am I missing the boat here?

You are correct. Pacific Cycles needs to be responsible. I think that’s who owns Schwinn and other mfg now.

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

That's why the price of the foreign products are so cheap, just like life there.
I don't buy their products on that principle.

Try not to buy their products. I defy you to! They make almost all of our electronics, all of our small appliances, critical parts of our automobiles, almost everything we buy has components made in China.

I’ve just retired from a life spent in industry in north America and you can’t do much without involving China. We handed them complete control of our markets because we were more interested in cheap labour. We complain about human rights violations and environmental pollution when its driven by our own greed and lack of foresight. The last company I worked for, a multinational automotive corporation, is dependant on it’s Chinese divisions to produce its products. The few high volume items they produce outside of China are made in other areas where they are allowed to pollute and exploit the local cheap labour. (Mexico)

its easy to blame the Chinese, but we’ve screwed ourselves here. We’ve given up our own manufacturing base and now that its in the control of people who don’t care about us we whine about it.

do I sound a bit bitter? I spent much of my professional life watching work go overseas while our manufacturing base shrank. I was lucky in that I managed to stay continuously employed during my career but finally took an early retirement because work had become so difficult and stressful due to the eternal tightening of belts at the engineering level in the automotive industry, increasing workloads and the difficulties in getting product to launch because we the engineers worked here and the launch was always in a foreign land who couldn’t care less.

 

[T. W. Day]

Try not to buy their products. I defy you to! They make almost all of our electronics, all of our small appliances, critical parts of our automobiles, almost everything we buy has components made in China.

I’ve just retired from a life spent in industry in north America and you can’t do much without involving China. We handed them complete control of our markets because we were more interested in cheap labour. We complain about human rights violations and environmental pollution when its driven by our own greed and lack of foresight. The last company I worked for, a multinational automotive corporation, is dependant on it’s Chinese divisions to produce its products. The few high volume items they produce outside of China are made in other areas where they are allowed to pollute and exploit the local cheap labour. (Mexico)

its easy to blame the Chinese, but we’ve screwed ourselves here. We’ve given up our own manufacturing base and now that its in the control of people who don’t care about us we whine about it.

do I sound a bit bitter? I spent much of my professional life watching work go overseas while our manufacturing base shrank. I was lucky in that I managed to stay continuously employed during my career but finally took an early retirement because work had become so difficult and stressful due to the eternal tightening of belts at the engineering level in the automotive industry, increasing workloads and the difficulties in getting product to launch because we the engineers worked here and the launch was always in a foreign land who couldn’t care less.

You definitely speak the truth. I’ve not been that close into the automotive industry. I sell, repair and restore them for 45 years. But I’ve been close enough to to the industry to know they have themselves hamstrung.