Ride-A-Lot wrote:
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> http://www.shokbikes.org/
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Having worked at the toy department of Wally World and being a fairly
avid biker, I have to say that they were lucky to have me.
Every bike I sold, I warned parents about fit, helmet use, and I carried
a toolkit so that I could check and tighten bolts and nuts and brakes
and seats if necessary. You see- they don't have bike mechanics, they
have bike builders- and in my experience, it's usually the nephew of the
guy that owns the bike stand, or the compressor, that does the work.
They pay these guys 7 bucks a bike- 7 bucks CANADIAN a bike. With tools-
what tools...IF they the proper tools- that were so worn, they'd damage
the bike in putting it together. Wouldn't clamp them on the bike stand
correctly, and score the crappy paint.
Basically, they pull 'em out of the shipping box, throw the wheels on,
and tighten a few screws. Maybe. I found bikes that had loose bottom
brackets- we had twenty bikes come back for that problem alone...since
they came out of the box with the bottom bracket already installed,
nobody thought to check em. Loose stems, handlebars, pedals put on the
wrong side that would loosen as you pedalled...oh yeah, I saw it
all.Loose chains, unsecured seatposts, broken seats, loose QR-
especially on the front. Defective design in FS bikes, where, if a kid
did what kids do with a FS bike- expect to be able to drop off a wall
over something- the seat postwas too long and wouldn't clear the shock
bolt, and it would shear the shock off if the bike bottomed out.Yeah- it
would take a big hit to make that happen, but hey- kids figure these
bikes can take anything.
Flat tires...tires overfilled, and left in an incredibly hot
storeroom..POPPOPPOP! you'd wheel 'em down to the floor, and the tires
were rolling off the rim...And this was not just one building company-
in the 3 years I was there- we went through 4.
Finally- I would just send people off to the LBS so they could get a
good bike- and a good fit.
Parents that didn't know the first thing about a bike buying way too big
bikes for their kids so they could grow into them...
People buying a $300 bicycle and wouldn't shell out more than 5 bucks
for a crappy lock...
One woman actually physically threatened me, because I told her she
would have to maintain the bike- make sure things were tightened
occasionally, and a bit of oil now and then. She was a nut case- kept
trying to tell me that when we were kids, why you didn't have go do that
kind of thing...yep.Seriously- went off the deep end and screamed at
me...and physically threatened me.
I made sure I told the kids and their parents that they would have to
maintain the bike..but it fell on deaf ears.
Oh- and the returns! The returns... taco-ed wheels, 2 bikes that were
returned, supposedly bought a month before- that were so stiff with
bright orange rust that is was obvious they'd been out all winter-
probably two, and the people had scammed a neighbour's or friends
receipt from new bikes that were just bought.
Ah- the horror! The horror!
<runs off to hide in the closet in a fetal poistion>
Kimba
don't get me started...