A parent didn't take the time to ensure that the bicycle was in proper operational condition so it's someone else's fault the kid got hurt... right. I had a mountain bike gifted to me this season and the first thing I did was check the brakes and the shifting for proper function.
When you buy a bike from Walmart, like it or not, you get what you paid for. You get something put together by someone who is paid nothing for any expertise that person may or may not have on a take it or leave it basis. Thanks to republicans and democrats alike, in many communities, a Walmart may be the only opportunity available to some people
after the local bicycle shops closed due to pricing competition. Nothing quite like killing local expertise via cheapness. IMHO, the parent acted in a manner that prescribed the outcome - nothing more. The lawsuit should be thrown out.
Why should the lawsuit be thrown out?
You know this for a fact? You can prove that the person putting the bicycle together is an underpaid 'know-nothing?'
Please do, but I want real proof, not just the echo of a disgruntled Wal-Mart hater.
Please, show us the proof!
Maybe the parents should have trained the kid on how to ride a bike, I agree, I hope the whole thing gets thrown out of court.
Agreed that lawsuits against bad parenting are probably a real negative for civilization. I'm wondering if the kid had ever been out on the bike with an adult who taught proper braking and vigilence in the location described.
About WalMart bikes. Every few years, I buy a mud bike there and replace it. (It's actually cheaper that way then buying new tires and getting a second bike tuned) Anyway, the WalMart I go to is actually careful. In each incidence, after constructing the bike, we went made sure brakes, steering, seat setting, pedals, etc were fine, and it was a "good ride" for me. Of course, even if that is company policy, there is no way to know all stores follow it.
I would think a child that age out riding alone is the parent's responsibility, even if the brakes were imperfect (and we don't even know that).
Yeah, SUUURRREEEE they did. Bike shops serve a completely different (upscale) market than Wal-Mart. They have faced exactly the same "price competition" from Sears, JCPenny and numerous other "el-cheapo bike" retailers.
Oh please! I was walking by the bikes in Walmart the other day and noticed some decent looking mountain bikes for $75. I don't want to pay $400 for the same bicycle from some little bike shop just to make sure the brakes get adjusted properly. In your communist scheme, people would would have to pay 2-3 times as much for everything just so a small handful of business owners could make out. SORRY! The marketplace, i.e. consumers, have voted otherwise.
Havoc...
I bought a new mountain bike this year to replace my 30 year old Raleigh Record. The first time I hit the DISC BRAKES, I went over the handlebars, onto my new helmet. MY fault, but thankfully I had bought a helmut. So I guess I ruined my lawsuit but kept the use of my arms and legs.
When you buy a bike from Walmart, like it or not, you get what you paid for.
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A message being lost on many in our cuntry. I heard a discussion about a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mary by parents who bought bikes with quick release front wheels, whose wheels have come loose while in motion.
One father phoned the show to say that he bought a bike like this for his son and told the son to assemble the bike, because the father did not know that sort of stuff. This caller had a foreign accent and identified that he was a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The host of the show could not convince the caller that he had a responsibility to give his child something that he could not verify was safe.
Exactly. The pedals and shoes for any of my bicyles costs more than a Wal-Mart special, and the difference is that I can count on my bikes to not fail me in an intersection.
That was my thought, too. I don't know the particulars, but if I'm buying a bicycle for my kid, I'm going to check it thoroughly before I let my kid ride it. Especially if it was assembled by someone at a discount store.
Good post Havoc, what does one expect from an 18 yr old being paid minimum wage to build crappy bicycles? I bought my latest bike from a local bike shop and they wouldn't ship it direct to my house.
The shop owner and the manufacturer had a contractual clause that the bike shop must assemble the bike to manufacturer's specs. and check it out prior to delivery. They then had to ensure that I knew how to work the controls, etc.
It's like you said, you get what you pay for. Sorry about the kid getting hurt, but the responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the parents in this instance.
Failure to use good judgement is not the store or manufacturers fault.
Uh, so tell me exactly what it is you want politicians to do. Make WalMart raise their prices? Institute price controls so that the mom and pops can't raise their prices past a certain point? Just what socialist action do you want government to take?