Tesco store caught out dumping £4,000 of unsold bikes

[jusali]

Interesting how the laws have been made to punish people for in essence recycling unwanted corporate waste. It's fucking sinister.

 

[SpookyFrank]

slightly off topic
I remember in the early days of this website, people sharing info about city office blocks throwing out old PCs in skips.
Quite a few people got their first computers and office swivel chairs skip raiding.
I've had a working printer, camera, CD player and amp raiding bins.

At our old squat we provided a PC spares and repairs service using only stuff we had got out of skips, particularly from the university.

Did the same for bikes too in fact, all our parts came from unwanted or discarded bikes. Even the local council would bring us bikes that they'd found abandoned.

 

[Sasaferrato]

I'm not entirely convinced that they were all hopelessly broken. At least one appears to be still in the box.

There are more bike repair places around now that more people are cycling. If the frame is intact, there is no such thing as an 'unmendable' bike.

 

[Boycey]

There are more bike repair places around now that more people are cycling. If the frame is intact, there is no such thing as an 'unmendable' bike.

But there are things known as bicycle shaped objects that in full working order are barely passable as a means of transport. They come from tesco, asda, Argos etc.

And why the fetishism for the frame? They can be repaired too.

It comes down to whether it is worth paying the time of a skilled individual to undertake the work. Bicycles front the aforementioned vendors aren't worth (both economically and in terms of use) paying a skilled individual to assemble for sale. BS6102 did provide some protection to the consumer here but it means sweet fuck all these days.

 

[SpookyFrank]

But there are things known as bicycle shaped objects that in full working order are barely passable as a means of transport. They come from tesco, asda, Argos etc.

And why the fetishism for the frame? They can be repaired too.

It comes down to whether it is worth paying the time of a skilled individual to undertake the work. Bicycles front the aforementioned vendors aren't worth (both economically and in terms of use) paying a skilled individual to assemble for sale. BS6102 did provide some protection to the consumer here but it means sweet fuck all these days.

"Bicycle-shaped-object" is IIRC a phrase invented by everyone's favourite overcharging hipster bike nazis Edinburgh Cycle Co-operative.

Not everyone can afford to drop 500 quid on a shiny new bike. A crappy bike, if it's in working order and has been checked by someone who knows a bit about bikes, is better than no bike at all. And for many people, those are the only two choices. I've got plenty of utility and enjoyment out of 'bicycle shaped objects' in my time. I still ride an old shed built 20 odd years ago, and I can usually outrun any lycra-clad streak of piss on any carbon fibre douchebagmobile that the roads see fit to put in my way.

 

[Boycey]

"Bicycle-shaped-object" is IIRC a phrase invented by everyone's favourite overcharging hipster bike nazis Edinburgh Cycle Co-operative.

Not everyone can afford to drop 500 quid on a shiny new bike. A crappy bike, if it's in working order and has been checked by someone who knows a bit about bikes, is better than no bike at all. And for many people, those are the only two choices. I've got plenty of utility and enjoyment out of 'bicycle shaped objects' in my time. I still ride an old shed built 20 odd years ago, and I can usually outrun any lycra-clad streak of piss on any carbon fibre douchebagmobile that the roads see fit to put in my way.

Did you buy your shed in tesco then?

 

[Boycey]

If your funds are limited you're way way better off buying second hand and having it looked over. Products of this low quality simply should not exist.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Did you buy your shed in tesco then?

Got it from a charity that teaches folk just out of prison useful skills like fixing up bikes and painting houses.

The teaching part maybe wasn't going so well. As soon as I got the thing out the door, the back wheel fell off.

 

[mauvais]

Not everyone can afford to drop 500 quid on a shiny new bike. A crappy bike, if it's in working order and has been checked by someone who knows a bit about bikes, is better than no bike at all. And for many people, those are the only two choices.

It's not though, is it. You could buy a used bike - an actual bike - for a pathetic amount, not without its own potential problems of course, but arguably less than buying a bent bit of plumbing.

 

[SpookyFrank]

If your funds are limited you're way way better off buying second hand and having it looked over. Products of this low quality simply should not exist.

This is true of almost everything tbh. Especially hoovers. But I can't see how these bikes can possibly be so bad that they're never going to be any use to anyone.

 

[Boycey]

This is true of almost everything tbh. Especially hoovers. But I can't see how these bikes can possibly be so bad that they're never going to be any use to anyone.

it is conversations like this that make me so fucking glad i no longer work with bicycles.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I fix up bikes for kids now and then, and some of the tat they bring me is pretty shoddy. It still works though. It's not gonna go up any mountains but these are eight year olds we're talking about and there aren't any mountains around here anyway.

e2a: Maybe I should just tell the kids, well you should've got your parents to buy you a second hand bike instead.

 

[SpookyFrank]

dp

 

[NoXion]

Oops