Archived is bike building difficult?

[oath2order]

How does Target insulate itself from assembly that goes wrong and causes harm? Is it just "let the buyer beware?"
Surely someone has gotten hurt and tried to sue Target.

probably in the same way bike shops avoid it

 

[Vex]

They got rid of my little station I had in the steel and put all my stuff on a flat. It sits locked in a storage trailer. -.-

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

They got rid of my little station I had in the steel and put all my stuff on a flat. It sits locked in a storage trailer. -.-

 

[HLN13]

Does anyone know if there is an age requirement for bike building? I was asked by an ETL if I wanted to try and it and I said I’d be terrible at it but sure. Just wondering if you have to be 18 to use any of the tools? I’ve seen our bike building with some huge tank thing? Just wanted to double check as I’m not sure that ETL knows I’m a minor.

 

[Kompa]

You only need like 3 hand tools really.

 

[glo]

The tank is probably an air compressor it just fills tires.

 

[Ringwraith917]

Not aware of any age restrictions, just ask that ETL about it. Or do it, and hope nothing goes terribly awry, and if it does claim ignorance.
Been bike building a few years now, no major accidents yet. A few cuts and a small scar where I broke a wrench and fell against the stand and got a good scrape. Just make sure you let the air out of the compressor at the end of the day, and go through the safety checklist for each bike until you get the hang of it.
Good luck

 

[Kompa]

What's a safety checklist? We just build then and roll em out

 

[Ringwraith917]

It's at the back of the bike builer handbook, and should also be a poster hung near the bike building area. Do you even Safe Ride sticker?

 

[Kompa]

Stickers? Handbook?

What are y'all, a local bike store?

 

[RedMallet]

Honestly, as a one time bike builder and amateur bike mechanic/rider, Target bikes, IF ASSEMBLED PROPERLY, are fine for a few things, young kids that are going to outgrow/destroy them in a year or two, teenagers that will do the same, and mom/dad who are going to go for a ride with their kids or whatever once or twice a month around the block/park/whathaveyou. Beyond that, you're better off with paying a bit more for a low-end 'good' bike. And I say this as someone who has nursed a target schwinn road bike along for 4-5 years because it was cheap as hell as a return.

The big if there is if they are put together properly, and since I stopped being the main/only bike builder and finally not a bike builder at all(except in cases of "Guest wants this bike and we have none built and noone else is here") I've seen some goddamn atrocious things. Wheels only bolted on on one side, disc brake bikes with the wheel on the wrong way(How the fuck do you even do that), stem bolts that are barely tightened, straight up dangerous shit. There is very little quality control, almost no oversight(This seems to be getting better with the new TL over bikes, but also I don't bother to look at them very often anymore, so it might be that). Hours seem pretty meager, and while a bike doesn't take that long to put together well if it lacks major flaws, fixable flaws ain't in the timeline.

 

[Tessa120]

IF ASSEMBLED PROPERLY

Key words. I got a Target bike, and it wasn't assembled correctly. The stem bolt was very loose, loose enough the handlebars twisted when I put it into my car. About a week later, shifting went all wrong, and it took 2 days and a few YouTube videos to figure out what it was and how to fix it....and the reason for the extended time needed to find it is that there were two different problems in tandem, both of which were sneaky assembly errors. The tires were well under pressure as well, less than half the needed psi.

 

[NOP]

What's a safety checklist? We just build then and roll em out

And this is why I will never buy a bike or helmets from Target or a big box chain store. A local bike shop is the way to go. The helmets haven’t been dropped a bunch of times and the bikes are built by the same people who repair them.

 

[Kompa]

And this is why I will never buy a bike or helmets from Target or a big box chain store. A local bike shop is the way to go. The helmets haven’t been dropped a bunch of times and the bikes are built by the same people who repair them.

I agree. I used to work at a local bike shop so I know what I'm doing though. I wouldn't buy one from there if the point of bike is just a beater or something. Too overpriced

 

[Tessa120]

A bike from a LBS is the way to go....unless you're broke. But the list of things about my bike that scream poor quality is long. Not so long as to make it unrideable, but enough that I should replace the entire bike. Except maybe the seat, I've gotten used to the feel of the seat.