Mechanics petition for bikes made to robust, repairable, standards

A United States based campaign is calling upon cycling industry manufacturers to “stop producing and selling bikes that fall apart after a few months of use”.

The campaign specifically highlights, “these products are harmful to the environment, erode public confidence in the usefulness and joy of bicycles, and waste the money of the mostly poor and working-class people who buy them.” 

Initial support for a petition, the result of a discussion within the November 2021 online edition of Bike!Bike! comes from staff within organisations focused upon community engagement and support, where the bicycle meets two clear needs; a reliable, low-cost, transport, and a means to teach skills which lead to employment opportunities. However, there is increasingly a durability issue with bikes bought from retailers such as supermarkets and other non-specialist, resulting in customers from lower income groups finding that their bike is unrepairable after relatively little use. 

Denver based Mac Liman, a mechanic with Bikes Together, said she sees ‘built to fail budget bicycles’ with issues including threads that shear off when a mechanic tries to replace or adjust components, bearing cups that fall out of hubs, making them irreparable, frames that crack, and non-standard parts that can’t be affordably replaced. 

The petition goes so far as to describe the practice of selling such bikes as, “predatory”, stating, “these bikes are made to appear that they have functional, reliable and repairable qualities when they do not.” 

Manufacturers and retailers are called upon to: 

• Set a minimum durability standard for bicycles to last at least 500 riding hours  
• Design bikes to be serviceable and hold adjustment, with replaceable and upgradable components  
• Stop creating and selling bikes that are made to fail 

It is reported that support for the petition has also come from “right to repair” advocacy groups who lobby for legislation which requires manufacturers to make consumer products repairable.