idiots with there forks back to front

fat_tyre_nick

fat_tyre_nick

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lately i have seen alot of kids and some young adults riding their huffies and other kmart bikes around with their forks back to front. and in this one case i saw a kid about 10 or 11 yrs old riding his repco bike with the forks back to front AND the handlebars upside down. I mean is this just pure stupidity putting together a bike or fashion.has anyone seen people riding like this?
 
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Ignorance and/or stupidity. We can only hope they discover the fun of cycling and upgrade to a decent bike before their current stupermarket POS collapses underneath them.
 
heh, i see this little kid ride home from school everyafternoon on his brand new, pink, girls (low TT) huffy, with forks and helmet on backwards. im not sure whether i should tell him what hes doing wrong or not.
 
and i was about to jump on the OP for mistaking manitous "reverse arch" as being back to front.. :(

oh well, its a huffy thread, who cares...

W2ttsy
 
I saw an old guy, bout 50 probably. Riding a red repco with the forks back to front...i didnt know what to do. Should i have told him? I just keep riding past though
 
I remember seing a catalogue befor xmas i think it was a Toys R Us and in there that had 2 adult bikes with the forks on backwards.
If you ask me it shouldn't be legal for people to get around on bikes like that, at least if they were built up by a bike mechanic they would last a little longer but we no the quality aint that good
 
Nar, wait till you start seeing these people riding with their left shoes on their right foot... WACKO!! ;)
 
You know those raked forks we see on huffys and the like? How they bendoutwards? Well i saw this punk riding with them installed backwards andyou should have seen the toe overlap! The cranks were only like 2cmaway from the wheel!!!:D
 
A lot of the staff at Target, Kmart, etc don't assemble them properly in the first place.

Many times I've walked past the bike section in Kmart to have a laugh at the Huffy's and I've seen forks back to front! :D
 
mmm...you reckon that we might get rewarded by their managers for pointing out the error??
 
fenis said:
A lot of the staff at Target, Kmart, etc don't assemble them properly in the first place.

Many times I've walked past the bike section in Kmart to have a laugh at the Huffy's and I've seen forks back to front! :D
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WRONG! Well the Kmart you are going to is doing something VERY WRONG and AGAINST policies! I work at Kmart and we have a Representative who assembles display bikes and also for customers at an extra $16. This way we are not liable if the bike brakes! I work in the sporting/leisure section and am always dealing with some clown who purchased a bike and is winging because something is broken...I ask them to bring the bike in... Sure enough....Forks the wrong way round, handle bars upside down, left pedal on the right crank (God knows how he made it fit!), Seatpost and stem raised beyond the safety line.

It comes down to in-experienced customers who don't read the manual...I always recomend that they get it assembled by our Representative...who knows what to do...He does DH in his spare time on an Iron Horse Sunday...so he knows his stuff.
 
wtr said:
mmm...you reckon that we might get rewarded by their managers for pointing out the error??
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Nope...

Just say "Isn't it Kmart policy and procedure to get bikes assembled by a Hunter Leisure Representative?" Hopefully then they will pick up their act and come into line with other Kmarts and do the right thing.

Actually next time you goto one of these Kmarts ask them what it costs to assemble a bike. It should be $16.50. Ask if it's done by a staff member or representative. If they say it's a rep...ask who...Should be soemone from "Hunter Leisure" Be interesting to see what they say.
 
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the people riding these bikes probably think it's new technology or something..
i've heard of people getting a nasty suprise when they realise that having the forks on backwards causes the v-brakes to fail because they grip in the opposite way they are supposed to and because there is no support from the brace across the forks they either bend or snap.
There was a notice in a big w catalogue last year calling for a heap of dunlops to be returned because of forks being installed backwards.. yet they still build them like this! dumb-asses.
 
MTB Maniac said:
...There was a notice in a big w catalogue last year calling for a heap of dunlops to be returned because of forks being installed backwards.. yet they still build them like this! dumb-asses.
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Nah, the recall was something to do with them missing the top caps on the crown.
 
it would be a VERY simple mistake for any inexperienced bike builder, ie the customer. many of these bikes as you well know come in a box. to get them to fit in the box in the most efficient manner, the forks are turned backwards. customer takes bike out of box, slaps in front wheel, puts h/bars into stem (which is usually not in the h/set anyway)...and alas, the forks are backwards.

the boxes themselves do say that for safety reasons the bike should be assembled by a qualifed bike mechanic.

ASH
 
I so remember my first 'proper' bike...a Concord from Target, with a dual crown fork...that gutter hucking and bottoming out feeling...mmmmmm But even then, I still didn't install the fork backward.

Nar, I think it's more of a case of common sense and laziness. Some people are just meatheads, while other can't be stuffed doing it.

Every now and then when I walk pass the bike section, I feel like revisiting my play school. :) I missed them..
 
dmwill said:
It comes down to in-experienced customers who don't read the manual...I always recomend that they get it assembled by our Representative...who knows what to do...He does DH in his spare time on an Iron Horse Sunday...so he knows his stuff.
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I'm talking about customers purchasing pre assembled display bikes. In Sydney 'budget' department stores I've seen display bikes with forks back to front many times.

Just because your store in Perth has a qualifed mechanic, you cannot assume that other department stores around Australia also have the same.
 
If you read my post properly, and I shall repeat... It is Kmart policy and procedure to get ALL bikes assembled by a qualified person and by what you are saying from your experience...some stores most likley are not following this!

I actually make it a personal rule of mine to refuse the sale of display bikes because they do get thrown around and can be faulty. If we do sell them, we will get it looked over by the rep first.
 
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I get great pleasure in telling someone that their helmet is on backwards and watching their face turn red.
 
The worst one i saw was a ad for an American MTB tour company. It may have been in MBA (American) or AMB but it showed a man standing over his bike on which the fork was the wrong way round. Damn even if i had the money for a MTB tour i wouldn't go with them...
 
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