Were you Injured on a Bike made in China???

by k.hawley Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008 at 4:23 PM

"I was biking down the road in some traffic and the entire assembly of my front-right-side crank (gears) and pedal broke off and fell on the highway."

Thats my question:"Were you injured using a bicycle or other "defective" machine or appliance that was made in China or Mexico?
My story is that I bought a bicycle (CCM - formerly a Canadian Co.) at WallMart,that was made in China,and one day a few months later I was biking down the road in some traffic and the entire assembly of my front-right-side crank (gears) and pedal broke off and fell on the highway.The axle bolt had just sheared off due to defective metal used in its manufacture.I avoided an accident or injury in this incident and I never thought much more of it.

What I did was I went back to WallMart with my sales_slip and the broken bike and they gave me a credit to get another of their bikes,this one a "Kent" a hundred year old bike company that was now being produced in China.Several months later this Kent bike,which had a "shock absorbing" style of handle bars almost threw me right off the bike as I braked on a fast curve - the handlebars dropped about 5 inches down from their normal position..I discovered later that the "shock absorbing" assembly/mechanism in the handle bars had "worn away" from friction (cheap metal again) and the handlebars had simply let go and dropped down as a result.Again I avoided injury but it was very scary and I got to thinking that although I was very lucky in these two incidents,maybe other people weren't so lucky in similiar incidents involving defective bikes that were made or assembled in countries like China,Mexico etc.? Also maybe there are many other defective products that Multi-National-Corps are producing (for quick,large profits) in China,Mexico and 3rd.world countries that have done serious injuries and damage to many,many people? What can we do? Would you care to share your story?