set it on fire
Cool that they’re going through the cost of giving a free bike to their employees, unfortunate the bike sucks so hard
Giving bikes to people who don’t need them is just stupid. They should have doubled the quality of the bike, cut the quantity in half and only given them to people who sign a contract that they will ride their bike to work for at least half the days of every month.
a bike that’s twice as good/expensive as that bike is still going to be a shitty bike.
I would LOVE a Walmart special over those fucking things. At least then I could choose a frame that more reasonably resembles an actual bike.
Probably a joke but: http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/bik/2101407918.html
[quote]IKEA bike in box - $3000
Date: 2010-12-08, 1:44AM PST
Brand new. Still in box. Needs assembly. Limited edition. [/quote]
In my not so humble opinion, this is one of the most retarded things I’ve seen a corporation do in the name of PR. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant move, PR-wise. All those SUV driving liberals who love Ikea and the environment will have their consumer choices reinforced. Warm-fuzzy feelings will be had.
But, I would be surprised if the majority of those 12400 Ikea employees are not relatively naive about adult cycling. As a first impression on people with jobs who belong to the American car culture, those bikes are like giving people a turd sandwich and telling them it’s gourmet. They going to provide a pump, lock, lights, and instruction on how to change a flat, too? This seems more crippling than enabling.
I’d rather have one of the bikes they use for World Bicycle Relief.
At a $134 each, it would only cost $1,661,600 to give one to each employee. What they could have done would be to offer free bikes to those who volunteer. And as an incentive, donate the cost of a bike to WBR for every volunteer. Or even sold the bikes to customers with the idea of matching the purchase in the form of a donation to WBR.
It has to be said…
WTF is wrong with Ikea?
Yep. Really stupid.
They should have made quality bikes available at a deep discount (the balance of which could be paid via payroll deductions) to employees who actually want them for commuting or whatever. I don’t think a contract makes sense. You really can’t hold people to commuting by bike.
I feel the same way about bike lanes, bike racks, etc… . The “if we build it they will come” approach to cycling facilities is stupid. Make shit available to people who are likely to actually use it. Regardless of climate or terrain it takes some HTFU to commute on a bike. Being given a shitty bike is not going to be the tipping point for anyone.
Great way to show commitment to the environment, manufacturing and shipping aside there are now 12350 (maybe 50 will get used) bikes destined for landfills in the near future.
I the IKEA employees are like WTF I would have rather had a $50 gift card or a fucking cinnamon roll instead of this POS bike.
It’s sad that this will somehow still prove to be positive PR for ikea.
though the inverse is pretty funny. can you imagine if walmart gave all their toy department employees shitty ikea cupboards and end tables under the guise that it’ll improve their home value and help with the depressed housing market somehow?
I just keep thinking “Well, this makes that Walmart ‘Fixed Speed’ actually look like a good idea.” At least with that bike most of us came to the conclusion that “Anything that gets more people on a bike is a good idea.”
I guess we’ve reached the limits of “anything.”
Also:
I think you’re wrong on this. Infrastructure has gone a long way towards improving the cycling scene up here. Same in Minneapolis and Madison where it’s equally as cold/shitty. Yeah, you need a certain amount of HTFU, but if you lower the bar it takes less HTFU and therefore more people.
The problem here is that the IKEA employees weren’t given a bike. They were given a shitty bike. So some may ride it, but they won’t enjoy it. Same if you build the wrong infrastructure like bike lanes on gravel roads.
In sweden I can say that the bike PATH approach works wonders. Everyone in my town rides.
I get what you guys are saying, but it takes smart planning, and there are geographical, climate, and cultural factors as well.
I mean during bike to work month here (May) something like 10,000+ people sign up and do it. You definitely notice it when out on the road during commuting hours. Nothing about the city’s bike facilities magically changes, but it’s a “commute challenge” so people sign up with their office teams and they do it for the “challenge”. For the most part it doesn’t take long term though. Feeling like a badass for riding a bicycle to work for a relatively warm, dry month and making it a part of a relatively boring year-round daily routine are two different things.
sooo many bummies in PDX are about to be rollin DEEP
http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/bik/2101349159.html[/quote]
lulz at calling it a ‘limited edition’. and later saying that 12399 others exist
[quote=ryanoceros]In my not so humble opinion, this is one of the most retarded things I’ve seen a corporation do in the name of PR. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant move, PR-wise. All those SUV driving liberals who love Ikea and the environment will have their consumer choices reinforced. Warm-fuzzy feelings will be had.
But, I would be surprised if the majority of those 12400 Ikea employees are not relatively naive about adult cycling. As a first impression on people with jobs who belong to the American car culture, those bikes are like giving people a turd sandwich and telling them it’s gourmet. They going to provide a pump, lock, lights, and instruction on how to change a flat, too? This seems more crippling than enabling.
I’d rather have one of the bikes they use for World Bicycle Relief.
At a $134 each, it would only cost $1,661,600 to give one to each employee. What they could have done would be to offer free bikes to those who volunteer. And as an incentive, donate the cost of a bike to WBR for every volunteer. Or even sold the bikes to customers with the idea of matching the purchase in the form of a donation to WBR.
It has to be said…
WTF is wrong with Ikea?[/quote]
That’s a sweet bike. Your plan sounds better.
WBR wins every time.
first one bites the dust in salt lake…
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=13596522&cat=191&lpid=1&search=&s=1
wonder how long till the ‘market’ is flooded.
Let’s keep a ikea-dex of sorts, and relate it to the prediction of cataclysmic events for all bike-kind.
currently $135 not selling, $90 selling.
lots of people I see riding bikes day after day ride the shittiest bikes I’ve ever seen. It’s a great way to introduce employees to the benefits of bike commuting. It’s a great way to get people into a bike that will last longer for them. Sure, the bikes are cheap, but if people want to ride them, they’ll ride them. and if they like that, they’ll upgrade.