Malicious and criminal tyre fitting

[LBD]

This is shocking , true, and it happened in a NZ bike shop.

Travelling on the ferry back from Wellington 9th Jan, I met up with two Ashburton lads and a 4th person. (And sorry but I must be somewhat vague about the 4th person and the bikeshop involved)

After a time this forth person relayed the following story that starts with a flat rear tire near Waiuru on Waitangi day. This was on a new rear tire that was fitted a few days earlier. If I recall correct the tire went down while stopped at traffic lights for road works, and not while riding.

Accomodation was found for the night and a bike shop was called that came the following day with a trailer and spare bike so they could all get back to the bike shop where the tyre was repaired....Now this is where it gets interesting, The tire was a tubed version and the bike shop handed the biker a handfull of worn paperclips that he found between the tyre and the tube. While relaying the story the rider produced a zip loc bag with the worn paper clips...that were on the way back to the bikeshop where the tyre was fitted.

Can anyone add to what happened at the bike shop in the next few days? I have tried to contact the rider involved to find out, At the very least the tire fitter must have lost his job one would hope and the rider recompensed for costs plus...

We have to contend with enough hazards on the road without needing to worry about malicious acts by those who look after our bikes.

Why would a tyre fitter do this when it would obviously come back to him? Again without going into details there may have been a grudge against the rider involved, but still?

And a thanks to the shop that helped with a breakdown in a remote area on a Waitangi Weekend Saturday.


Following is in response to some postings made further down

.... man I would be jumping up and down about it

The 3 of us were astounded, I am still trying to find out what happened at the visit back to the shop

How do you tell a worn paperclip from an unworn one?

The tube moves inside the tyre, some of the ends were worn to a needle sharp points

I can't see a motorbike shop doing this to another biker, unless it was a teenage low paid shop assistant?
.

Or there was a grudge which I suspect was the case.

In the interest of public safety I think a "name and shame" is required really.....there's.

Would love to name and shame, but that would need to be done by the victim and not second hand

Maybe you should read the above quote I pulled for ya.....one or two is pushing it.....but a handful? come-on.....I'd call that grossly negligent at best.

Gross neglect at least...To clarify a handful. I may have exagerated, maybe 10 in the bag, different sizes thicknesses and colours

As far as the paper clip thing goes,
who but the tyre installer knows,

Could have come from anywhere as has been said before. I can not for the life of me imagine someone deliberately "getting back at someone" by putting paper clips in his tyre. Probably a young'un who is not well versed in changing a tyre with a tube in it. You do actually have to check the inside of the tyre and the rim for sharp things, before you put the tyre back on the rim, and sometimes even when you do check you can miss the sneaky sharp thing that sends the tube flat again.

True, who but the tyre fitter would know....This was a well known large reputable company. There is reason to read between lines and suspect a grudge.

[rabidnz]

if you have pissed someone off, dont put your life in there hands

[Grizzo]

WTF? That is freakin outrageous!

[JacksColdSweat]

Er, to me that sounds criminal

IMHO You should really be telling this to the cops...

If this story is true as told to you then a formal investigation needs to be done

[Bass]

IMHO there is a lot being assumed here.
I think that it is entirely possible that the paper clips were put in the tyre well beforehand and that the tyre fitter simply did not notice them. I have had instances where I have known or strongly suspected that there was something loose inside a tyre and have still had to look pretty hard to find it.
Brand new tyres are seldom inspected internally by the installer before fitting.
I have watched almost all my bike tyres being fitted and I have never seen a new tyre being inspected internally.
I am not suggesting that this is acceptable - just questioning whether there was any intent involved.

[3umph]

that's not very good, lucky it went flat when it did... even if not intentional the tyre still should of been checked especially with being fitted with a tube as well.... man I would be jumping up and down about it

[awayatc]

Can not believe that a bikeshop would do anything like this on purpose.....
Makes no sense, because you will get found out.
Heaps of other ways to sabotage your bike without leaving traces.
Was done inadvertedly...
has to be..

[Okey Dokey]

How do you tell a worn paperclip from an unworn one?

[CB ARGH]

How do you tell a worn paperclip from an unworn one?

Depends if the worn one's been up a cows arse or not, that makes it a bit easier.

I can't see a motorbike shop doing this to another biker, unless it was a teenage low paid shop assistant?

Glad no harm was done.

[Taz]

Those bloody paperclips are sneaky little buggers! You got to keep an eye on them and never let them out of their magnetic cage unless to do their sole job. You have been warned!! Oh and don't feed them after midnight

[firefighter]

In the interest of public safety I think a "name and shame" is required really.....there's nothing to excuse shit like this and I see no problem with this shop being named.....in fact I want to know so I never, ever go there.

[sondela]

Every biker should boycott a bike shop that would intentionally endanger a life, BUT proof that they are indeed guilty without a shadow of a doubt, would be required first would it not?

[Ixion]

Careless perhaps, but I cannot see a case for malicious. Things can fall inside a tyre, and with a tube type, it would be quite easy to grab the tyre (with foreign body sitting in the bottom well), lay it flat (foreign body slides to the bottom again) stuff the tube in (foreign body now not going to fall out and invisible) and carry on. The paperclips might have been in there when the fitter picked the tyre off the rack , having fallen in from someones bench somewhere.
Hanlon's law, I think.

[firefighter]

handfull of worn paperclips that he found between the tyre and the tube

Careless perhaps, but I cannot see a case for malicious. Things can fall inside a tyre, and with a tube type, it would be quite easy to grab the tyre (with foreign body sitting in the bottom well), lay it flat (foreign body slides to the bottom again) stuff the tube in (foreign body now not going to fall out and invisible) and carry on.

Maybe you should read the above quote I pulled for ya.....one or two is pushing it.....but a handful? come-on.....

I'd call that grossly negligent at best.

[3umph]

In the interest of public safety I think a "name and shame" is required really.....there's nothing to excuse shit like this and I see no problem with this shop being named.....in fact I want to know so I never, ever go there.

Yeah I agee and dont agree....
he needs to back to the shop first and tell the and see what there comments about it is first.... and what they are going to do about it...