The IKEA bike. Insert punch line about difficult instructions and cheap build [here].
Well this Ikea bike isn’t actually a million-odd-piece kit offered by the Swedish retailer, it’s a bike that IKEA purchased from a yet-unknown manufacturer for 12,400 of its U.S. employees. That number reflects IKEA’s entire U.S. workforce. Pretty sweet little holiday bonus for hawking cheap furniture all year.
And like all good IKEA wares, the bike even requires some assembly. Let’s just hope it comes with real nuts and bolts rather than some of the odd-ball fasteners that IKEA’s furniture is equipped with.
"It’s been a good year for IKEA, so what better way to celebrate our
success than to thank our IKEA co-workers who made this happen. Our big
reveal today will be a fun day as we unload 12,400 new bikes at IKEA US
locations. This is our way of saying ‘thanks IKEA co-workers for being
strongly committed to working together.’ We hope this bike will be taken
in the spirit of the season while supporting a healthy lifestyle and
everyday sustainable transport," Mike Ward, IKEA US President said in a press release when the bikes were given out last week.
IKEA has taken a little guff from some bloggers for the cheap, generic nature of the bikes, but a free bike is a free bike. And 12,400 free bikes is a pretty solid corporate gifting, no matter what each "off-roader" cost.
Plus, considering the iconic status IKEA has in the cheap furniture market, it’s kind of cool to have a simple, IKEA-colored bike. And if it lasts like IKEA’s furniture (i.e. the majority will break down and be sent to the dump), anyone that stores it in the garage in mint condition should be able to fetch a pretty nice dollar for it in 10 years. Or 3 years.
Via: GearJunkie
