Paralysed man awarded Y189 mil in damages after bicycle crash

This is a pittance for this man. I sincerely hope though that besides this payment the company has to pay his medical bills related to this accident forever! Anything less is immoral!

Admittedly I come from a litigious society but this award just seems waaaay too low.

Poor guy, message for all to avoid those garbage, death trap Bianchi bikes. That money is basically pocket money and will be lucky to support him for five years.

As a teenager I used to take my road bike apart to care for all the parts, but with today's high-tec machines, you would need specialized tools and knowledge, as supposedly bearings and suspension systems are "maintenance-free". And two years ago my "fake" Louis Garneau frame came apart after 5 1/2 years of usage because the rear suspension was not working properly anymore and thus created pulling forces on the chain stay part, tearing it apart! That suspension needed yearly maintenance but it wasn't even written anywhere!

Why doesn't Bianchi make the bikes in Italy? Jobless rate among young people there is nearly 30 percent, and the country is filled with third-world immigrants eager to work for low wages.

Why doesn't Bianchi make the bikes in Italy? Bianchi historically is a road bikes producer and has started producing MTB and Cross bikes recently as the market showed demand. Bianchi road bikes have a majority of italian components (Bianchi itself or Campagnolo). Nevertheless, in some particular components they are buying components which are better. As for example Shimano...

What a terrible fate. At least he got a good compensation for it.

Bianchi does make the bikes in Italy However due to export costs japan etc wants cheaper pricing, bianchi therefore licensed a taiwanese firm to supply suspendion system for its asian market. Obviously the taiwanese company dropped the ball in terms of quality control.

He is 63 and got 2 million dollars. If we accept that monety can be used to compensate for horrific injuries of this type, seems fair to me. Can't imagine that the importer makes a ton of money out of bringing these bikkes in.....

These are not Italian Bianchi, those are Bianchi branded low level shimano based crap...

Proper Italian Bianchi is a piece of artwork lasting decades... thats what you get when you pay 50000 for "road" bike...

Yeah, there are two 'Bianchi' brands; the original, ultra-awesome Italian racing brand that Marco Pantani rode for.

Then there is the crap copy, which is just the name bought by an Asian company to churn out the Celeste coloured rubbish copies, that loads of middle aged Asian men who have no money want to buy. This second type are the ones that fall apart, not the originals.

Yeah, there are two 'Bianchi' brands

No. There is only one Bianchi. Bianchi outsources some of its production to Taiwan, but Bianchi is still liable for its partner in Taiwan.

@ Nicegaijin - it will cost this poor bloke a fortune to modify his house, pay for full-time care, a new vehicle, not to mention super pricey medical costs. I have a japanese friend - also tragically made quadriplegic - who can attest to this. So whilst $1.9 mill is a lot for us it will not last forever for this poor man.

Mitsubishi paid only 5.5 Million Yen damages when the wheel came off it's truck and killed a 29 year old mother and injured her 2 children in Kanagawa in 2002. The driver (!) paid 72 Million Yen to the family, and it wasn't even his fault! One of a long series of manufacturing defects that were covered up by the Mitsubishi for many years. Looks like the large amount (for Japan) is because it is a foreign company.

Would like to know the name of the bike and the suspension front fork. Chances are that this is a generic fork and sold under different brands. This is a lesson to be remembered: Don't buy cheap mountain bikes and road bikes. They are not what they seem and are potentially dangerous if used like real MTBs and road bikes. If you want a cheap bike, get an ordinary drain pipe special, which is heavy and unromantic but at least has no dangerous pretensions.

I agree that this poor man got little when his injury is considered.

Another thing: Before you buy a sports bike read the reviews. They are out there online.

How did the front wheel come off? Did the rider not periodically inspect that the quick-release spindle was properly secured? Or, did the fork break off?

Here's NHK's report-

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20130325/k10013443561000.html

News showed that water accumulated in the suspension tube and rusted it to the point of failure. Many good suspensioned bikes will have drain valves (cant remember if this one did) but its hard to tell if there is water accumulated, and impossible to tell if the suspension is rusted inside

Himajin, thanks for the link(in Japanese, but the photo is helpful).

If the suspension fork came apart that way, then it's a mfgr defect most likely. There's also the possibility the fork was over-adjusted for softest ride, and disengaged the internal assembly(depends of fork version).

That is an extremely sad thing that happened to this man, and I feel for him. But I still want to chime in on the side of those who think this is a lot of money, especially for a Japanese ruling, and maybe even too much. It is definitely more than this victim was going to earn in his remaining working years, and more than his penson--which he will still get. Sure, I agree you can throw him some money for pain and suffering, but how much? Its hard to put a price on that. I think that he and his family will be pretty well taken care of. He should try to quietly enjoy his retirement and more time with his family. The money may run out if he lives 20-30 years more...but how long do people really need to live anyway, in retirement, severely disabled?

I think it is a good award. will destroy the importer and provide for this guy comfortably - even though his injuries are horrific and he cannever really be compensated for them.

" News showed that water accumulated in the suspension tube and rusted it to the point of failure."

Looking at the picture in the NHK article, the bike looks shiny-new, unless that's not the actual bike. I have two bikes with suspension forks and find the rust story hard to believe unless it's a cheap chinese knock-off.

Most importantly, it's sad the man is now quadrapalegic.

Poke,"but how long do people really need to live anyway, in retirement, severely disabled?"

How callous can you be? Everyone should live as long as they can, able bodied, or otherwise.

I don't blame the importer: I blame the manufacturer.

It's Manufacture design fault and the Company should pay for that but not importer.