Culture
Rest In Peace, Ikea Bike
The Sladda bicycle was an attempt to help city-dwellers ease into life without cars. Now a sweeping recall is bringing the product to its demise.
In the end, the Ikea bike wasn’t tough enough for the streets. The Swedish furniture company announced last week that it’s recalling all of its Sladda bicycles due to safety issues and canceling all production. Them’s the breaks.
Marketed as the “the perfect bike for urban mobility,” the flat-packed Sladda stood in as a muse for the company’s sustainable vision for city living. At $399 it was relatively inexpensive for a new bike, and easy enough to imagine hopeful shoppers picking one up alongside dressers and bookshelves after moving to a new city.