Wear & Tear
I bike pretty much everyday. And biking is great. Until it’s not. Then I have to come to terms with reality.
Yes, I biked so much I basically wore out my bike.
While I’m flattered to be stronger than metal (apparently,) repairs are always easy to put off. Biking is free, right? Nope. Because if it’s free, you’re doing it wrong.
And risking your safety! So plan to put some money into your bike if you rely on it. For under $100 you could get the basics covered: lube, chain,wheels, lights, brakes. Still cheaper than a car or subway.
But if that’s too much cash you could always fix things this way:
No, seriously, go to your local bike shop and get things squared away! It’s worth it.
I know it! I just spent weekend on doing some urgent maintenance of my very, very old bike. Had been acquainted with modern bike technology I realised that my bike may be irreperable. I didn’t even buy tyre in local shop: there was no such size :-O
It appears I should replace all accesory or ride it until it break to pieces. 🙁
As someone who has spent thousands of hours rebuilding and maintaining cars and motorcycles, and who now rides bicycles 90% of the time, I would like to respectfully ask the “It’s easy to do, you should repair your own bike” crowd to please drop it.
Yes, I know it is easy for *you* to do. You like to repair bikes, and you think it’s fun.
However, a person does need the space, time, tools, knowledge and desire to do even the simplest repairs.
People have other things to do with their lives. They may not have your mechanical aptitude.
Please don’t judge them for having different priorities/abilities than you.
Yes, we would never judge someone for taking their car to get the oil changed professionally instead of doing it themselves, even though that’s about the simplest thing you can do (other than top off the coolant) on many vehicles.
I’m all in favor of people being self-sufficient and learning HOW things work, mostly so that they know when something is wrong/ unsafe, but I think it’s perfectly reasonable to take your bike to an expert if you don’t have the time/ inclination to do the maintenance yourself.
After my ride on the state park trails, my bike suffered a rear flat. I thought about fixing it in the field, but the ride was over anyway. so I walked it about a mile to the parking lot and dropped it off at REI for a repair.
The wheel was rubbing on the brake pad and we discovered it was out of true as well. I left it overnight and asked that they also look at my shifting problem while they had it. They called back later and said there was a broken spoke we hadn’t noticed.
Next morning they called that it was ready. New tube, new spoke, true the wheel, adjust the brakes, fix the shifter, and they replaced a missing bolt from the rear rack.
Total: $23.88.
They are my go-to guys for service!
I remember going into my local bike shop because the gears were really *bad* on my bike. Imagine my surprise when they said that the chain was seriously worn and had taken the cassette with it… “But I’ve only had the bike, like, eight months”, I said. “How many miles have you done?”, they asked. And when you start adding it up, I realised I’d done xxxx (=”a lot”) miles in that time, up hill and down dale, as they say. I didn’t begrudge the cost of the new chain and cassette (I never change chainring anyway), because otherwise I’d have to go back in the car.