I've been using my current bike for
6 years now. If you take my
earlier estimate, that would put the amount of km's on my bike in the ballpark of 14 000 km. Some parts of the bike have certainly been showing their age. I recently took the bike in to be fixed because I had a flat at work. Then they discovered that I had also busted my rear axle.
Again. They said the inside of the wheel was pretty torn up so they recommend I replace the wheel too. So I got that fixed. But then about a month later my tire had a bulge on the side which was rubbing. The tire looked a bit rough and cracked. So I got that replaced too. This time the guy also recommend that I replace the super stretched chain and front and rear gears. I decided to delay that fix.
At what point does it make more sense to just replace the whole bike? Does that ever make sense for a bike with easily changeable parts?
So far what I can remember changing on my bike includes
- rear tire, twice
- rear tube, at least twice
- breaks, at least twice
- seat
- rear wheel
- shifter cable or 2
- probably some break cables
I also need to change the handle grips soon I think. They are worn through in places and when it's hot I get rubber bits on my hands. For good or bad, it being "hot" probably won't happen again for 6 months.
*sigh*
Ah well. As they say,
know thyself. And I know that I'm not gentle on things. If I get a more expensive bike I probably won't keep it in any better repair than my current one. It's probably better to just continuing repair / replace things as needed. I figure that if I keep it under 100 $ / month (!), it will still be cheaper than the bus. And I'll be happier which I figure is worth at least 3 $ / month. So ya.
Aside, searching for info it looks like I started to
bike to work 8 years ago. Good to know.
Other than the 2 bent axles, it seems like standard wear and tear on a bike with 14,000 km. Try to be a little lighter on the back wheel when going over curbs and potholes. If you replace the chain more often (every 1-2 years), you can get more life out of your front and read gears. Although by 14000 km, you likely would have had to replace at least the rear cassette. There's only a couple reasons I can think of to replace the whole bike. These include
ReplyDeleteYou want a different style of bike
Your bike doesn't fit you right, or is uncomfortable
There is so much wrong with your bike that you could buy a new one of equal quality for less than the cost of repairs.
Also, when doing repairs, try to shop around, and try to do as much of the work by yourself as possible. Changing the cassette, chain and crankset, is probably something you could do on your own, and even though it requires specialized tools, they are pretty cheap, and probably cheaper than paying for someone else to do it, even the first time around.
Nice to hear from you! I didn't think that any seggies still read my blog.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say bent axles - broken. Like 2-3 pieces. I try to be careful, but I guess I'm not careful enough. I think because I didn't replace the wheel after I broke the first one it probably contributed to the second one eventually breaking as well.
For a lot of the repairs, it's not that I don't think that I can do it. It's more of the lines that I don't *want* to. It'll take me like 4x as long and it'll usually be at a time when I'd rather be doing something fun with the family.
Years ago I bought a bike stand so that I can easily fix things. I've just not used it much. It's really a skill that I *should* have since I bike so much. It's just that there are so many other things that I'd rather be doing. *sigh*