Boat Bike "tech support"

Tedd · Mar 28, 2022

@John Nantz ,

I was fortunate in that most of my commute to work was on separate trails or bike paths, with not a lot of exposure to traffic. When I did have to ride on streets it was mainly quiet residential streets. That makes a huge difference, as you say.

Regarding cost, while it's certainly cheaper than driving a car, it's not as cheap as some people think it is if you're putting 250 km a week on your bike, as I did. I went through brake pads at a ferocious rate--a set a month. Chains, at 80 bucks apiece, lasted about two months. Cassettes and front sprocket sets once or twice a year, at around 120 bucks for both. I also had a terrible problem with broken spokes when I first started to ride on unpaved trails. (For three or four years my route to work was over half unpaved trail.) Once I got smart and replaced all the spokes with DT Swiss brand that problem mostly went away. But, in the meantime, I spent a lot of money on "cheaper" spokes, and countless hours replacing them. That's another significant addition to cost. I must have averaged at least an hour a week on bike maintenance--probably more. Then there's tires and tubes--I got lots of flats. Although, once again, when I found out about Schwalbe "Marathon Plus" tires my life got a lot better. Prior to that I was replacing an inner tube every two weeks or so, at ten bucks a pop. I think I estimated about six hundred dollars a year in bike maintenance, plus riding clothes, pannier bags, and a few other odds and ends.

I made a big deal about my bike lasting well over 30,000 km but the reality is that the frame, handlebar tube, and crank assembly are the only original parts. (And now I'm replacing the crank assembly!) Every other part of the bike, down to the last nut, as been replaced, many of them multiple times.

jviss · Mar 28, 2022

Tedd said:
@John Nantz ,

I was fortunate in that most of my commute to work was on separate trails or bike paths, with not a lot of exposure to traffic. When I did have to ride on streets it was mainly quiet residential streets. That makes a huge difference, as you say.

Regarding cost, while it's certainly cheaper than driving a car, it's not as cheap as some people think it is if you're putting 250 km a week on your bike, as I did. I went through brake pads at a ferocious rate--a set a month. Chains, at 80 bucks apiece, lasted about two months. Cassettes and front sprocket sets once or twice a year, at around 120 bucks for both. I also had a terrible problem with broken spokes when I first started to ride on unpaved trails. (For three or four years my route to work was over half unpaved trail.) Once I got smart and replaced all the spokes with DT Swiss brand that problem mostly went away. But, in the meantime, I spent a lot of money on "cheaper" spokes, and countless hours replacing them. That's another significant addition to cost. I must have averaged at least an hour a week on bike maintenance--probably more. Then there's tires and tubes--I got lots of flats. Although, once again, when I found out about Schwalbe "Marathon Plus" tires my life got a lot better. Prior to that I was replacing an inner tube every two weeks or so, at ten bucks a pop. I think I estimated about six hundred dollars a year in bike maintenance, plus riding clothes, pannier bags, and a few other odds and ends.

I made a big deal about my bike lasting well over 30,000 km but the reality is that the frame, handlebar tube, and crank assembly are the only original parts. (And now I'm replacing the crank assembly!) Every other part of the bike, down to the last nut, as been replaced, many of them multiple times.

Wow, that's very interesting, thanks!

Boat Bike "tech support"

John Nantz

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Tedd

.

jviss

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John Nantz

.

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