On Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 7:50:18 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-01-16 19:28, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, January 16, 2017 at 4:23:53 PM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-01-16 13:39, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Monday, January 16, 2017 at 2:39:18 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, January 16, 2017 at 11:03:05 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-01-16 10:43, David Scheidt wrote:
Joerg wrote:

:Yup. Standard bicycle tubes are usually junk. Would you accept
it if you :had to pump up the tires of your car every two
weeks? Yet most cyclists :think this is "normal".

Automotive tires have a much lower ratio of surface area to
volume than bike tires. They're also run a lower pressure, for
the most part.


Truck tires are often operated around 50psi or higher. Like my
MTB tires are.

A truck tire weights as a much as TWO UCI minimum race bikes -- or
one DH bike. Now throw in the rim. You have peculiar expectations
for bicycles. You're theoretically perfect bike would weigh about
250lbs.

-- Jay Beattie.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. What Joerg's wants in a
bicycle are would be met by a 250cc dirt-motorcycle converted to
pedal power and the engine removed.

I find it astounding that so many others who ride in very harsh
conditions do NOT have the breakages or other problems that Joerg
does.


According to several bicycle shop owners they do. Many said that two
factors allowed them to survive as a business:

1. Mountain bikers breaking stuff all the time.

2. Department store bike buyers who needed help and found that the store
that sold their bikes was less than helpful.

Unlike cars, which never need to be fixed, and that's why there are no auto repair shops. http://tinyurl.com/jba5fgb


Care to compare the number of vehicles plus the miles traveled? Maybe
then it becomes more clear. Cars are way more reliable than bicycles.
Especially if you buy top quality cars like we did. Other than regular
scheduled maintenance there were no breakdowns in the whole two decades
we own them. None, as in zero. Not even one flat tire. Try that with a
bicycle.

I just spent $1,200 on a clutch because my dopey son lives in a city with 20% grades up to stop lights. That does not include the motel bill and towing when the clutch went belly-up outside of Baker City. That was after new rear drums, bearings, etc., etc. I've stupidly re-bought that car -- not including gas and oil changes.

An F-1 patch costs me $.08. A decent bike is $1K, and I don't pay insurance, registration, licensing, etc.

What I pay in car insurance annually would buy me an all new bike every year. Skip cleaning the chain -- just put last year's bike out with the garbage. Plus, my bikes are reliable. I reliably change the chain when the wear indicator indicates and change the tires when they are worn out. I fix a flat now and then and do other routine maintenance. It's not like some monumental inconvenience, and if flats were epidemic, then I would switch to a hard-case tire. I would not agonize over the fact that the 20lb tire on my Subaru goes flat less often.

That is not to say that bike tires are not ridiculously expensive. I do have issues with the cost of certain bike-related things.

-- Jay Beattie.