A good utility bike

I seem to wear out my gear train every 18 months. I ride about 6000 miles
per year, and have had to replace the rear cluster, chain, and front gears
after 18 months. It is not the money as much as the process of replacing
which I do myself. The area I live is quite hilly. I use my bike to go
grocery shopping and going to the library, plus riding about another forty
miles per day. Weight is no big deal. Any suggestions for a bike that will
last longer. It seems it is almost as cheap to buy a new bike as it is to
buy the parts.

Thanks

Tom

"Tom or Mary" wrote in message
...
I seem to wear out my gear train every 18 months. I ride about 6000 miles
per year, and have had to replace the rear cluster, chain, and front gears
after 18 months. It is not the money as much as the process of replacing
which I do myself. The area I live is quite hilly. I use my bike to go
grocery shopping and going to the library, plus riding about another forty
miles per day. Weight is no big deal. Any suggestions for a bike that will
last longer. It seems it is almost as cheap to buy a new bike as it is to
buy the parts.

Well, replacing the chain more often, and keeping it scrupulously clean,
will make the other parts last a lot longer. Buy cheap chains via mail order
and replace them when the normal 1"-long link becomes 1/16" longer than
that.

Good bikes all use comparable parts, except that more expensive bikes tend
to use lighter parts that wear out faster. For the kind of utility riding
you do, steel gears are both the cheapest and the longest-lasting.

If this is the only problem you're having with your bike, you don't need a
new one. Read Sheldon Brown's article on drivetrain maintenance at
http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html (and there's a ton of other useful
information there as well, of course).

That said, I personally wouldn't be unhappy to get 9000 miles out of a
cassette. Sprockets generally last a lot longer, though.

RichC

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 14:33:45 -0400, Tom or Mary wrote:


I seem to wear out my gear train every 18 months. I ride about 6000 miles
per year, and have had to replace the rear cluster, chain, and front gears
after 18 months.

You could always get something with hub gears like the Bianchi Milano or
REI Fusion--but that kind of cabbage buys a lot of cassettes.

Get them online and learn to install yourself to save money.

I like Sram cassettes.