Bike vs car repair expense.

My commuting bike, a Trek 1400 has gone through the following items in the
last 4 years of year round commuting.

4 sets of tyres (now Bonty Hard Case), 3 sets of wheel sets (now Bonty
Racelight Aero), a bottom bracket, a headset, 3 sets of brake calipers (now
SRAM Force - fantastic brakes), 4 chains (Now Wipperman), 5 sets of brake
cables, 4 sets of gear cables and two sets of STI shifters.

In contrast the Fondriest I use in dry weather has Chorus on it and in 4
years has had.

One set of tyres. That's all.

Last week the Trek had both gear cables break again wrecking an STI lever in
the process, so it is in the bike shop, whose owner rang me at work and said
the repair would be very expensive.

To which I told him about this!

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zbill.jpg


--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/

On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 13:58:17 +0000, Simon Mason wrote:
Last week the Trek had both gear cables break again wrecking an STI
lever in the process, so it is in the bike shop, whose owner rang me at
work and said the repair would be very expensive.

I've found I've needed lots of repairs on my Allez.

1 x Inner Tube - £12
1 x Gear Service - £40
1 x Chain - £12
1 x Chain repair - £2
1 x Brake repair - £10
2 x Brake pads - £12

My car has had very little in repairs

1 x MOT - £40
1 x Thermostat - £220

But those repairs were much more expensive.

I think bikes require a lot more maintenance but thankfully it's cheap
when compared with cars.

"Simon Mason" wrote in message
. uk...
My commuting bike, a Trek 1400 has gone through the following items in the
last 4 years of year round commuting.

4 sets of tyres (now Bonty Hard Case), 3 sets of wheel sets (now Bonty
Racelight Aero), a bottom bracket, a headset, 3 sets of brake calipers
(now SRAM Force - fantastic brakes), 4 chains (Now Wipperman), 5 sets of
brake cables, 4 sets of gear cables and two sets of STI shifters.

In contrast the Fondriest I use in dry weather has Chorus on it and in 4
years has had.

One set of tyres. That's all.

Last week the Trek had both gear cables break again wrecking an STI lever
in the process, so it is in the bike shop, whose owner rang me at work and
said the repair would be very expensive.

To which I told him about this!

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zbill.jpg





Holy smoke on a bicycle!

You can buy a new car for £6000.

Simon Mason wrote:
My commuting bike, a Trek 1400 has gone through the following items in
the last 4 years of year round commuting.

4 sets of tyres (now Bonty Hard Case), 3 sets of wheel sets (now Bonty
Racelight Aero), a bottom bracket, a headset, 3 sets of brake calipers
(now SRAM Force - fantastic brakes), 4 chains (Now Wipperman), 5 sets of
brake cables, 4 sets of gear cables and two sets of STI shifters.

In contrast the Fondriest I use in dry weather has Chorus on it and in 4
years has had.

One set of tyres. That's all.

Last week the Trek had both gear cables break again wrecking an STI
lever in the process, so it is in the bike shop, whose owner rang me at
work and said the repair would be very expensive.

To which I told him about this!

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zbill.jpg

I used to agonise about the cost of Gortex jackets until I realised
they were the price of a tank of petrol. Bikes are relatively
expensive for what they are, I really must work out the pence/kilomtre
cost one day, but I don't keep cost records

"Light of Aria" wrote in message
...

"Simon Mason" wrote in message
. uk...
My commuting bike, a Trek 1400 has gone through the following items in
the last 4 years of year round commuting.

4 sets of tyres (now Bonty Hard Case), 3 sets of wheel sets (now Bonty
Racelight Aero), a bottom bracket, a headset, 3 sets of brake calipers
(now SRAM Force - fantastic brakes), 4 chains (Now Wipperman), 5 sets of
brake cables, 4 sets of gear cables and two sets of STI shifters.

In contrast the Fondriest I use in dry weather has Chorus on it and in 4
years has had.

One set of tyres. That's all.

Last week the Trek had both gear cables break again wrecking an STI lever
in the process, so it is in the bike shop, whose owner rang me at work
and said the repair would be very expensive.

To which I told him about this!

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zbill.jpg





Holy smoke on a bicycle!

You can buy a new car for £6000.


I am driving to Romania, Moldova and Ukraine in May and would NOT go in a
new car. It would be trashed in no time on their roads, so I'm going in this
one which is worth only scrap value.


--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/

"Tosspot" wrote in message
...

...Bikes are relatively expensive for what they are, I really
must work
out the pence/kilomtre cost one day...

My employer will pay a bicycle mileage rate of 12p/mile. Car
users get extra if they share, and take a passenger on official
business. If I were to use a tandem, I wouldn't get any extra :-)

--
MatSav

On Sat, 7 Mar 2009, Simon Mason wrote:

My commuting bike, a Trek 1400 has gone through the following items in the
last 4 years of year round commuting.

4 sets of tyres (now Bonty Hard Case), 3 sets of wheel sets (now Bonty
Racelight Aero), a bottom bracket, a headset, 3 sets of brake calipers (now
SRAM Force - fantastic brakes), 4 chains (Now Wipperman), 5 sets of brake
cables, 4 sets of gear cables and two sets of STI shifters.

Interesting. I was cleaning my bike (a couple of years old and also used
for year-round commuting and other travel around town) just earlier, and
have noticed a lot of things which are starting to look a bit knackered; i
was wondering if this was a sign of my poor maintenance, or just normal
wear and tear. Specifically, the rims are looking rather worn, the front
mech is looking very dirty and rusty, and some gear cables are a bit
rusty. I didn't look at the brake cables, and i have V-brakes, so there
aren't any calipers to look at (and there doesn't seem to be anything
wrong with what there is). But all in all, it sounds like my rate of
destruction is not too different to yours, which is heartening.

The rims probably just need replacing, which i'm not looking forward to,
as i'll either have to learn how to rebuild a wheel, or pay someone else
to do it.

The front mech really annoys me, though. Front mechs go right where the
largest amount of crap gets delivered by the front wheel, but they've got
more fiddly worky bits than any other component on the bike (except the
chain), and are a bugger to clean (there are plenty of crevices you can't
reach even with a toothbrush). Hence, their getting filthy and rusty seems
almost unavoidable. I have once before had it off altogether, in order to
soak it in degreaser and clean it all over really thoroughly, but getting
it back on and adjusted properly is a pain, so i don't want to have to do
that regularly. Hmph.

To which I told him about this!

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zbill.jpg

When i was little, i somehow decided MOT stood for "motor okayance test".

tom

--
There is no violence or enmity in the LEGO universe until you, the
builder, decide what to build with the pieces. -- Pyrogenic

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
th.li...


http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zbill.jpg

When i was little, i somehow decided MOT stood for "motor okayance test".


At least I saved 40 quid in VAT and I don't need a GB sticker now as the new
number plates have one on them. :-/


--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/

On 2009-03-07, Tom Anderson wrote:
On Sat, 7 Mar 2009, Simon Mason wrote:

My commuting bike, a Trek 1400 has gone through the following items in the
last 4 years of year round commuting.

4 sets of tyres (now Bonty Hard Case), 3 sets of wheel sets (now Bonty
Racelight Aero), a bottom bracket, a headset, 3 sets of brake calipers (now
SRAM Force - fantastic brakes), 4 chains (Now Wipperman), 5 sets of brake
cables, 4 sets of gear cables and two sets of STI shifters.

Interesting. I was cleaning my bike (a couple of years old and also used
for year-round commuting and other travel around town) just earlier, and
have noticed a lot of things which are starting to look a bit knackered; i
was wondering if this was a sign of my poor maintenance, or just normal
wear and tear. Specifically, the rims are looking rather worn,

That's normal wear and tear, although cleaning the mud off them from
time to time might help.

the front mech is looking very dirty and rusty, and some gear cables
are a bit rusty.

Get stainless cables next time. The cheap ones always rust and break,
there's not much you can do about it. A stainless one is only a couple
of quid more and worth it.

I didn't look at the brake cables, and i have V-brakes, so there
aren't any calipers to look at (and there doesn't seem to be anything
wrong with what there is). But all in all, it sounds like my rate of
destruction is not too different to yours, which is heartening.

The rims probably just need replacing, which i'm not looking forward to,
as i'll either have to learn how to rebuild a wheel, or pay someone else
to do it.

Or just buy complete wheels. How knackered are the hubs? Building them
is fun though and not that hard. Follow Sheldon Brown's instructions on
his website.

The front mech really annoys me, though. Front mechs go right where the
largest amount of crap gets delivered by the front wheel, but they've got
more fiddly worky bits than any other component on the bike (except the
chain), and are a bugger to clean (there are plenty of crevices you can't
reach even with a toothbrush). Hence, their getting filthy and rusty seems
almost unavoidable.

The good ones aren't made of such rustable stuff.

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
th.li...

The front mech really annoys me, though. Front mechs go right where the
largest amount of crap gets delivered by the front wheel, but they've got
more fiddly worky bits than any other component on the bike (except the
chain)

Rear mech beats front mech surely?