Wanting a Low Maintenance Commuter Bike

Hi All,

I've had a GT Nomad Sport (Hybrid) for 3 years. I took it to get fixed, the repair quote was $411!. It basically needs everything bar the gears and frame to be replaced. The bike originally cost $750, and so I've decided to move to a new bike to avoid continued high repair bills.

I'd like your advice on different bikes for the type of riding I'm doing as well as tips to easily maintain my bike to lengthen the life of my bike parts.

Here's the detail:

• I ride 3-4 days a week to and from work
• Distance is 14kms each way
• It involves some hills, not too steep.
• My daily trip involves riding on footpaths, road, and bikeways.
• I weigh a little under 80kgs so most bikes should handle my weight.
• I'm happy to wear a backpack - no panniers required.
  

So far on my current bike I've had to replace my cluster and chain twice and need to do it now for a 3rd time.

I've so far been given the following tips to get a better like out of my parts:

• Better balancing when going over any bumps to balance my weight over both wheels (I already do this).
• Scrub the chain & Cluster with a brush, soap & water every week.
• Lube the chain every week (I already do this).
• Keep the tyre pressure to the correct PSI by inflating every week (I already do this).
  

I'm currently looking for a bike that is between the $900-$1300 mark where I'm not going to look at a small fortune every time I take it in for a service. One bike that looks pretty good is the Giant CRX City. If anyone else has any suggestions, let me know as I'm keen to hear your experience.

Cheers - The Captain

All the suggested tips are good and to add to it I would say ride a singlespeed. They're a little less expensive for the obvious but even still any bike would need the afore mentioned good tips.

I only ever wash my chain when it gets wet. Puddle water splashes into the chain, carrying grit with it. Don't wash it if it doesn't need it, just oil each roller drop by drop and wipe off the excess. That procedure carries minor contamination out of the chain. I guess this doesn't count if you live where it's pretty dusty.

I hope you don't use a hose when you wash. It's supposed to force soapy water where it's not supposed to go & it ruins the grease in your wheel bearings and crank.

Consider a singlespeed conversion for your current bike, anything with 32 or more spokes. Or consider going MTB if you trash a lot of wheels even if you go back to a 1.25" tire, just because the wheels are smaller, wider, and have more spokes. Just find out how wide your current rear wheel is before you buy anything- 130 or 135mm.

Buy a book on bike repair and fix the stuff yourself... or take it to another bike shop. I find it very hard to believe that within 3 years that everything is trashed - unless you had a habit of hitting the bike with a hammer and throwing it down a rocky hill every so often just for the fun of it.

I could see someone trashing the wheels. Were there bad bearings and busted spokes? Maybe cracks around the spoke holes?

Did you smash into something with your derailleur? I had to "go singlespeed" in the middle of an organized century once, because my derailleur snagged something and broke. Barring outright breakage, a soak in solvent followed by a relubing ought to fix them. Maybe you bent the cage and the shop doesn't want to try straightening it so it shifts accurately. It can be a maddening & time consuming job.

Jeez, that bike must have been in pretty sorry shape. Decently cared for, there's no reason for a well ridden, decently cared for derailleur-equipped commuter to cost more that $60 a year for maintenance + parts (tubes as needed; tires, cables, and brake pads every year or two or three).

Whatever. You could spend that $411 on a Trek 7.1 FX, a simple sturdy commuter that you can hang all sorts of stuff on. Or $50-$100 more for a 7.2 or 7.3. Higher gets you less weight and more bling, which I don't recommend at all if you're hard on a bike, which seems to be the case.

They sell wheelsets with Nexus hubs. You could take advantage of the singlespeed craze by having a bike shop convert your existing crank to a single chainring with the correct chainline for the Nexus. They'd be sure to have all the spacers.

You either are very hard on your bike, or you need another estimate.
A decent quality bike will last a long time and require only regular maintenance to keep it in perfect chape.
I would suggest a decent hybrid or a touring bike for the kind of use/abuse you seem to give a bike.
Keep it clean, well oiled and out of the weather.