If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

"If it ain't broke, remove it, disasemble it, clean it, and
lubricate it. Inspect for wear and replace worn parts.
Reassemble and reinstall."

Do this as often as your personal safety will permit. A
bicycle needs about as much maintenance as a home built
experimental aircraft. It's a very high performance machine.

Quoted message said:

From: "Callistus Valerius" [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I follow the motto "If it ain't broke, don't fix it",
religiously.

Have you considered conversion to the One True Faith?

Quoted message said:

I escaped injury.

Good. You approached injury by failure to observe
maintenance scheduling.

Quoted message said:

When is it common to start replacing the components, and
how long till the frame folds in on itself?

Well, we had a chain stay crack on a frame once and kept
riding! It was completely sheared! Brazed it back
together twice.

Quoted message said:

I had a 70's Chevy Monza, where almost every part in the
car disintegrated at 100,000 miles. The only thing that
didn't happen was the dash falling in my lap.

Yeah, I had the AMC Pacer. I should have used it to grow
African violets!

My physics project at NVCC: Google Groups, then
"dgoncz" and some of: ultracapacitor bicycle
fluorescent flywheel inverter

4-1-9 Fraud
secretservice.govelectronic evidence.shtmlOpen ↗

( Doug Goncz ) said:

"If it ain't broke, remove it, disasemble it, clean it,
and lubricate it. Inspect for wear and replace worn parts.
Reassemble and reinstall."

Do this as often as your personal safety will permit. A
bicycle needs about as much maintenance as a home built
experimental aircraft. It's a very high performance
machine.

Good grief. I overhaul each bike once a year, which in
some cases amounts to replacing the chain and checking the
brake pads for wear. Then I ride them and don't worry
about it, except for checking for chain wear and fixing
flat tires. I can easily go a few years without having to
do a major overhaul.

If your bike is set up properly, it's low maintenance. If
it's not low maintenance, then you've got the wrong bike for
the type of riding you do.

"Callistus Valerius" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I follow the motto "If it ain't broke, don't fix it",
religiously. It

seems

Quoted message said:

to apply in most aspects of life, especially computers,
but I am doubting it's validity for bikes. When I bought
my bikes new, nothing seemed to happen to them, but after
3-4 years (13,000 miles per bike), parts seem to be
breaking quite frequently. The latest was a seatpost bolt
shearing,

and

Quoted message said:

my saddle falling off during a ride. I escaped injury, as
it seemed to happen in slow motion. Had an ultegra shifter
wear out, also on the same week. When is it common to
start replacing the components, and how long till the
frame folds in on itself?

P.S. I had a 70's Chevy Monza, where almost every part in
the car disintegrated at 100,000 miles. The only
thing that didn't happen was the dash falling in my
lap.

Problems with bikes often manifest themselves with creaks
and other noises. The bike tries to tell you when its tired,
check out new noises straight away. Cleaning a bike by hand
with a rag causes you to closely inspect it and spot
problems before they become disasters.

Elmo responded to Tim:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If your bike is set up properly, it's low maintenance. If
it's not low maintenance, then you've got the wrong bike
for the type of riding you do.

Those of us who ride the same bike every day in the city
beg to differ.

Amen to that, Brother Elmo! My ten-mile daily round-trip
commute through three of our fine city's Zones of Eternal
DeConstruction takes its toll even on my properly set-up
Urban Assault Bicycle.