Operating cost per mile???



My initial thought was to include everything that wears out and has to be replaced to continue using the bike, i.e. tires, chain, saddle, etc. etc. but not the bike itself since that can't be known until the end of it's lifespan.
 
LDB said:
My initial thought was to include everything that wears out and has to be replaced to continue using the bike, i.e. tires, chain, saddle, etc. etc. but not the bike itself since that can't be known until the end of it's lifespan.

My patience with drivers sometimes wears out. Should I count that?
 
GT Fanatic said:
Operating cost per mile for me is approximately $10, because every time I climb a hill the chain starts slipping on the cassette, then I have to drive it to the shop nearly 1 hour away. Other than that, my bicycle costs me $0 per mile.

uh, gee, think maybe you should fix it?
 
vspa said:
cycling is second only to a bird flying as efficiency in mouvement (scientifically) i read once. I guess the bird only accounts for it's food expenses

Some birds eat 7 times their body weight everyday in order to keep up the energy required for flight. That many Powerbars would cost a fortune! :p
 
frenchyge said:
Some birds eat 7 times their body weight everyday in order to keep up the energy required for flight. That many Powerbars would cost a fortune! :p

Christ! Eating 1225 lbs of food a day would not only bankrupt me, it'd also leave me feeling bloated and gassy.
 
Froze said:
uh, gee, think maybe you should fix it?

On a 1.5 month old bicycle, no. I'm going to fight with the bike shop until they do it. They claim 100% guarantee or they'll take a return. I'll return the bike and walk out with another one.
 
GT Fanatic said:
On a 1.5 month old bicycle, no. I'm going to fight with the bike shop until they do it. They claim 100% guarantee or they'll take a return. I'll return the bike and walk out with another one.

Chain slipping like that on a new bike and they can't get it to behave? I would suspect either the spec'd chain or cassette is incorrect-a mismatch, which they should have been able to discover; or a frame alignment problem and their either not knowledgeable to figure that out or they don't want you to know!
 
Froze said:
Chain slipping like that on a new bike and they can't get it to behave? I would suspect either the spec'd chain or cassette is incorrect-a mismatch, which they should have been able to discover; or a frame alignment problem and their either not knowledgeable to figure that out or they don't want you to know!

Doubtful it's a frame alignment issue, as there aren't any welds (carbon fiber). It only seems to have issues in center gears in the cassette. If it continues, I'm going to request a new cassette or have a talk with the store manager about it. If I don't get anywhere with that, I'll be calling their customer service center. I'm getting tired of screwing off with this **** on a $2000 bike.
 
GT Fanatic said:
Doubtful it's a frame alignment issue, as there aren't any welds (carbon fiber). It only seems to have issues in center gears in the cassette. If it continues, I'm going to request a new cassette or have a talk with the store manager about it. If I don't get anywhere with that, I'll be calling their customer service center. I'm getting tired of screwing off with this **** on a $2000 bike.

A chain skipping problem is an easy fix if the frame is not out of alignment, and LBS should be able to figure it out.

Loose cable tension is an easy fix. All they do is put your bike in a repair stand, shift to the smallest cog. Turn the barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur one-half turn clockwise. Then, as they rotate the pedals, shift once. If the chain doesn't jump to the next cog, make another half-turn. If the chain starts to jump two cogs for every one shift, then they went too far. Back it down a half-turn. It's a basic adjustment.

The only other thing you could be dealing with is the dish of the wheels, usually the rear.

But just because it's not a metal base frame doesn't mean the frame is in alignment. It's still made in a mode or jig that if not checked could lead to an alignment problem. A high production factory will have a chance this can happen since they don't check the alignment of their jigs as much as a smaller factory, and the lower the cost of the CF bike the more it's produced in high volume the more this could happen. Also if the bike is made with aluminum lugs (bonded process) this could happen. If your bike is painted, look carefully, a magnifying glass works well for this, at all the joints, particularly at the bottom bracket area, which takes most of the stress. If you see any type of crack in the paint, it is cause for alarm

The only other thing you could be dealing with is the dish of the wheels, usually the rear.

Read the second to last paragraph: Titanium vs. Carbon | Fit Werx: Road Bike and Triathlon Bike Fitting Specialists
 
I'm sorry, but it appears you have a poor LBS. The mechanic is supposed to test ride the new bike after set up, and not deliver it to the customer until it's right. This problem can be dangerous, and they could be liable for selling you a defective bike if you fell off and got hurt when the chain slips.

You shouldn't have to fix this yourself. Next time you go back to the LBS, ride the bike on the parking lot for the mechanic and make it skip so he can see what's going on. Then, don't take the bike home with you until you test ride it again and it's fixed.....make the shop do their job or replace the bike.
 
dhk2 said:
I'm sorry, but it appears you have a poor LBS. The mechanic is supposed to test ride the new bike after set up, and not deliver it to the customer until it's right. This problem can be dangerous, and they could be liable for selling you a defective bike if you fell off and got hurt when the chain slips.

You shouldn't have to fix this yourself. Next time you go back to the LBS, ride the bike on the parking lot for the mechanic and make it skip so he can see what's going on. Then, don't take the bike home with you until you test ride it again and it's fixed.....make the shop do their job or replace the bike.

Well then I have about 5 poor local bike shops, and some of which aren't so local.

It's impossible to get the bicycle to skip gears when the land is flat. I've even tried simulating hills by squeezing the brakes and pounding; no dice. :confused:

I'm calling Performance Bicycle's customer service department at 10am (9 minutes) and discussing this with them, but I've contacted them before, which was useless.

I have probably spent nearly $150-$200 in gas driving back and forth all over the place because of this issue, and probably put about 800 unnecessary miles on my car. :mad: They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and I am not 100% satisfied. I am satisfied overall with the bicycle of my choice, what I'm not satisfied with are these operational f-ups. :mad:

There's no excuse for this on a bicycle that retails for $2000.
 
Froze said:
A chain skipping problem is an easy fix if the frame is not out of alignment, and LBS should be able to figure it out.

Loose cable tension is an easy fix. All they do is put your bike in a repair stand, shift to the smallest cog. Turn the barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur one-half turn clockwise. Then, as they rotate the pedals, shift once. If the chain doesn't jump to the next cog, make another half-turn. If the chain starts to jump two cogs for every one shift, then they went too far. Back it down a half-turn. It's a basic adjustment.

The only other thing you could be dealing with is the dish of the wheels, usually the rear.

But just because it's not a metal base frame doesn't mean the frame is in alignment. It's still made in a mode or jig that if not checked could lead to an alignment problem. A high production factory will have a chance this can happen since they don't check the alignment of their jigs as much as a smaller factory, and the lower the cost of the CF bike the more it's produced in high volume the more this could happen. Also if the bike is made with aluminum lugs (bonded process) this could happen. If your bike is painted, look carefully, a magnifying glass works well for this, at all the joints, particularly at the bottom bracket area, which takes most of the stress. If you see any type of crack in the paint, it is cause for alarm

The only other thing you could be dealing with is the dish of the wheels, usually the rear.

Read the second to last paragraph: Titanium vs. Carbon | Fit Werx: Road Bike and Triathlon Bike Fitting Specialists

Thanks for the tips, Froze. I agree that if this is a cable issue, it should be an easy fix. The bicycle is painted, and I did look for cracks in the paint; I found none.

I keep thinking this is a cassette issue because it only happens in middle gears, not the end gears on either end. If the 1st chainring works right, the 2nd screws up in the middle gears. if the 2nd chainring works right, the 1st screws up in the middle gears. :confused:
 
I consume one Clif Powershot every 20 miles. That's about $0.12 per mile.

I consider the upfront cost of purchasing the bike a one-time fixed cost and choose not to include it in the equation.

Plus, thinking about it in this level of detail makes my head hurt. Either way cycling is totally worth the investment.
 
GT Fanatic said:
I keep thinking this is a cassette issue because it only happens in middle gears, not the end gears on either end. If the 1st chainring works right, the 2nd screws up in the middle gears. if the 2nd chainring works right, the 1st screws up in the middle gears. :confused:

Well, this is remaining off topic, but that almost sounds like a mismatch between the shifters and cassette, since it's easy to get the ends working right by messing with the tension and limit screws, but if the size of the cable jumps don't match the cog spacing then there's no way to fix the middle.

You should confirm that the number of indexed points on the shifter matches the number of cogs on the cassette.
 
frenchyge said:
Some birds eat 7 times their body weight everyday in order to keep up the energy required for flight. That many Powerbars would cost a fortune! :p

And you'd **** a lot! :eek:
 
frenchyge;3960871 You should confirm that the number of indexed points on the shifter matches the number of cogs on the cassette.[/QUOTE said:
Interesting thought I overlooked. The indexing barrel-adjuster is suppose to be set to make the indexing align properly with the individual gears, so Frenchie may have a point, something GT needs to tell the LBS in addition to all the other stuff. earlier I wrote about a possible mismatch between the cassette and chain, maybe they put the wrong chain on at the factory?

Otherwise if your problem is the chain pulling itself to the right then the tension in the cable is not excessive enough, the chain will pull itself onto the right sprocket. If the tension in the cable is too high then the chain might rattle somewhere in between the sprockets which it isn't doing, so it would seem the cable is not tensioned enough.

But again all of this for a LBS mechanic is just basic trouble shooting; and if they can't figure it out they can get on the internet to the Park tool site and they have troubleshooting information there.

If you really want them to fix it right, I would take it back and tell them your not satisfied and you want an exchange and you want something in exchange for all the fuel and time you spent going back and forth.

By the way what kind of bike is this GT? Have you checked the internet to see if this is a common problem for this particular year, make, and model? If you find this to be common then by all means get the exchange.
 

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