Rebuild or buy new?

Howdy all - I have a 10-year-old Rocky Mountain Metro 50. My LBS tells me my drive train is shot (I've put a lot of miles on it). To install a new drive train will cost $400. The bike when new cost under $700. Should I put the money into it or go for a new bike? Not that it matters all that much but I'm considering a Specialized Crosstail Elite disc or Cirrus Elite Disc. Thanks for the advice.

 

If those are the bikes you are considering then by all means get the new bikes. The disc brakes alone will put you into a new world. What's more, for $400 the ENTIRE drive train would have to be destroyed or be of so few speeds that they cannot buy spare parts any more and would be forced to replace the entire drive train.

 

Consider how far bikes have gone in the last ten years, plus putting 400 into a drive train I would certainly consider getting a new one. But you also have to consider other factors. What kind of riding do you do. Would a new drive train make the bike last you another 10years? Are there other serviceable parts that are nearing their expiry? Like I said, I'd go for a new bike but it's not always that simple.

 

I absolutely to not agree with this. In the lasts 10 years the highest priced bikes and parts have gotten lighter but they have no more performance in the hands of an everyday rider than the older steel framed high end bikes.

And while a Pro can go faster on them they wear out so rapidly that it's embarrassing. Ultra-light wheelsets break within a year of buying them so that many of the top flight wheel makers have increased the weight of their wheels and in some cases the spoke counts as well. Equipment manufacturers are not getting so embarrassed by the number of speeds on the back that they are now saying this is for single front sprockets when a good 53/42 shifted perfectly when properly adjusted. After 8 speeds there was no improvement in ratios for anyone but pro racers. Joe Schmuck riding 10 and 11 speeds is pretending. And the chains, cassettes and everything else wears way faster.

The ONLY reason to buy news equipment is because it is difficult to obtain repair parts for older equipment and a good 8 speed cassette will cost you more than a new 11 speed.

 

Rebuild or buy a new bike? That is a difficult question. It depends on the problems you have with your old bike. I have a back tire problem with my bike because the back tire is bigger then it needs to be. I had to change it a couple years ago because somebody stole my back tire. So, I recommend that you repair your old bike unless it cost too much. Then, you need to just buy another bike at Goodwill.

 

Ten years of relative neglect hits hard. And chance are, any bike you buy at Goodwill will need a couple hundred dollars of work anyway. If you need to pay for your maintenance or you can't get serviceable used parts, donate this one, buy a new one, and resolve to have a shop look at it once a year to replace the consumables--rubber, cables, chains, and cassettes--and make adjustments.

Every year I work on a dozen or so 25+ year-old trail bikes and hybrids, mostly by Schwinn (Boulder era), Trek, and Specialized. Regular maintenance keeps them rolling along.