repair bike or replace?

zerling deftly scribbled:

Quoted message said:

When do people replace their bikes?

I bought my (cheapish, about £200) Dawes hybrid, 6 years ago. I've done about 6000 miles on it,
and it's OK for commuting about 8 miles daily except that the chainwheel/freewheel/chain now
needs replacing. For reliability, without spending too much, should I spend some money on getting
a new bike; go for secondhand; or start replacing components (I've already had to replace the
bottom bracket).

zerling

Depending on how good the frame is and how much you like the ride it gives, just replace componentry
as it fails .. preferably *just* before it fails .. 😉

My bike, a Dyna-Tech (Raleigh) CroMo comp mountain bike has been great since I got it, around 10 or
more years ago .. The only original part nowadays is the frame .. everything else has been changed
or upgraded as it's broken / worn out / been stolen .. 😉

--
Digweed

zerling said:

When do people replace their bikes?

I don't seem to do that anymore - just replace components instead. There's just frame, forks and
rear brake left from my 1985 Raleigh Royal and nothing whatsoever left from my 1999 Dawes Giro 500
on my road bike....well, no, actually some of it is actually now on the Raleigh!

Quoted message said:

I bought my (cheapish, about £200) Dawes hybrid, 6 years ago. I've done about 6000 miles on it,
and it's OK for commuting about 8 miles daily except that the chainwheel/freewheel/chain now
needs replacing. For reliability, without spending too much, should I spend some money on getting
a new bike; go for secondhand; or start replacing components (I've already had to replace the
bottom bracket).

If that's all that's wrong, it's worth getting new components, IMO - unless you fancy a much
different/better bike anyway.

~PB

zerling said:

When do people replace their bikes?

I like to get a good ten years out of a bike. However, some of mine resemble the philosophers hammer
- 3 new handles and five new heads. Bizarrely, and not uniquely, this stops me buying really
expensive bikes, as the expensive ones seem to be engineered for minimum weight rather than maximum
longevity.

Quoted message said:

I bought my (cheapish, about £200) Dawes hybrid, 6 years ago. I've done about 6000 miles on it,
and it's OK for commuting about 8 miles daily except that the chainwheel/freewheel/chain now
needs replacing. For reliability, without spending too much, should I spend some money on getting
a new bike; go for secondhand; or start replacing components (I've already had to replace the
bottom bracket).

I'd be a bit surprised if the chainwheel needed replacing if this is the first time you are
replacing a chain. You don't say how many gears you have, but if its e.g. 7 speed, then it should be
possible to replace the freewheel and chain for around £25 if you shop around on the web. Thats if
you do the work yourself. It would be worth measuring the chain to see how stretched it is
(instructions at the usual www.sheldonbrown.com), as if it is not too worn, you may not even need to
replace the freewheel. However, that sounds optimistic about its condition given that you seem to
have decided that all of it needs replacing anyway. If you get a local bike shop to do it, it will
most likely cost more, but how much would it need to cost you before you decide you would rather
have a new bike?

Jim Price

zerling said:

When do people replace their bikes?

When their wives don't need a new car ;-)

You can replace components indefinitely on most bikes. We had a "least original bike" thread
recently and my Claud Butler, whose frame, headset and forks are the only original components, was
considered to be almost as supplied by comparison with some :-)

Dawes bikes are usually well built, so the frame could easly last a lifetime. 6000 does sound a bit
soon for a chainring to go, but if the bike is used and the chain is just oiled with ordinary oil
and not cleaned regularly it's not outrageous. How badly worn is the chain? Smetimes a worn chain
makes the rings and sprockets feel as if they are worn even if they aren't. Bike shops are not
always scrupulously honest in diagnosing the extent of replacement necessary, either...

Guy
===
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dynamic DNS permitting)
NOTE: BT Openworld have now blocked port 25 (without notice), so old mail addresses may no longer
work. Apologies.

I have never replaced a bike, I have bought new ones, keeping the old ones and upgraded the old
ones. They all get used except maybe the tourer though I intend to do my E2E next year on it. That
bike was bought in 1987 and has the original frame, seat pin, bars, stem, chainset, chain rings,
brake levers and brakes. All other components were upgraded either because they broke or because I
felt they would not be up to 6 months loaded touring.

The second bike I bought was in 1989 and has the original frame, rear mech., brakes (though
these will be replaced once I get new cables), bars, brake levers, gear levers, hubs. This bike
is a racer.

My newest bike was put together in 1998, it too is a racer but both racers get used, I used them
both today in fact. I got a new one as I wanted a higher specced and lighter bike than the #2 bike.
Maybe that's your answer. I haven't sold any of these bikes because I don't think they'd fetch much
and to be honest having spent so much time on board them I don't really want to part with them.

I did sell my mountain bike because I gave up mountain biking when I parted from the bike too
quickly in the Coed-y-Brenin - that's a different story.

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

Quoted message said:

When do people replace their bikes?

I bought my (cheapish, about £200) Dawes hybrid, 6 years ago. I've done about 6000 miles on it,
and it's OK for commuting about 8 miles daily

except

Quoted message said:

that the chainwheel/freewheel/chain now needs replacing. For reliability, without spending too
much, should I spend some money on getting a new

bike;

Quoted message said:

go for secondhand; or start replacing components (I've already had to replace the bottom bracket).

zerling

I had a similar experience. I had a trusted old Raleigh Criterium that I'd done thousands of miles
on over the years. Then the bottom bracket went. The bikeshopman said, ah! The chainset is stuck
fast, we cannot remove it. At the same time I also needed a new headset, freewheel, back wheel.
Bikeshopman said, it's not worth it, find another bike.

Alas I listened to him. It took about 6 months of farting around with other second hand bikes until
I got hold of a Raleigh Record Sprint 2nd hand bike, which is very similar to the old Raleigh. With
hindsight I should've taken the Raleigh to a workshop and had the bottom bracket axel cut through
rather than get rid of the bike.

If you like the Dawes, and it's a comfy fit, stick with it and replace the parts. In my opinion!

Burton

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

Quoted message said:

When do people replace their bikes?

I bought my (cheapish, about £200) Dawes hybrid, 6 years ago. I've done about 6000 miles on it,
and it's OK for commuting about 8 miles daily

except

Quoted message said:

that the chainwheel/freewheel/chain now needs replacing. For reliability, without spending too
much, should I spend some money on getting a new

bike;

Quoted message said:

go for secondhand; or start replacing components (I've already had to replace the bottom bracket).

zerling

Thanks for replies, the consensus seems to be to repair the bike for as long as the frame
holds together!

zerling

Hi Zerling,

I'm just writing to concur with everyone else's opinion and suggest you keep replacing parts until it just isn't worth it any more.

As far as I can tell a number of people spend a lot more money than they have to on their bikes and discard perfectly good ones merely for the sake of getting something new and/or more aesthetically pleasing to them.

Obviously you should go ahead and change to another bike if it would make you happier but, no matter what you choose to do, you would probably be best off hanging on to the bike you currently have and keeping it roadworthy too.

Sorry I can't be more help. I hope you get many many more miles of cycling enjoyment from your bike.