(no subject)

[bessie_smith]

I have to replace my Trek. Not tomorrow or next week but today. Looking at it this morning (this morning as in after I was on the road and I look down at the front derailleur to see why it didn't want to shift gears), I notice a very big crack in the frame, on the seat tube, at the bottom bracket, that actually got quite a bit bigger between the time I discovered it and the time I got to work. Yay. This crack wasn't there the last time I had the bike serviced, about 3 weeks ago, and I didn't see it a couple of weekends ago when I was cleaning it off and checking the gears. But, it's there now and if it keeps getting bigger at this rate, it will completely seperate the post from the bracket very, very soon.

The bike is in it's sixth year and I was planning to replace it after this year. It has outlasted the bike it replaced by a year, through that previous bike did survive 2 car accidents and never had any frame damage or cracking.

I would be more pissed about this, but it does mean I get to go shopping.

Comments

[lrc.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in hearing what you end up getting. With all your problems with potholes and keeping the wheels true, do ask the folks in the shop about suspension. I was always skeptical of suspension until I got my mountain bike with a front suspension and on anything but smooth pavement, it's a lot more comfortable than my roadbikes (or my comfybike).

I spent a big chunk of yesterday fixing the brakes on my roadbike, then when I went for a testride, I discovered that the chain was too short. The combination of a bigger low gear and having pulled links out of the chain when it broke the other day made it too short. I know that I shouldn't be doing extreme combinations of big and big, or small and small sprockets, but I tried to shift into one of the "middle" gears while in the big sprocket up front and things just bound up. This chain will just barely work on the full range. If I go to the big-big extreme, it just barely fits, if I go small-small it just barely has tension.

At least bikes are a lot cheaper to "hotrod" than are cars.

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

Well, I really did like my Trek hybrid and would probably look to get another one. Most of the new ones have front suspension now, though it was primariliy the back wheel that always needed to be realigned. I browsed the Trek online catalog and I saw a few bikes in my price range I like, but I'll know what's what when I get to the shop and see what they have. Gee, I wonder if they'll give me another discount like they did when I bought my last bike.

Of course I could always go for one of those sweet full suspension mountain bikes, except I can't afford one.

[lrc.livejournal.com]

Of course I could always go for one of those sweet full suspension mountain bikes, except I can't afford one.

If you need help, I'm an expert at justifying buying things you want but can't really afford:

The price of gas is so high now, that you're saving even more money by riding a bike, you have more that you aren't spending on gas that you can spend on a bike.

If bike with full suspension will get the wheels bent half as often/half as bad, then the money you save by not having to get the wheels trued will pay for the cost of a more expensive bike.

If it would make you happier to have a nicer bike, you're worth it.

I can come up with more if you need.

Some things to ask about when shopping:
Heavier duty rims and spokes. If it's the rear wheel that gets bent, ask about a tandem wheel for the back of a hybrid.

Bicycling season is ending, you might be able to get some good end of year/end of season deals.

You might also be able to do some pre-shopping. Performance seems to be a good balance of big company resources and local shops doing the selling: http://www.performancebike.com/

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

That was a bit of a joke. I hardly need a full suspension bike. A hybrid more than serves my wants/needs.

If you need help, I'm an expert at justifying buying things you want but can't really afford

Except when I say I can't afford one, I really can't afford one. I don't have the cash and I'm not going to buy a bike where the most affordable models are in the low 4 figures on credit when I'm trying to pay my cards down. Anyway, I already save on gas because I bike everywhere; even the more affordable hybrid models will be a nicer bike than the one I'm retiring, so I'll be happier with it regardless; getting the tires realigned is cheap at my local shop cuz I get a break on services because I'm a long time customer, so there's not much saving there to apply to a significantly more expensive bike; over the life of my current bike, I haven't spent so much on wheel alignments that it would add up to the cost of a pricey full suspension mountain bike.

That was an okay try, though.

Thanks for the link. I've ordered stuff from them online.