bloody bike blathering

BLOODY BIKE BLATHERING


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Last night I stopped by the bike shop with the new bike. The original bolt on the rack had unscrewed and been lost, a replacement bolt had done the same ( and I couldn’t find the right size in the hardware section of Wal-Mart ) and I had put a bent nail in its place which wasn’t making the bike or me too happy but it filled in for a week. And, because one bike shop visit a month isn’t enough, I had to make an appointment for the original bike which had cracked the part holding the pedal ( the crank arm metal itself had broke-something the mechanic had never heard of much to both our amusement- even though the petal itself was fine ). I’m doing my regular Wednesday grocery shopping and on the last one third of a mile stretch the pedal sheered off. I’m glad I didn’t have to push it too far, loaded down with cargo as it was. Now however, I have to come in to work Saturday ( the Boy Scout Food Drive ) with the pedal-less bike. I get to alternate between one pedal pedaling, pushing the bike, and coasting down hills for six miles, then spend the day throwing around heavy boxes of cans, then picking up the bike and dragging my ass home. And if the weather forecast is correct ( they are running about 50% right now ), I get to start out the day at eight degrees and end it with a high below freezing [ Saturday update- I had to pull the one bike in with the other as the shop doesn’t have the part- and the weather was a mild 25 but there was a thick sheet of ice on the road ] . Such are the joys of full time biking. Well worth it, what with double my book buying budget and the lack of stress associated with gas and insurance and registration money. Just trying at times. And to you, a near future reluctant biker, instructive. You can learn from my mistakes.

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Ten years ago, a Wal-Mart bike was $60 and needed replacement about once a year to avoid any major equipment failures. This was the extent of your cost other than the occasional replacement inner tube when some ass whoring bastard staggered home drunk the night before and dropped his glass beer bottle and the shards sliced open your tire. Well, as the supply of petroleum and metal ores has shrunk drastically since then, bike manufactures, and not just those selling to the Marts, have been cutting back on the quality. An American manufactured part is usually rated for about one to two thousand miles ( not something like the frame, but the add-ons ) and if you buy a professional one at five to ten times the cost, it is only good for about five thousand miles. The Mart bikes are about four to five hundred miles away from the pot metal parts failing. Why? Because most Mart bikes never see that kind of mileage. The bean counters have done the math, and only a fraction of one percent of bike buyers are serious about their transportation. The majority are fair weather bikers. The yearly distance is measured in blocks rather than miles. Your average bike purchaser is either replacing the bike because Little Sue got too big for it or replacing it years and years later and so doesn’t see the low quality. This advice is for people not fixing their own like the gearheads, or putting serious miles on the bike. This is for those getting serious about replacing their cars, getting ready to haul their supplies by bike, and going long distances on poorly maintained roads.

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You need to buy yourself an industrial model single speed bike with built in racks ( the frame looks like an X, with the crossbar going out past under the seat ). It seems that huge warehouses had a need your heavy duty bikes. Pepe the parts hauler got an order, hopped on his bike, pedaled way down to the other end of a warehouse, loaded the item on the bike and came back with it ( obviously, a warehouse dealing in single items rather than pallet sized items ). There is a company that builds these things. In fact, the specs were so much better compared to the regular bikes the bike shop sold ( number gauge of spokes on the wheel, spoke metal composition, etc. ) that the owner was happily impressed with what he was reading as he researched my inquiry on returning back to a single speed from my current geared bikes. And the cost is not unreasonable. About $350 after shipping cost. Now, this is far more than the $100 at Wal-Mart, but you will get far, far more than four times the use out of it. But that isn’t the only benefit. There are no rear racks to buy, or rear rack to replace. The rear rack is part of the extended frame. It can’t break! Now, the optional front rack is another $50, true. But let’s take a look at my current cargo hauler. It cost $300, without fenders ( this industrial bike come with built on fenders ). The rear rack cost $50 ( the heavy duty model to hold fifty pounds- the cheap ones are rated for less weight, and I haul fifty pounds of water almost every day ). The front rack would have cost about $30 if I already hadn’t had one ( the mounting rack had broke, so I zip-tied and metal banded it to the bars ). Also, in two years of riding a smidge under three thousand miles a year, I’d gone through two derailers. Add another $40 ( not including labor ). We are up to OVER $400, and the bike and racks are not the same quality as this proposed industrial model.

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You can easily turn a mid quality range bike into a cargo hauler, but don’t expect the thing to go over too many potholes or too many miles before failing. If you are a mechanic, you can skirt around this issue with salvage and alleviating the need for labor. For the rest of us, buy quality the first time and forget about the constant hassle of maintenance.

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