Repair or replace?

[edb49]

I've got a hybrid bike I use for commuting, bought it about 3-4 years ago for £300. It is a Giant one, I think their equivalent model today is the Giant Sedona LX Gents 2010.

I use it just for getting to and from work, about 14 miles/day, but I drive sometimes... so call it 40 miles/week. Unfortunately it lived the first 2 years of its life outside, because I didn't have a garage (which I do now.)

I have done very little maintenance on it, just adjusting cables, replacing consumables, keeping it oiled and clean. I took it to the local bike shop, and got a bit of a lecture on how it needed maintenance every 6 months for the mileage I was doing, and how basically everything was screwed on it.

They said it needed:
- New rear wheel (spoke has broken, brake pad had worn through to metal so scored the rim, bearing has loads of play)
- Rebuild of brakes
- New chain, sprockets, etc
- New front tyre (I use Aramdillos)
- Something doing to front wheel bearing and bottom bracket bearing

In total the parts came to £190 with £90 labour.

What should I do? I want to have something that is fairly worry-free, and gets me to and from work really quickly. Should I try and fix this one up, or get a new road bike? Any advice appreciated.

[Roman]

Just replace it and stick the old frame & forks with the rest of the decent bits (get more £ than a knackered complete bike) on ebay.

Decathlon:
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/sport-1-54-57-695674...

Raleigh Airlite 200:
http://ukbikesdepot.com/products.php?plid=m16b83s6...

[anonymous-user]

Wheel ok, buy a new one, you can do the rest yourself, plenty of internet tutorials on how to look after your bike, change cables, set up brakes, change cassettes & bottom brackets, save yourself £90.

Get the rest of the bits on line at discounted prices. You'll need a few specialist & new tools but they'll pay for themselves in a couple of years.

Some coverage on topics here

http://bicycletutor.com/

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 15th September 16:00

[edb49]

Yep, I'd do most of the work (maybe all?) myself, but just trying to get my head around whether this bike is going to turn into a moneypit.

[Roman]

I reckon you could do it yourself all for £150 (inc. buying BB tool) but I wouldn't bother spending that on a well used cheap bike (possibly needing other replacement parts before too long). I would if it was a good £500 bike but not when you could get £50 for what's left & put it towards a better complete brand new bike for £270.

£150 to keep what you have or get rid and have a brand new one for very little more..

[anonymous-user]

The frame & forks are likely to be fine, unless you've had serious off's. Unless you want a specific bike for a particular reason, whether that be blingness/other capabilities (MTB) or for getting faster (road bike), then I'd say stick with what you've got.

If you spend £190 now on new parts (probably a lot less if you scour around for best prices). To be honest it looks like you'll basically get 1/2 a new bike for that, It will ride fantastically well, be set-up right, and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

Any new bike will wear out just as quickly if you treat it the same way. If you learn some maintenance skills you be able to keep it going longer and replace components when needed much more cheaply.

So you can either spend £190, learn how to fix it yourself and save in the future.

Spend £280, and then the same again in a few of years when it's flaked out again.

Spend £300+ on a new bike and the same again in a few of years when that one has flaked out.

After all if you now have a garage you might as well get some use out of it.

Edit:- I tend to agree with Roman as well though at £300 your bordering on disposable bike territory. maybe learn some maintenance on this one and get a better bike next time round.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 15th September 16:40

[edb49]

The question is probably boiling down to whether I want to get a road bike. (Because now would be the best time.) Any experiences of switching from a Hybrid to a road? I'm all about going as fast as possible for the minimum effort.

What kind of difference am I going to see switching from my bike (assuming I renewed lots of bits of it) to a £300-ish road bike?

[anonymous-user]

You'll need to double that price to get a road bike worthy of it's name. The cheapest road bike with half decent components and frame/fork will be around £650. Unless your prepared to buy second hand.

Hybrid to road, yep I myself wondered why I ever bothered with a hybrid.

Then brought a MTB to enjoy the other side of cycling as well and use in the winter for commuting.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 15th September 16:53

[edb49]

Forgive my ignorance... but what is the riding difference going to be between a £300 and £650 road bike? Would it be worth getting a second hand road bike, or is it too much of a lottery if you don't know what to look for?

[anonymous-user]

The frame & forks will be heavier and less well made in terms of transition your power into forward motion, or smoothness and shock absorbent properties, Your components will cheaply made and wear out quicker and provide a much worse riding experience either through, touch points, pedals, Bars, Seats and brakes/shifters, or in actual operation when changing gear ratios using brakes, spinning pedals.

Probably all wheel components will have no branding on a £300, so wheel hubs, spokes, rims will be as cheap and rubbish as possible in order to get it to that price point.

If you buy 2nd hand get a trusted bike expert to give you their opinion if not confident yourself.

[roorky]

When I was looking for a bike it struck me that the £300 bikes had the same frames as the £600 bikes and it was the components that made the difference? Am I wrong in thinking that?

I bought a Kona Dew 2009 model and plan on upgrading the parts as and when required. I may be way wrong though, either way the bike I got was fine for me for what I use it for.

[Gazzab]

Bikes have gone up in price over the last 2 or 3 years AND they have reduced the quality/spend of the parts. So I think you will find an equiv bike is £450+ now. so spending £190 is ok in my book. Plus you are saving the planet.

[Roman]

You don't really need to spend £650 to get a 'proper' roadbike. You can get a decent entry level Specialized or Giant for £450*:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/se...

• Edited to add - though ideally I would want to spend £650+ for racing.

The two bikes I recommended have excellent specs for the money, at least as good in terms of quality as your Giant, faster, lighter and are plenty good enough for commuting. The Decathlon weighs around 22lb - obviously the more you spend the faster, lighter & better the quality.

Edited by Roman on Wednesday 15th September 19:15

[shalmaneser]

edb49 said:

Forgive my ignorance... but what is the riding difference going to be between a £300 and £650 road bike? Would it be worth getting a second hand road bike, or is it too much of a lottery if you don't know what to look for?

The difference is massive.

ANY road bike under about £500 is not fit for purpose IMO. If you're quick you can get some of the 2010 bikes before they're all gone.

Buying second hand is great if you know what you're doing. Harder if you don't.

[edb49]

So if I'm going to get a decent road bike, where is the sweet spot price-wise? It seems lots of people are suggesting 600-700 range, I guess this is for a reason?

I assume with spending cash on a bike it is the law of diminishing returns... I don't want to spend masses of money making the bike super-light, only for me to add mud guards, a lock, etc, that negates the point of any weight saving.

Be interested to hear recommendations of what to get and the best place to buy from?

[Roman]

edb49 said:

So if I'm going to get a decent road bike, where is the sweet spot price-wise? It seems lots of people are suggesting 600-700 range, I guess this is for a reason?

I assume with spending cash on a bike it is the law of diminishing returns... I don't want to spend masses of money making the bike super-light, only for me to add mud guards, a lock, etc, that negates the point of any weight saving.

Be interested to hear recommendations of what to get and the best place to buy from?

If you're happy to increase your budget £500-700 is a very competitive price range for manufacturers and you will get a good quality machine. If you're in Berks I would go to Evans Cycles in Reading - you can see a wide range of bikes, get some expert advice and they have a great sale on at the moment on the last 2010 bikes (so be quick!).

This is a good example - Evans 'own brand' Decent ali frame with provision for mudguards, 25c tyres and rack, carbon forks & Tiagra gears for £550:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/senti...

Considered a better frame, cooler brand lower quality groupset (no provision for rack):
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/senti...

Another store in Berks, even better groupset & 'comfort/sportive' geometry
http://www.berkshirebikes.com/products.php?plid=m1...

You really need to set a budget & say what type of riding/routes you want it for

[edb49]

I'm going to set my budget at 600-700 I think. I think my requirements are:

- Exclusively road use
- Want to have kevlar-lined pucture resistant tyres
- Must be able to mount drinks bottle and lock
- May need to add panniers in future, planning to cycle Lands End->Windsor
- I don't want to use toe clips/straps

I'm 6ft and 13.5 stone, so I need a frame that fits my frame too.

[Spleeble]

The only experience I had of bike maintenance was changing brake pads but I’ve recently rebuilt my old Cannondale and in the process of rebuilding my Kona. I have also adjusted a Deore hub and stripped down and rebuilt an old American Classic rear hub including replacing the sealed bearings. I think you should use your old bike as a testing ground for bike maintenance and maybe rebuild it over time. I bet your bike shops estimate of £240 for parts and labour is £140 more than what you could do yourself. When doing my Cannondale, my bike shop quoted me £650 excluding labour for a full Deore groupset, for that price I managed to build the bike with full XT.

[Roman]

edb49 said:

I'm going to set my budget at 600-700 I think. I think my requirements are:

- Exclusively road use
- Want to have kevlar-lined pucture resistant tyres
- Must be able to mount drinks bottle and lock
- May need to add panniers in future, planning to cycle Lands End->Windsor
- I don't want to use toe clips/straps

I'm 6ft and 13.5 stone, so I need a frame that fits my frame too.

The Pinnacle or Secteur Elite I recommended are both good buys then. Your bike will need bosses near the top of the seatstays for mounting a rack (the Cannondale doesn't have these unfortunately).

It may be worth fitting wider kevlar folding 25mm tyres if commuting on poor roads (some bikes come with cheap, heavy non kevlar non folding, narrower 23mm (23mm fine on good roads) tyres as standard).

At 6ft you will probably need either a 56cm frame if the bike has a sloping top tube or possibly 57-59cm if it has a horizontal top tube - best to try for fit if you can.

I'm sure others will be able to provide links to other bargains online but the two I recommended are with retailers local to you (I assume you're in Berks?) so you can actually go and try them.

Trek 1.2/1.5 or Scott Speedster - two the very few roadbikes with provision for a rack:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/15-triple...

http://www.langsettcycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=...

Edited by Roman on Thursday 16th September 12:08

[pincher]

OneDs said:

http://bicycletutor.com/

Nice site - thanks for that. I think it may come in very handy.