Gorra bike!

[Vortex]

I have at last bought a bike!

It's a folding model, so I can fit it in the boot of my A4.

I had forgotten how much fun cycling was .. or how scary trucks are!

It's only 5 minutes by bike to my office ... almost the same as getting the car out and then parking it at the other end. For some mad reason I had though it would be 10 minutes or more ...

Maybe I'll get fit this Summer too!

[creeping elm]

Hi, I got myself one of these about a year ago, you buy various bits for about ?400 which installs a frame onto the rear of eg an old steel-framed mountain bike, moves the back wheel back a foot and will carry up to 90kg in weight. It has 2 versatile side pockets which will take a bag of sand each and you can get extension racks for wide loads, also with a stand-off bar for carrying eg long lumber which is thus kept away from the pedals. I carried 3 bags of sand on it back from B&Q last w/e, though you wouldn't get a weight like that up any hills.

I often think about cycling and peak oil, and I intend to stock up on parts while they're still quite cheap. The problem could be tyres and tubes as they are perishable, but as far as other components go:

bottom bracket, about ?15, last 3-5 years of fairly heavy use.
wheels, about 10 years, ?60+ per set
chain and rear block - 1.5 years, ?30
chainrings, front and rear derailleurs - 5 years+ though can fail unexpectedly - ?75+
pedals - as long as the cranks - ?20
tyres/tubes - 1 year depending on luck, ?20+ per set
headset - at least 10 years, ?10+ ?

Tools:
allen keys and screwdrivers
spanners inc large adustable for headset or 2x headset spanners, pedal spanner (15mm)
track pump (floor-mounted)
bottom bracket and crank extractors
13mm socket for crank bolts essential, pref a whole set

So it wouldn't cost the earth to get replacement stuff stockpiled, it won't be any cheaper than now. Cheap MTBs are ubiquitous but most of the components on them are reasonably good and cheap, ie not frame and wheels. And steel is far preferable to aluminium for durability.

Also, it's great whizzing along roads on fast bikes with thin tyres but in the future the state of the roads would deteriorate if there weren't cars sending any debris out into the verges, so the MTB type with chunky tyres would be the best option, while enjoying the others as long as possible - I ride recumbents, and have a folder too.

[Billhook]

Creeping elm -

welcome to the forum !

Especially with so practical a first post.


One point worth posting, on the offchance that you've not come across it,

is that rubber can be protected from perishing for many years

by coating it with vaseline (every couple of years)

and keeping it in the dark - maybe wrapped in bin bags ?

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Bill

[Andy Hunt]

Going to get my mountainbike serviced when I have a few ?s spare, that's one of the tasks on my PO preps list.

A puncture repair kit might be a better investment than keeping inner tubes and coating them with vaseline. The latter could be a good option if you have somewhere to store them, but in a small house like mine it sounds a bit messy.

[mikepepler]

Going to get my mountainbike serviced...

Don't pay someone to do it. Spend the money on any tools you need and get a knowledgeable friend to show how how to check/adjust gears, brakes and bearings and do any required lubrication. It's pretty simple. (apologies if this was what you were intending to do anyway!)

On the subject of punctures, has anyone tried latex inner tubes, or puncture resistant tyres?

[Adam1]

On the subject of punctures, has anyone tried latex inner tubes, or puncture resistant tyres?

Kevlar tyres are your friends. I had my first puncture in 10 years a few months ago. I was a regular cyclist (30 - 35 miles a week on average) until a few months ago. Before Kevlar, I had punctures quite frequently.

[Andy Hunt]

Going to get my mountainbike serviced...

Don't pay someone to do it. Spend the money on any tools you need and get a knowledgeable friend to show how how to check/adjust gears, brakes and bearings and do any required lubrication. It's pretty simple. (apologies if this was what you were intending to do anyway!)

I wasn't actually, thanks for the good advice Mike. My dad used to be a keen cyclist, I will ask him how to do it and he can show me.

Sometimes the best solutions are the most obvious ones, eh.

[MacG]

One point worth posting, on the offchance that you've not come across it, is that rubber can be protected from perishing for many years by coating it with vaseline (every couple of years)

Uhu? Stock up on rubber and Vaseline? This is turning a bit more nasty than I expected...

[sentiententity]

On the subject of punctures, has anyone tried latex inner tubes, or puncture resistant tyres?

Latex tubes have bigger pores in them than butyl ones, so they go down very quickly-you have to pump them up before every ride. Their only advantage is that they are lighter, which is really only important if you race.

If you pump your tyres up hard and use decent slick tyres (don't need to worry about tread on a bike if you ride mainly on the road), you shouldn't be too much plagued by punctures.

s.

[creeping elm]

Thanks Bill, and for the tip on coating with vaseline. In fact I was asking this exact same question on another forum and nobody came up with this suggestion, 10 years was cited as being the maximum shelf life, with inner tubes a lot less.

I don't think there's any good solution to avoiding punctures, except what sentient says. In fact cyclists tend to avoid using the dread word as it may invoke a visit from the "fairy" that doles out unwonted deflations on the least deserving victim.

Is it Kevlar, Adam, I used to get a puncture every 2 weeks or so 15 years ago, but now they are rare occurrences, touchwood, even when I commuted into the centre of Brum.

Bikes aren't hard to maintain, once you know the ins and outs of your particular model it doesn' t take much to make routine adjustments and clean the drive train, I was reading how a local cycling facilitator paid a local bike shop to replace all his cables, it's dead easy, and changes need to be 'monitored' as they bed in so better to do it yourself.