One thing you can practically guarantee when you ride one or more bikes is that there’s always going to be something broken or on its way out. This is frustrating, although it will give you a chance to practice those maintenance skills, (and your swearing} and give you something to spend your hard-earned cash on.
The best way to go about fixing something is to ignore it for as long as humanly possible. This will ensure that it goes from needing a spot of TLC to requiring you to replace the part. In the case of things like brake pads and chains it also means you give yourself the opportunity to replace more parts of the bike, like the rims and entire drive-chain. In the short-term it does feel like you’re saving money, and that’s what’s important here.
Finally things will get so bad that you’ll have to get your wallet out. The chain will snap and you’ll realise that you can slip your finger between the links, let alone the tool which tells you if it’s worn-out, or the grinding, wobbly noise will seamlessly become a loud bang and snap.
This was brought to my attention as I now have a rear brake on my mountain bike which will lock on when pulled, but refuses to let go. I should have realised something was up when the pistons refused to push back very far as I was fitting new pads recently. Still I figured it would all just work its way out in the end. It hasn’t. It does demonstrate the awesome gripping power of a set of hydraulic brake callipers, but doesn’t provide a particularly friction free-ride.
I could buy the tools to totally service the system, but it turns out that they could be more than a new set of brakes, and I think that six-years’ service isn’t too bad considering the abuse and lack of care I’ve given them.
It gives me a chance to look back over my orders from just one online bike shop and in the last year my tally stands at:
2 singlespeed chains
1 nine-speed cassette
1 bottom bracket
1 middle chainring
1 nine-speed chain
1 slick tyre
Several tools and countless inner tubes and brake pads,
and now 1 rear hydraulic brake system.
In addition to this there are the things I know do really need some attention. A list which includes:
1 suspension fork
1 bottom bracket
1 more tyre
2 saddles
4 grips
and the eternal knotty problem of a seized seatpost.
Who said riding bikes was cheap and worry-free? I will continue to ignore that list, however, and hope that things work themselves out.
A
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