Comment on Murica
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 month agoPeople over-state bicycle maintenance.
$50 and a couple YouTube videos gets you everything you need for the first few years of maintenance. You can get fancy with a bike rack thing, but I never bothered and I’ve been fine.
If you screw up, go to a bike shop and they’ll get you sorted for $50 or so, and they’ll probably teach you how to do it right if you ask nicely. If you have a bike coop, it might be free.
kbotc@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Bike maintenance is a matter of what kind of equipment you’re riding, how far, what conditions, how much you weigh and how strong you are. When I was putting 40 miles a day commuting, my cheap bike needed maintenance about once every 2-4 weeks depending on the weather and taught me that I fucking hate cleaning and repacking my bottom bracket.
The proliferation of Ebike caliber equipment changed a lot at least for durability and comfort.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I have never once touched my bottom bracket, what kind of weather you riding in?
kbotc@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Salted roads during the winter, dusty conditions in the summer. The salted roads when it’s too cold to rinse the bike would usually work its way in and the bearings would be creaking before spring.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Ew.
We only get snow about every other week here, and it’s rarely so cold that I can’t run a hose to rinse it off. I’m glad I haven’t had to deal with that nonsense.