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Bike Manufacturers Are Making Bikes Less Repairable

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207 points LorenDB | 5 comments | 14 Oct 24 19:27 UTC | HN request time: 0.82s | source
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fire_lake ◴[14 Oct 24 20:48 UTC] No.41841823[source]▶
How to make your life super easy if shopping for a bike:

- 1 1/8 steerer tube, or maybe tapered

- Threadless a-head headset in any common SHIS type. Threaded ones won’t last as long.

- QR or common thru-axle

- Any common BB standard (threadless ones are actually fine but require a well made frame, and you’d be surprised how many expensive frames are not well made)

- Always a round seat post and get 27.2mm if you can. Bigger if you care about dropper posts

- Rim brakes are fine unless you are doing serious off road. If going disc, hydraulics offer great performance for the price.

- Flat bar shifting components are much more interchangeable and better value that drop bar!

- If going drop bar, consider older 2x11 speed mechanical equipment. It’s much cheaper and it was competitive at a pro level not so long ago.

- External cable routing!

- Aluminium is uncool, but it represents a sweet spot in terms of weigh/cost/durability

- Tyre volume, not frame material, is the most important factor in comfort

- Never buy a bike that doesn’t fit you

These tips won’t get you the best bike (in terms of absolute performance) but it will be reliable, easy to fix and good value.

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1. unethical_ban ◴[14 Oct 24 21:20 UTC] No.41842155[source]▶
You know more than I do about bikes. I've assembled one (except for fork/handlebars) myself and have ridden various styles.

My only objection is brakes. If it can fit your budget, mechanical disc is worth the lower maintenance, adjustment, weather resistance over rim brakes. Disc in general have the fringe benefit of being able to swap tire sizes for different purposes.

Hydraulic disc are smoother and somewhat more effective, at the expense of money and ease of maintenance.

replies(1): >>41842621 #
2. kjkjadksj ◴[14 Oct 24 22:12 UTC] No.41842621[source]▶
Rim breaks are pretty maintenance free. I just replaced the pads only thing ive done to them in 5 years with this bike. $15 and 2 mins of work.
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3. unethical_ban ◴[14 Oct 24 22:46 UTC] No.41842982[source]▶
Maybe it's a bias due to my rim bikes being historically lower quality. My rims get out of true more than my discs, and cheap-style rim brakes are harder to adjust to even braking.

I've never owned high quality rim brakes, that could be the issue.

4. AdrianB1 ◴[14 Oct 24 23:55 UTC] No.41843517[source]▶
Check the rims too, when you change the pads there is a chance your rims are very thin and at some point you need to replace it. Not cheap. Mechanical disk brakes are indeed quite good at cost-performance ratio, even if the hydraulic ones are nicer but significantly more expensive.
replies(1): >>41863675 #
5. kjkjadksj ◴[16 Oct 24 20:44 UTC] No.41863675{3}[source]▶
Its a cheap mavic rim I could probably get it second hand built already pretty cheap. Plenty of meat on the rim as there is a wear indicator to make it easy. I don’t think its very common to wear through a rim unless you do nothing but mountain descents for years and years.