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Bike Manufacturers Are Making Bikes Less Repairable

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207 points LorenDB | 4 comments | 14 Oct 24 19:27 UTC | HN request time: 1.208s | 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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ricardobeat ◴[14 Oct 24 21:20 UTC] No.41842154[source]▶
I.. appreciate the effort but even as an owner of three bikes, and doing maintenance myself most of the time, I barely understand half of this list. I imagine most casual bicycle riders would be in the same boat?

No idea what SHIS, QR, BB, dropper post or flat bar mean. Is this racing bike lingo?

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fire_lake ◴[14 Oct 24 21:41 UTC] No.41842314[source]▶
SHIS is standard headset identification

QR is quick release (as in wheels)

BB is bottom bracket

Dropper post is an MTB thing and so are flat bars!

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1. DidYaWipe ◴[15 Oct 24 07:25 UTC] No.41845831[source]▶
What's "MTB?"
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2. m463 ◴[15 Oct 24 07:46 UTC] No.41845946[source]▶
MTB mountain bike.

mountain bikes have a "flat" handlebar that is mostly straight from end to end.

They also have dropper posts - this basically converts a bicycle seat into an office chair. A handlebar lever you can pull will let the seat move up and down hydraulically and when you release it it stays in that position.

People use it to pedal normally with the seat up, but on tricky trails you can drop the seat down out of your way.

back to handlebars, drop bars are what road bikes have. They are the curled handlebars that look like a C from the side. If you lean forward, you can grab them by the "drops" and aerodynamically pedal harder.

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3. DidYaWipe ◴[15 Oct 24 22:55 UTC] No.41853959[source]▶
Thanks. The presence of the T makes it non-obvious.

I did look up "dropper" posts. Hadn't heard of those before.

I have a Trek 920 that people covet when I ride around. I replaced all the drive components a few years ago, since they were original from the early '90s. After it threw a chain and almost caused me serious injury I noticed hey, there's a bunch of teeth missing from these gears!

I learned a lot doing the overhaul... especially that you need a bunch of bike-specific tools!

I'm pretty sure my old Schwinn Continental is still in my parents' storage space, too...

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4. m463 ◴[16 Oct 24 04:07 UTC] No.41855514{3}[source]▶
I had a bike with the new di2 electronic shifters. It was amazing! you could shift and it would always get it right, even while pedaling!