I have a hard time believing that 105 will wear significantly faster at a cost-affecting rate at ~2K miles/year. Certainly the comparison with the sorts of components on a cheap, '70s or '80s 10 speed is inapt. (At least, the 105 that I am familiar with which is the stuff from 15 or more years ago; has it gotten hugely worse?) Doubtless with the kind of miles that Jan and some others put on -- as a fellow Albuquerquian rider once said to me, "Nine thousand miles last year -- it was a bad year" -- but for most of us mortals doing 3K miles a year, it's really a non-issue -- especially if you swap out bikes a lot, as many on this list seem to do.
I put thousands of miles on Alvits and Simplex Prestige, not to mention P* O* S* components on Indian made roadsters and sure, they needed more upkeep than the Dura Ace I know, but not *that* much more! FWIW, the old-stock Cyclotourist chainrings I use on my Rivs, which I think were pre-modern-hardened alloy, show almost no wear after thousands of miles; granted, little rain; but much dust. That said, I would have no problem justifying a R Herse crankset for a good bike, just for the looks, bling and low Q, not to mention that it's one of the few reasonably priced cranksets that will give you a wide range double with a sub-33 inner. Compared to Dura Ace, high-end SRAM and Campy, they're cheap and they certainly look better. On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jan Heine <[email protected]> wrote: > > I think a lot depends on how much you ride. 105 parts will be more > expensive than Ultegra in the long run, if you ride more than 2000 > miles a year. Quality components offer better durability and/or > improved performance - for example, a high-end crank with narrower > tread (Q factor) and harder-wearing chainrings will be more enjoyable > and not much more expensive in the long-run than a cheap Sugino crank > with soft chainrings. > > I learned this early-on. My mid-range Peugeot 10-speed ended up being > the most expensive bike I ever owned, per mile. Once I started riding > seriously, it needed repairs and replacements almost weekly. When I > switched to a custom frame with Campagnolo components, which cost > three times as much to buy, my per-mile cost went way down. At the > same time, my enjoyment of cycling went way up. It can be a win-win > situation, once you get over the sticker shock. > > Jan Heine > Editor > Bicycle Quarterly > http://www.bikequarterly.com > > Follow our blog at http://janheine.wordpress.com/ > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > -- "Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you." Flannery O'Connor ------------------------- Patrick Moore, Albuquerque, NM, USA For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW http://resumespecialties.com/index.html ------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
