On Wed, 2013-01-23 at 07:33 -0800, Jan Heine wrote: > > I find that with fewer bikes, it's easier to keep them in top shape. > For many years, I raced and trained 12,000 miles a year and had a > single bike, without ever missing a ride or race due to the bike not > being rideable.
I recently had a bottom bracket spindle break on my George Longstaff Audax. It took 10 days for the LBS to get the part and replace it. I crashed. I walked away from it, and aside from the broken spindle, the only damage was a slightly bent front derailleur that no longer shifted well; getting that fixed only blew a day and a half. But bikes often do get damaged in crashes, and sometimes in ways that can't be fixed with a simple tweak (like a bent derailleur hanger). Forks bend. Sometimes frames crack (I know a few people who have had to replace carbon frames because they cracked when they fell over with two full water bottles) and have to be replaced. If I had to replace the fork on the Longstaff (assuming I could actually even do that, the builder having been dead since 2003) it would take months. Frame replacements can weeks, if it's a broken Cannondale or Trek, or maybe years if it's something like Jan's Rene Herse. Back in 2012, on the Longstaff, I discovered a cracked rear rim (Mavic MA3) on Aug 13. I had the wheel rebuilt with an Open Pro at the LBS. The new wheel was delivered Sept. 13. Almost all that time was obtaining the rim, which was out of stock for about 3 weeks; the rest of the time was the build itself. Also in 2012, I had a cracked rear rim (this time, a Velocity Synergy). Velocity replaced the rim and rebuilt the wheel under warranty. Bike (this time, the MAP) was out of service from Feb 24 - March 2. Besides extended deadlines waiting for parts or frame repairs, there's another type of failure that Jan might not encounter. If you commute to work and have to be there at a given time (yes, flex time is wonderful but not everybody has flexible working hours) or if you are driving 30-90 minutes to the start of a club ride, finding the bike you intended to ride with a flat tire first thing in the morning could be a major problem. While it can be a 10 minute job to fix a flat, it can also sometimes turn into a 30 minute job. After all, you first have to find what caused the flat, and sometimes that's not so easy to do (especially if you're far sighted). And 30 minutes' late start on a 60 minute drive to a ride start is almost certainly going to mean you'll miss the ride start. Maybe not a problem if you're fast (like Jan) and also have the cue sheets, GPS data, etc., in advance (as is typical of a brevet;) but for an ordinary bike club ride, where you only get the cue sheet when you sign in, showing up late often means you miss the ride completely. It's awfully nice in that event to have another bike you can grab, that's ready to go except that it might need a few pounds of air in the tires and a swap of gear into a different bike bag. That's a 3 minute job, and it means you won't be late for work and won't have to take annual leave and get a scolding from a supervisor, or won't miss the ride. -- 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]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
