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Repair bike or buy new

Yeah it's just around the corner from home and work, so I'm there pretty much every day. Had lunch there today. I'll be there again tomorrow to chew the fat after an innocuous crash today resulted in stitches!

But yeah, they really look after me, which I am indebted to, and is probably the reason why I've been enjoying riding my bike every day for the last 20 years.

Andy
Sorry to hear about the stitches!
 
If you ride a lot, you should think about going beyond disposable bikes.
+1
Riding my cheap bike a lot has made it an extremely expensive purchase. So has my basic lack of maintenance knowledge and ability.
An expensive bike fell into my hands very cheaply and it has been as durable as hell, despite my best efforts to grind it into the dirt.
 
+1
Riding my cheap bike a lot has made it an extremely expensive purchase. So has my basic lack of maintenance knowledge and ability.
An expensive bike fell into my hands very cheaply and it has been as durable as hell, despite my best efforts to grind it into the dirt.
I remember getting my first proper mountain bike: that thing was a literal tank. In fact, Tank was its nickname. Despite accidents that left me injured, it was completely unfazed. If I had understood bike maintenance better, I could have extended the life of some of its components, but wisdom is wasted on the youth (or whatever that saying was 🙃).

I also like computing how much a bike cost per year or per hour of use. It is actually quite cheap. If you go to look at configurators of nice cars, you can get a really nice bike for many of the option packages.
 
Bike is fine thanks. I got the dressings cleaned this morning and will go back again tomorrow.

No gorey pictures unfortunately. It was a slo mo crash, as I slipped on a farmer's hose pipe while trying to circumnavigate his tractor which was blocking the little gravel path between rice paddies.

Anyway, I used his hose to clean up and it was clear the leg needed stitches.

A day off the bike so I did a few things that I've been meaning to do for a while, including sticking a fender on the back, derusting some bolts, and touch painting some chips.
20210608_141239.jpg

This bike came with 2 colours of touch up paint, which is a nice touch. The only damage to the bike was a little hole to the bartape which can be seen here. Hopefully it stays like that!

Andy
 
@andywood
I'm glad to hear your bike is ok! 😁
(Glad to hear the crash wasn't very serious.)

By the way, how do you like your new bike after riding it for a while? Is the geometry to your liking? What about the Apex 1 groupset?
It's great, a size bigger and with flared handlebars and wider tyres it descends much faster. Comfortable for big rides too. But that is to be expected comparing a gravel bike geometry to a much more aggressive CX geometry.

But yeah, really enjoying riding it.

Apex is okay. I've been using it for over a year.

If I changed groupsets though, I would go for Shimano style two levers. Not that common but I still miss gear occasionally.

The derailleur needs lots of maintenance too, particularly to make it get in and out of the bigger gears. It may run better with a SRAM cassette, which will be my next purchase.

But yeah okay, and I can't really compare it to anything else.

The gravel king 43mm SK tyres are impressive. Though I already trashed one, so am still investigating long term durability.

Cheers, Andy
 
It's great, a size bigger and with flared handlebars and wider tyres it descends much faster. Comfortable for big rides too. But that is to be expected comparing a gravel bike geometry to a much more aggressive CX geometry.
Maybe I missed the discussion, but what make and model is it? I don't recognize the frame.
The derailleur needs lots of maintenance too, particularly to make it get in and out of the bigger gears. It may run better with a SRAM cassette, which will be my next purchase.
It looks as if you are running a 11-46 cassette, right?
 
Maybe I missed the discussion, but what make and model is it? I don't recognize the frame.

It looks as if you are running a 11-46 cassette, right?

It's a Vitus which is coming full circle as that was my first serious road bike now decorating the bike shop car park.

FB_IMG_1623134619636.jpg

Basically got all this, good as new, for 40,000 yen on Yahoo Auction.

FB_IMG_1623134681360.jpg

Gearing is 40 x 11/42 which my mates tell me us cheating.

Andy
 
It's a Vitus which is coming full circle as that was my first serious road bike now decorating the bike shop car park.

View attachment 31617

Basically got all this, good as new, for 40,000 yen on Yahoo Auction.

View attachment 31618

Gearing is 40 x 11/42 which my mates tell me us cheating.

Andy
A Vitus Gear-a-lightus, then? (Or am I dating myself too much with that oyaji gag?)
 
I heard a saying by former cycling pro Amber Malika: I never met a gear I did not like.
Sage advice if you ask me.
Yep, once you go bigger, I doubt you'll go smaller.

When I first started hillclimbs in Japan, 11/23 was the standard cassette. I tweaked my standard 53/39 crank with a 38 Sugino inner chain ring. That was a game changer back then, but now you can really customize your gearing, so an almighty 11/40 plus cassette for offroad can take you so much further.

Cheers, Andy
 

Got it, that was the golden age with the likes of Connors and Bjorg too.

A few years later and I was hooked on Mcenroe. I lapped up anything sports in mid 80s summertime, Saturday afternoon wrestling with Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, darts with Eric Bristow and of course the snooker with Higgins and Davis.

Watched a good movie in recuperation today if you are interested in snooker!?

Andy

 
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