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Repair bike or buy new

Yep, once you go bigger, I doubt you'll go smaller.
Absolutely. I can only imagine what it is like for people who are fit but not as fit as we are. I climbed some smaller hills last weekend on a Z2 ride (about 230~240 W max). So I had to keep my power in check. I needed to lower my cadence to ~55 rpm on some bits to stay well below FTP, and my lowest gear was 42:30 = 1.17. If my FTP were lower, I'd definitely opt for even easier gearing, I think even what is available now is way too hard for many/most.
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.
That sounds like torture for my knee joints. I am used to some grinding during mountain biking, but the gear equivalent to 39:23 = 1.70 = 42:25 is in the middle of my current cassette. Although I have seen some old timers on hill climbs with a "standard" crankset. I couldn't see their gearing, but they were surely grinding away.
 
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


Vitas was around the time of Connors and Borg. He came to Oz when a lot of the good players wouldn't and was a household name as the heyday of Australian tennis drew to a close.
Darts is a sport I could get into! Jockey Wilson! Yes, Hurricane Higgins and Steve Davis. Remember them from Pot Black, where the Aussies had Eddie Charlton.
Sorry....threadjacked.
 
Vitas was around the time of Connors and Borg. He came to Oz when a lot of the good players wouldn't and was a household name as the heyday of Australian tennis drew to a close.
Darts is a sport I could get into! Jockey Wilson! Yes, Hurricane Higgins and Steve Davis. Remember them from Pot Black, where the Aussies had Eddie Charlton.
Sorry....threadjacked.
Aye. Darts was worth following when Sid 'tangible tungsten tension' Waddell was on commentary duty

 
That snooker thing was a good laugh, a bit cartoon-y, but fun all the same. The Barry Hearn wide boy was very good. The actual snooker world before the 1970s TV explosion was also very cartoon-y, but in a "The Hustler" type big-bets-in-smoky-halls kind of way. That's where the real Alex Higgins was molded.

Higgins famously pissed into one of the plant pots behind the table, they get shown on the main camera angle on tv, so I was pleased there was a nod to that incident. Snooker matches on tv go on and on for hours, so rather than the pop music and fast cutting, I think this movie could have done with some of those silent shots of nothing exciting, some actual snooker would have worked, to set the scene like in "The Office". "The Office" is full of shots of photocopiers and people quietly typing into computers, and it really gives you the feeling of how dull office life is, in between the bursts of stuff that is actually entertaining.

Darts exploded at the same time, and with Eric Bristow, Jocky Wilson, John Lowe, Bobby George, Keith Deller etc. had a similar cast of characters, again many of whom had been shaped by pubs and working men's clubs.
 
Sounds like you need a new drive chain, ie. crankset, chain and cassette.

In terms of cost, it depends what quality of parts you want and if you want to do it yourself or not?

For Shimano, a quick search on amazon shows that chains are 5,000 yen. The cheapest crank sets are 3000 to 4000 yen. The cheapest cassettes are also in that price range.

Asahi is just a bike shop chain. If you fit the parts yourself, probably about 13,000 yen. If you go to a local bike shop, and order those cheap parts plus labour, maybe 17,000 to 20,000 yen?

Andy
Update: don't know if Asahi Cycle were pulling my p.sser but bike shop 2 say they can do the necessary work for 10k. all in.
I'm glad I asked you pros about this.
 
All this talk of Jocky Wilson reminded me of when Dexy's Midnight Runners played their seminal hit 「Jackie Wilson Said」 on Top of the Pops with a giant photo close up of Jocky Wilson!

This thread, like a good pop song, or a good bike ride, has many twists and turns!

Andy

 
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.

My first bike had a 52/40 crank. At the rear I had a five speed 14-32 freewheel, so that 40T wasn't actually too bad. It makes the low gear not much harder than a 34-28. In those days I took it for granted that the only way to go up a steep slope was to stand on the pedals and pull hard against the handlebars. I once broke a spoke on it trying to pedal up a 14 percent incline with 10 kg of luggage in my panniers. Nowadays I'd get off and walk! :)

My first bike in Japan was a cheap MTB. Every component on it was junk but it was a triple with gears so low, the front wheel would lift up on steep climbs so I never worried about any hill. When I moved to Tokyo, I gave it away to a friend but the one thing I learnt from it was that low gears are great. If you're a mere mortal, there's no reason not to have them.
 
All this talk of Jocky Wilson reminded me of when Dexy's Midnight Runners played their seminal hit 「Jackie Wilson Said」 on Top of the Pops with a giant photo close up of Jocky Wilson!

This thread, like a good pop song, or a good bike ride, has many twists and turns!

Andy


This epic final between Jocky and the crafty cockney had its twists & turns too!

 
Jocky on the oche! He's done a Jericho job - brought the walls down!

IN ONE! It's quick, it's slick, it's a meal in a tick! It's a microwave oven.
IN TWO! Snookered? You won't be with this six foot by three Pot Black snooker table....
I used to have a Bendy Bully, it was a present from my brother, but it all disintegrated when my eldest played with it. It looks like you can still get them on Ebay.
 
This epic final between Jocky and the crafty cockney had its twists & turns too!


Now THAT is the epitome of sport! Gripping stuff...and quaffing on lagers in between throws.
I reckon Jocky probably would've down all right on downhill bike races, too, had he tried them.
 
I remember the Keith Deller final the most. Spring-loaded darts!

He's now famous for calling the Royal Family reptilians and saying that the coronavirus vaccine and 5G will fry your brain, or whatever it is he comes out with, but once upon a time he was just a mild-mannered ex-goalkeeper who presented the snooker on the telly. Here he is, far left.

EVrBuQhX0AIyfaS.jpg
 

Update: just got my LG mtb back from bike shop no.2. It's now all ship shape and Bristol fashion, talk about not getting ripped off, parts (chain/crank set ¥3,410 & ¥5,346, labour cost was ¥1,650). I don't know what Asahi Cycle were thinking wanting 30k minimum.
 
Very unlikely only drivetrain needs replacement. I am guessing some mechanics/shops won't touch your bike without ensuring they make it completely safe (tyres/grease/cables/pads/torque check etc), i.e. not just fixing the issue that the customer has identified.
 
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