to repair or buy new?

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jazzkat

Fixed wheel fanatic.
Since buying my lovely new road bike last summer the old (10+ years?) trek mountain bike has become the winter hack. It's had some real hammer and still goes great guns, but its tired - it needs new wheels (breaking surfaces totally worn out), cables, brake blocks, saddle, both mechs (indexing's dodgy but it is the original rear mech:ohmy: I'm assuming the shifters don't wear too much), the headsets ok, but getting notchy and tyres. The forks are shot too, but would probably be ok. Now this bike has done at least eight to ten miles every day in rain sun snow etc, etc for the last ten+ years, as well as longer weekend miles. So I've had my moneys worth. I replaced the bottom bracket bearing, cranks, chainrings, cassette (9sp) and chain last summer to get me through the winter (having just bought the nice shiny new one). But probably will need new chain/cassette in the not too distant future.

Should I spend on all the bits to repair old faithful? Or would it be more financially sensible to buy a new bike (spesh rockhopper about £400) and have new everything? Albeit to be slowly worn out through the next ten+ winters? :sad:
If I could afford it I'd probably buy a cheaper road bike for winter, but they seem much more expensive.

Before you answer I know its easy to spend other peoples money:biggrin: but I do feel in a quandry here. I hate waste, but new bikes are so much cheaper than the sum of their parts.

So, what do you think?
 

RecordAceFromNew

Swinging Member
Location
West London
Sticking with your spirit of hating waste, and I am probably just stating the obvious here, comparing to building up with new components, what is even better value than a new bike is a lightly used secondhand bike.

Provided that you are confident in assessing the condition of used bikes for sale, on ebay e.g. you can typically pick them up at a third (and sometimes less) of the price when new.

The secret is take your time, be choosy, only search for nearby ones (using Advanced search), and not to rush into it.

If you live in a big city where numerous bikes come up all the time, you can even narrow down your search to only ones with buy-it-now prices, then you don't even need to bear the uncertainty of waiting and bidding against others.
 

palinurus

Velo, boulot, dodo
Location
Watford
jazzkat said:
it needs new wheels (breaking surfaces totally worn out), cables, brake blocks, saddle, both mechs (indexing's dodgy but it is the original rear mech:ohmy: I'm assuming the shifters don't wear too much), the headsets ok, but getting notchy and tyres. The forks are shot too, but would probably be ok.?

A good set of wheels are nice to have, these may cost a bit though (if it's for the winter hack you could consider getting a dynohub built into the front)

Cables and outers don't cost much

Saddle- depends on what you like but can be from a few pounds to quite a bit.

Brake blocks need doing regularly anyway, similarly tyres. New bikes often come with tyres you don't like and need replacing shortly after.

Mechs don't necessarily cost much either, scour eBay for bargains (I sorted out an old Marin MTB recently, I got an Alivio rear mech quite cheap, fine for the job in hand)

Headset- last time I had one done at the LBS it wasn't that expensive.

Forks? they can cost a bit I imagine.
 
OP
OP
jazzkat

jazzkat

Fixed wheel fanatic.
Thanks for the replies.

I know individually the bits aren't so expensive, its just that all together it comes to a fair old cost. The ebay idea is a good one, but I live in the wilderness a good way from any major town/city and I would be pretty lucky to find anything very local. I will have a look.

I could easily spend £200 (new wheels @£100 a pair, saddle @£25,front mech@£25, rear mech@ £50) prices from wiggle and that would not even touch the consumable stuff such as cables, tyres, headset, chain etc etc. For £400 I could have this
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/hardrock-sport-disc-2010-mountain-bike-ec019399
all new and probably miles better than my old trek 7500:smile:
I am trying hard not to just convince myself a new bike is the way to go but looking at the facts its hard not to be swayed.:becool:
 
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