Why don't modern bikes need less maintenance?

[fossyant]

Bottom brackets, or more to my point the sealed cartridge has been a revelation. I am not talking about hollow tech or BB30 or the later stuff.

Sealed and they are, until you get play, not failure, but a slight wobble. Great. Two of my bikes are running 15 year old cartridge units, one Ultegra and one Dura Ace, never needed to do more than remove and refit the unit once in a few years. The MTB eats the cheap Shimano UN 5X series BB quite often, but the fixed is on a same series and hasn't even made one go rough in 4 years of daily crap on the roads. That is amazing. Cheap BB, under loads from a fixed chainset and the bearings haven't got play. Super smooth.

 

[Psycolist]

Why dont modern bikes need less maitanance ? Simples, no one has told the muck that times have moved on

 

[al78]

When I mentioned this to a Dutch colleague, he wasn't surprised, but pointed out that they'd have been Executive, expensive bikes. It's enough to own a prestige car in the Netherlands. But it'd be stupid to drive it into town. Stilstaand verkeer is a phrase you hear a lot on traffic reports.

Interesting that even though such a high proportion of them ride bikes for transport, they still suffer from regular traffic congestion.