New bike, or not new bike. That is the question...

mfdc

My commuter is dying, slowly but surely. Braze-ons have become threaded over time, the frame is wearing down where panniers have been hitting it, my crappy riding is taking it's toll. It's the bike I started back into cycling with, a hybrid with disc brakes that's done me about 22,000km at this point. I've had to replace most of it in that time, but it's still truckin.

For the last year or so though I've just not been feelin it. Occasionally on a windy day I take the road bike in to work and it's so much more pleasant to ride it's unbelievable. I've thought about getting another road bike for commuting and winter training, but have held back because hey... I have a commuter and it works.

Well, it worked - the winter and snow cycling took a heavy heavy toll and my maintenance wasn't the best. The casualties so far: front der, bottom bracket, and just now I've discovered that the brakes are shot and the pannier rack is never coming off again. By my count there's now 1 braze on in the rear triangle that is not threaded.

So here I am, 150 euro to replace the brakes and front der and keep the old warhorse going until it finally craps out, or I could pick up the parts for a road bike for about 900. At some point something is going to break on this bike and it's just not going to be worth repairing, and I'm wondering if this is that point.

I'm torn here, so I wanna know what you guys would do. For reference, the bike is a Kona Dew Plus, and I'd be replacing it with a Planet X Team Alu frame built up with Apex and some stuff I've lying around (road bike is a PX Titanium w/ the same geometry, reason I've picked out the Team Alu). I'm sure most of us started on a bike that we wouldn't even think of buying now - how long did you stick with it before moving on to something better? If you were me, would you keep the old bike on the road or move on to a new one?

ccull123

what sort of distance is it daily?

TinyExplosions

If you have to ask, you need a new one!

Keep the old though

mfdc

Daily it's doing 34km, and for training too add some extra on the weekend over the winter.

I'd have to keep the old one cos the snow tyres won't fit on any road bike Should be able to cobble together one functional brake for the snow...

lennymc

how small are you?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=64960

would it be worth it for the parts?

mfdc

Not that small, current bike is a 54cm. Getting another hybrid for spare parts is the same problem though - buy new parts to keep old bike going, or buy new bike.

thebouldwhacker

There is only one reason you posted here and that is so you can express your guilt about wanting to buy a new bike. There are very few here who will say not to buy a new one, if you can afford it (bike to work scheme?) then buy a new one, (or at least a very very nice second hand one) the distance your doing you deserve it!!

MagicMarker

Am I missing something? Why not just use your road bike?

doozerie

If you hate using the bike then replacing it seems like the best bet. But if it's just certain things about it that bother you then an alternative is to pare the bike back to something functional but requiring less maintenance and you may also find that it becomes more fun to use as a result.

In my case my 20-year old road bike became my commute bike several years back, and it was a good ride still. But I quickly got tired of various parts of it wearing out both due to daily use in all weathers and due to my laziness in properly maintaining a commute bike. I found myself in a similar situation to yourself but as I had my MTB as a commute option too I couldn't really justify spending money on a new commute bike. I opted to convert the existing "worn out" bike to a singlespeed/fixie. Thankfully the brakes were still fine so no money was needed there and I obviously eliminated the need to replace the derailleurs and gear levers. The only expense was a new rear wheel and I saved money there by just buying a flip-flop hub and spokes and building my own with an existing rum. Some fixed gear/single speed parts are ridiculously overpriced (e.g. shorter chainring bolts) but the overall cost of doing the conversion was low enough. It made the bike more fun to use too so it gave it a new lease of life. Might be an option to consider, if your commute route is suited to a single gear.

doozerie

MagicMarker wrote: »

Am I missing something? Why not just use your road bike?

For me the main reasons would be to minimise wear and tear on your "good" bike. Commuting, by its nature, usually means riding in all kinds of weather day in day out, and unless you are willing to put time into cleaning and servicing the bike every week it can take a hefty toll on your bike parts (which, if it is your "good" bike, may well be more expensive to replace than a regular commuter). It also puts your good bike at greater risk of being stolen too.

Not everyone has the luxury of having more than one bike, of course, but if you do then there are real benefits of leaving your good bike exclusively for leisure rides, training, and/or racing.

mfdc

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

There is only one reason you posted here and that is so you can express your guilt about wanting to buy a new bike.

You're right, that's exactly it. I want a new bike, but I know I don't really need it. I mean, the sensible thing to do is just fix this up and keep it going until the frame cracks or the hubs freeze up, something really catastrophic. Thanks for that, given me a bit of perspective

doozerie wrote:

If you hate using the bike then replacing it seems like the best bet. But if it's just certain things about it that bother you then an alternative is to pare the bike back to something functional but requiring less maintenance and you may also find that it becomes more fun to use as a result.

This is actually what I was trying to do when I gave up and wrote this post Decided to remove the rack and carry stuff in a backpack to make the bike lighter and faster, then discovered that the rack is stuck in place!

doozerie wrote:

For me the main reasons would be to minimise wear and tear on your "good" bike.

This is my reasoning for having a seperate bike. In the time I've had this commuter I've had to replace pretty much everything outside the frameset, seatpost, stem, saddle and bars due to wear and tear of daily mileage. Doing that on the road bike would be damn expensive.

thebouldwhacker

You sound like your a cyclist so probably know other cyclists and so know that its pretty common to have multiple bikes, I would say the majority of people here have 2 decent bikes (actually probably 3), hell I have 3 in my apt not to mind the 2 others I had to relocate else where due to space issues!!
Damn I think I might have a bike problem...
But enough about me!
Buy yourself a decent commuter and enjoy your cycling, or even better, turn your road bike into your commuter and get yourself a really good road bike!!!!
If you are feeling bad check out first the "images of beauty" thread and then the "I should have left my credit card at home" thread.... go forth and purchase!