lethargic_man: Loves cycling, hates bikes

[lethargic_man]

I finally went to the bike shop today to get my derailleur fixed after falling off my bike whilst getting used to my SPDs and putting it out of kilter. Before starting the repair, the guy checks my chain and says it's nearly at the point where it could break, and so I need a new chain and rear gear cassette. I protested I've only had the bike a year, and done 1600 miles on it, and he said that's par for the course (though pointed out the fact I haven't been cleaning it didn't help); modern chains don't last long. I've only ever had to replace one chain before, and have done up to three years on a chain before without problem! (They couldn't replace this for me on the spot; I'll have to book the bike in and leave it overnight.)

After repairing the damage to my derailleur, he looks at my front wheel and asks if I've had an accident with it. Apparently it was wonky. He repairs this for me, then decides to inflate the tyre—and the inner tube rips open next to the valve, the same problem I've been having with my other bike.

Total bill: £25. (I could have protested about paying for the new inner tube, I suppose, but they'd have come back I'm sure and said it would have happened next time I tried to inflate the tyre anyway.)

And then they harangued me, as they do each time, to get my helmet replaced: it's seven years old, and they say helmets should be replaced every two years, as the polystyrene gets degraded by ultraviolet. Apart from a couple of closed helmets for £25, the cheapest open helmets they had were £40, and it worked up from there. They advised me to try helmets on until I found one I am comfortable with, but I am minded to ignore that, and get a £20 helmet (plus £3.50 P&P) mail order from the Edinburgh Cycle Cooperative instead: As I discovered when investigating buying bikes, bikes themselves might not be any cheaper out of London, by and large, but their accessories are.

So, grand total: £25 repairs plus + £23.50 helmet, plus however much a new chain and cassette will be, plus labour for that (unless I choose to follow the example of bluepork and try and do it myself). Whoever said cycling was cheaper than taking the Tube?

Comments

bikes and helmets

[bluepork.livejournal.com]

I've only had one chain snap. That was on the bike I bought when I was at Uni. It was a Raleigh Mustang - a really solidly built mountain bike - which must have been ridden by generations upon generations of students. It was a great bike and a real bargain. Bought it for £20 at the start of Uni. Sold it 3 years later for £10. I only took about 3 trips out of Nottingham on it, but it was on one of those that the chain snapped. I went up the Trent out into the countryside, along the canal path. (Is it still called a canal path if its actually a river). Took about 2 hours to walk home after that. The only other problem I had with the bike was that the crank shaft snapped. The bike really was in amazing condition, given that it was old enough to suffer a broken crankshaft!

Anyway, I just found out about the 2 year fatigue limit of helmets too. I was asking about them in some shops after my recent accident. I only scraped the helmet lightly. It wasn't even hard enough to break the cover, but you can never tell what internal damage has been done. So, I have been meaning to give you a hard time about the disgraceful state of your own helmet ever since, but I thought I'd wait until you got back from Israel first.

Have you been into the Kisharon bicylce shop in Hendon? They're very helpful and intentionally stock cheap stuff. Its a charity shop - the idea being to give employment opportunities to special needs people, but they don't undercut other local shops. However, they do go for the value end of the market, unlike say, Evans. I bought a floor pump for £15. They were going to sell me a helmet for £16 too, but I didn't like it, so I got one in Evans for about £40.

For the record, its got an adjustable headband round the back of it, and it feels much more secure, much more likely to stay on the right part of the head in an accident, than the old one. BTW, make sure that you wear your helmet forward on you head, so your forehead is protected. That's where most head injuries occur.

Re: bikes and helmets

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I've only had one chain snap.

I had one chain snap on my old bike; it was when I was riding away from the bike shop from having another repair done!

Anyway, I just found out about the 2 year fatigue limit of helmets too.

Well, the one time I had to make use of a helmet in anger, it was about seven years old too (I'd got it as a cast-off from Darren in 1996, and I got knocked off my bike in 2001 or 2002), and it functioned perfectly, saving me from almost certainly getting concussed.

Have you been into the Kisharon bicylce shop in Hendon?

Nope. Is that the one on West Hendon Broadway?

BTW, make sure that you wear your helmet forward on you head, so your forehead is protected. That's where most head injuries occur.

Well, the one time I had my head hit the ground, I landed on my back, so it was the back of my head which hit the ground. What about you?