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Bike advice sought
Saturday, November 26th, 2005 06:26 pmI've written my bike off. It was a twelfth birthday present from my parents, so this is quite upsetting. What happened was my gears jammed, and I tried to unjam them without stopping, and wrenched the derailleur mechanism out of joint, whereupon the entire mechanism locked up completely. So I stopped and tried to wrench the mechanism back into place, and set out again. Rinse, lather and repeat, and the derailleur went into the spokes and was really wrenched out of joint, and this time when I tried to get it back in place, it snapped off completely.
At the bike shop this conveniently happened within a mile of, they said the lug on the frame the derailleur attached to was bent over by 45 degrees, and, even if it didn't snap off if they tried to straighten it, would be weakened and wouldn't be safe. They said I could get them to weld a new part on instead, and quoted me £120 plus £90 labour; but pointed out my bike needed a general servicing anyway - the axle the pedals were mounted on had some give, and the chain was nearly worn out. ("I only bought that from you two or three years ago!" I protested. "That's about par for the course for a bike used for regular commuting," they told me.)
So what do I do? I need to get myself a bike of some form; being bikeless is like being carless for most people: it makes getting anywhere take too long, and in many cases too much hassle to be worth the effort. Fortunately my flatmate has said I can borrow his to tide me over for the meantime. Options that present themselves for a longer-term solution include the following:
Get the bike repaired at that shop. Expensive!
Find somewhere cheaper to get the bike repaired; possibly in Newcastle when I go up in a few weeks.
Buy a new bike there for £400+. (They had bikes for £200 but advised me against them. "Why?" I said. "Well, for a start, they're heavy," they said. "Say no more," I interrupted.) My father thinks that's an exorbitant price, as he paid half that for a bike in Newcastle a few years ago.
Find somewhere cheaper to buy a new bike. (Possibly Newcastle, though if under warranty, that's less good if the shop's in Newcastle and I'm in London.)
Buy a secondhand bike - and take a risk on how long it will last before it falls apart.
Get my dad to part with his old Carlton Corsa dating from the 1960s, which he no longer uses since buying a more middle-age-friendly bike. (This is the bike I used to cycle from Berwick to Newcastle recently.) This is the cheapest option, but suffers from the fact I probably won't be able to get parts for it.
Suggestions, anyone?
At the bike shop this conveniently happened within a mile of, they said the lug on the frame the derailleur attached to was bent over by 45 degrees, and, even if it didn't snap off if they tried to straighten it, would be weakened and wouldn't be safe. They said I could get them to weld a new part on instead, and quoted me £120 plus £90 labour; but pointed out my bike needed a general servicing anyway - the axle the pedals were mounted on had some give, and the chain was nearly worn out. ("I only bought that from you two or three years ago!" I protested. "That's about par for the course for a bike used for regular commuting," they told me.)
So what do I do? I need to get myself a bike of some form; being bikeless is like being carless for most people: it makes getting anywhere take too long, and in many cases too much hassle to be worth the effort. Fortunately my flatmate has said I can borrow his to tide me over for the meantime. Options that present themselves for a longer-term solution include the following:
Get the bike repaired at that shop. Expensive!
Find somewhere cheaper to get the bike repaired; possibly in Newcastle when I go up in a few weeks.
Buy a new bike there for £400+. (They had bikes for £200 but advised me against them. "Why?" I said. "Well, for a start, they're heavy," they said. "Say no more," I interrupted.) My father thinks that's an exorbitant price, as he paid half that for a bike in Newcastle a few years ago.
Find somewhere cheaper to buy a new bike. (Possibly Newcastle, though if under warranty, that's less good if the shop's in Newcastle and I'm in London.)
Buy a secondhand bike - and take a risk on how long it will last before it falls apart.
Get my dad to part with his old Carlton Corsa dating from the 1960s, which he no longer uses since buying a more middle-age-friendly bike. (This is the bike I used to cycle from Berwick to Newcastle recently.) This is the cheapest option, but suffers from the fact I probably won't be able to get parts for it.
Suggestions, anyone?
