![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Sunday, July 29th, 2007
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lethargic_man: Loves cycling, hates bikes
Sunday, July 29th, 2007 04:09 pmI 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 ofbluepork and try and do it myself). Whoever said cycling was cheaper than taking the Tube?
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?