15,000 miles on lethargic_man's bike: Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum (_after_ cycling)

[lethargic_man]

Reached fifteen thousand miles today since I got my bike:

(Not all of it is on that bike: a few hundred miles are on my father's bike in Newcastle, a few hundred on my clapped out bike in Berlin, and maybe twenty on my spare bike here, but the vast majority is.)

When my old bike died after 7000 miles, and I had lots of problems with the derailleur on it and then on my new bike, I said, "My next bike will have internal gears!" But since then I've realised that, barring accidents and misuse, there's no reason for me to have a next bike: I can continue using this indefinitely, replacing components as they wear out...

Comments

[green_knight]

I'm impressed by your ability to log the data.

My first bike had internal gears, and I was highly impressed by the quality of the rear brake - you could *really* brake with it. My second had the full 21 gears, and I used very few of them, and found the whole experience cumbersome and not overly useful. My next one was a hand-me-down with one functioning gear (the highest - I never managed to tighten the cables enough to access the others). Internal gears don't seem to be an option when buying bikes in this country, but I've got hopes that my current bike will last me a long, long time.

[lethargic_man]

I'm impressed by your ability to log the data.

My mileometer is a CGI-bin script on my PC at work; I have a daily reminder to fill it in. It has a checkbox for if I've cycled to work (the distance of which is known), and a form entry for any extra mileage I've done. I know the distances to common destinations (Tesco, Brent Cross, my brother's), and GMaps Pedometer tells me the rest.

My second had the full 21 gears, and I used very few of them, and found the whole experience cumbersome and not overly useful.

You had multiple range wheels, though, I bet. My old bike had ten gears split over two ranges, which was a faff; my current one only eight gears, but on a single range wheel, which is a vast improvement (as are modern clicky thumbshifters: no more trying to gauge distances by dead reckoning).

My next one was a hand-me-down with one functioning gear (the highest - I never managed to tighten the cables enough to access the others).

I bet you lived somewhere without significant hills there, though! (I was stuck in a single gear during the last days of my last bike; it was doable but going up Kensal Rise on my way home from work was a right pain.)

Internal gears don't seem to be an option when buying bikes in this country

I don't think that's true. Try asking/searching for "Sturmey Archer" instead of "internal gears".

[green_knight]

I bet you lived somewhere without significant hills there, though!

Mostly, yes, and I ended up walking up the rest. (Today, I cycled up several that I didn't think I'd be able to master at all - amazing what a difference a light frame + good gears makes.)

Try asking/searching for "Sturmey Archer" instead of "internal gears".

I haven't come across them when I was looking, and now it's too late...

In Germany, Fichtel & Sachs is everywhere - that *was* the cheap option and multiple gears the expensive one. Here, it seems to be the other way round.

According to Google maps, I cycled seven miles today. Not a bad start.