Are bikes like Fiats?

[tyred]

get an engineering workshop to make you up a hub with two flanges of 18 holes on, but that take car wheel bearings.

do let us know how you get on
a. with the weight
b. with the (lack of) efficiency

But it doesn't need to be as large or as heavy as car wheel bearing. It is a question of the materials used and the way in which it is sealed (the sealing would add drag, admittedly). It shouldn't be that expensive either as the rear wheel bearing for a VW Golf costs just £8 in the local motorfactors.

 

[Fiona N]

Why can't a bicycle wheel bearing be designed to last 100,000 miles like a car's is?

I have a fabulous pair of Mavic hubs from about 1985 - about the first generation of hubs which used sealed bearings. I had problems with the bearings coming loose and a bloke in the workshop at the University where I was working suggested replacing them with higher spec bearings from a specialist place down the road. They fit the hubs with a wondrous set of ceramic bearings which never gave a moments' problem - no maintenance, no adjustments in over 60,000 km (at this point the rims were kaput and technology of freewheels had moved on so they now hang on the garage wall in the defunct wheels)

But, as noted elsewhere, the cost of these bearings was almost as much as the hubs cost in the first place

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

Hi to all of you out there,the name Fiat is widely known in the motor trade as the acronym FIAT:-FIX It AGAIN TOMORROW.Cycles and their several parts just like cars,vans etc are only as good as the money,technology & build quality that is at the heart of their development.As a special request to Moodyman,please spill the beans,what is it that has the Gremlin Problem so that others may take heed?.Happy & Safe Riding to You All.

 

[palinurus]

Or, alternatively, "Fix it again, Toni"

 

[Moodyman]

Rooster,

The FIAT acronym varies depending on where you are - 'Fix it Again Ted' or ' Fix it again Tony' - but the message is the same. FIAT cars run fine until something goes wrong, and then you can find yourself in a constant cycle of repair as other faults follow. I've never owned one, but I was just stereotyping.

Re my bike, I don't think there's a particular gremlin with it. It's a mid-range hybrid with reasonable components for the job. I was pointing out that I've been riding it fine for over 3 months, and then my chain snapped. When I replaced it after buying a new chain & chain tool, I noticed the cassette was worn (my failure to spot earlier). So after ordering a new cassette and a chain whip & cassette tool, I broke a spoke because of our poor roads. It just seemed that one thing followed another like a FIAT.

I was trying to understand if I'd been unlucky or if this was a normal course of being a long(er) distance cycle commuter - 120 miles a week.

Until last year I was only a recreational cyclist and would do about a dozen rides a year of around 5-10 miles. Nothing ever went wrong due to the low mileage.

A novice always thinks of a bike as a frame and two wheels. But when you get into cycling more seriously, you learn that there's so many individual parts / components. When you start maintaining your own bike, you find that every part has its own tool.

One of things that bike websites tell you is how much money you can save by bike commuting. But they never tell you the endless time/cost of maintenance.

Still, I'd rather cycle than drive.
.

 

[Kestevan]

well anybody who buys a TREK is asking for trouble

Seems to me that some people like to slag bikes off because

a) They're not Italian
They don't have a poncy name on them
c) They dont (all) cost thousands of pounds.

Doesn't actually matter whether the kit is good bad or indifferent, if it doesn't have the right name and logo then it's crap.

Now obviously I'm not saying Grasen is just such a shallow, brand obsessive, narrow minded tosser; and I'm sure he has perfectly valid reasons for slagging off one of the bigest bike manufacturers there is..... just haven't heard them yet.

 

[Moodyman]

just haven't heard them yet

He probably works for one of the competitors

 

[actonblue]

Moodyman, I do not think that you have been unlucky, your chain's wear in 3 months could have been due to your riding style. You might grind in high gears and this might have lead to "premature" wear. I would not go and beat yourself up about the situation we will all encounter these maintenance cycles from time to time.
If you treat the chain as a consumable then you will be aware that it needs checking for wear. Get yourself a chain guage to check for wear you can pick them up for a fiver and they will give you a fairly good idea of how your chain is.

I have had chains snap on a two week old, bike just a bad gear change

Think of the money you would have spent on other forms of transport for your commute and a cassette a chain and chain whip are a small price to pay.
Even after you have bought the specialist tools I still think you will be quids in.
Most of the regular maitenance jobs gears brakes and some bearing do not require mega expensive tools.

You might find that you will have trouble free cycling for the rest of the year, the winter always takes its toll on your bike.

Cheers.

Colin.

 

[hubgearfreak]

But it doesn't need to be as large or as heavy as car wheel bearing.

you're right, but when designing and making car parts such as brakes and bearings, weight or efficiency are not all that important. i certainly wouldn't want to rid a bike where a large chunk of it's efficiency was lost to extreme longevity, although i have parts on bikes that are decades old and still work fine, perhaps it's the demand for ever lighter components that you're all suffering from?
according to sheldon, a well maintained english 3 speed would outlast us all. they do come with a cost of being a couple of kilos heavier than perhaps the bikes now available, but then there's only a few of us that aren't a kilo or two too much anyhow

 

[tyred]

you're right, but when designing and making car parts such as brakes and bearings, weight or efficiency are not all that important. i certainly wouldn't want to rid a bike where a large chunk of it's efficiency was lost to extreme longevity, although i have parts on bikes that are decades old and still work fine, perhaps it's the demand for ever lighter components that you're all suffering from?
according to sheldon, a well maintained english 3 speed would outlast us all. they do come with a cost of being a couple of kilos heavier than perhaps the bikes now available, but then there's only a few of us that aren't a kilo or two too much anyhow

None of my bikes could be described as lightweight. I couldn't be described as lightweight. The bearing races on my 1951 Rudge show no obvious sign of wear, which is more than can be said for the hubs of my late 1990s MTB. The Rudge was a much higher quality machine and cost more accordingly in it's time but there is another issue here, the Rudge was simply designed to last in a way that very little is today. The hubs and BB have oil ports, make lubrication a walk in the park compared to having to strip them down and re-pack with grease. I like that feature but how many would bother today? I like things that were built to last, even if the majority of people today just want it to last until the marketing men can dream up something else to sell them. I ignore the marketing men as I have no more use for a super lightweight bike than I have for a ridiculously overpriced razor with five blades.

 

[Grasen]

none of the above

I just don't like americans or their bikes (although I do ride a 1992 kona exsplosif to work every day)

 

[actonblue]

Are'nt Kona canadian?

 

[Moodyman]

I just don't like americans or their bikes

Yes Kona orginate from Canada, but they have a big presence in USA. The Explosif is an MTB.

Although MTB has its roots in European Cyclocross, it was the yanks that made it into a global sport in the 70s & 80s. So you've got a lot to thanks the Americans for.

 

[Kestevan]

I'm sure he has perfectly valid reasons for slagging off one of the bigest bike manufacturers there is.....

Once again the CC posters prove me wrong yet again

 

[Grasen]

Oh well I thought Kona was american- I did own a Lynsky litespeed back in the early 1990's, they are american.

I don't care where a bike comes from, but the trek bikes I have had the missfortune to ride did not suit me at all. The geometry was terrible.