Cheap reliable bike advice sought

[davebrien]

I bought a £350 Trek hybrid bike secondhand for £70 in the expected condition for that price. It rides okay, but will only go into about 3 gears. I am told that I need to spend £150 to change the cables, brakes, chain and a few other things to bring it up to speed. The bike shop guy says that this is normal for about a years' use.

I am unsure if it is worth it - the 3 gears are sufficient for me and I wanted something cheap.

Does the above sound accurate? I am considering selling it and buying something else, possibly a single speed - whatever will be robust, reasonably priced and require little shop time.

Any advice and suggestions as to what to do are welcome! I intend on averaging prob 10 km per week.

 

[Ravenz]

...sounds like you picked up a bit of an unloved basket case - probably being too harsh there.. yup maintenance costs and bike care does add up financially.. not as much as keeping a car on the road tho!!

I think people on here will say that you get what you pay for etc etc .. the bike however doesnt sound reliable which is something you do want? Maybe take a hit and offload this one and look for something better cherished?

 

[Ravenz]

6 miles a week? best off walking or get a bmx

gets a better bike.. might get to like it and stay on for another 6 miles ...

 

[swee'pea99]

I bought a £350 Trek hybrid bike secondhand for £70 in the expected condition for that price. It rides okay, but will only go into about 3 gears. I am told that I need to spend £150 to change the cables, brakes, chain and a few other things to bring it up to speed. The bike shop guy says that this is normal for about a years' use.

I am unsure if it is worth it - the 3 gears are sufficient for me and I wanted something cheap.

Does the above sound accurate?

Sounds like a heap of horseshit to me, pardon my French. I'd do two things if I were you: first, get a second opinion; second, get a little botle of 3-in-1 from Woolies, check out bicycletutor.com and have a poke around.

Do things like running oil down the cables and where the cables go round your bottom bracket; 'change gear' while looking at the actual gear mech and dribble some oil into any pivot points you can see. Don't even think about paying 150 'normal for a year's use' pounds - that's complete tosh. I doubt I spend much more than a tenth of that, and I ride 75 miles a week pretty much every week of the year.

 

[jack the lad]

Buy a bike maintenance book and learn how to fix it yourself.

Work out why you only get 3 gears. It might only need an adjustment. If not, change the completely knackered parts first and get everything working OK. Then change other bits as you need to. This will spread the cost.

Assuming you've got a few basic tools - spanners, pliers, adjustables, screwdrivers etc. You don't need many special tools to work on a bike. A set of Allen keys is essential and for work on the gear train you'll need a chain splitter and a cassette/freewheel remover (£5-10 each).

This will cost you less than a bike shop, not only do you save their labour charge but you won't be ripped off for stuff you don't need.

Bike maintenance is pretty easy to learn, can be done on the kitchen table, helps you to understand how your bike works and, in my opinion, its good fun spending time getting everything working like clockwork. Once you are reasonably confident you can start personalising your bike - make it fit better, look better, more fit for purpose.

You'll be so proud of yourself that it will soon be 100km a week and then 1000!

 

[PpPete]

I am told that I need to spend £150 to change the cables, brakes, chain and a few other things to bring it up to speed. The bike shop guy says that this is normal for about a years' use.

Doesn't matter how many miles you ride - there is no reason not to have it all in working order.

£150 sounds like a lot of money though. I'd have said £20 tops for cables (inners & outers, less if only changing inners) £10 for chain, brakes - depends what you need, but probably £50 max to replace whole system and that sould not be necessary after just a year.

My advice would be to find a LBS with better rates - or learn to do what's necessary yourself. There is plenty of free help & advice to be had in this forum ! just take it one step at a time and you will get there, with the extra satisfaction of having learnt a new skill.

 

[davebrien]

Firstly thanks all for the advice. And I will be checking out the bike tutor site and getting a bit of oil / grease. Glad to hear that £150 p.a. is over the top.

For this happy fellow:

6 miles a week? best off walking or get a bmx

My estimate of 10km/week is an average since over the past 3 months I usually ride about 16kms to work and back 2-3 times a week, and then give it a miss for a week or two if its raining hard etc. So perhaps adjust your rather strange attitude there chief.

 

[swee'pea99]

Don't bother with grease - you only need that when you're meddling with bearings, and you don't want to be doing that just yet. Seriously, all you need right now is a quid's worth of 3-in-1 and this amiable Canadian.

 

[4F]

If you would have mentioned this in your post, I would have.

Lee,
wind your neck in and get back to to the rlj thread.

Davebrien
The bicycle tutor website is an excellent site and I heave learnt lots from it and reckon that you could do those jobs yourself easily for a fraction of the cost quoted by your lbs

 

[mickle]

Chain £8
Cassette £12
Brake blocks £12
Full set of cables £20

Full service, install above listed parts, at £40 ph; £60 max.

Unless I've missed anything out that it needs like a new mech, BB or headset it seems your quote is £40 too high.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Or D.I.Y and the price is almost a ton too high. Great changing problems are so very common on old / unused bikes and self maintenance can become as addictive as the ride itself. Let us have a sit rep in a while.

Best of luck and

Chain £8
Cassette £12
Brake blocks £12
Full set of cables £20

Full service, install above listed parts, at £40 ph; £60 max.

Unless I've missed anything out that it needs like a new mech, BB or headset it seems your quote is £40 too high.