How much is too much.

[simongt]

Basic 'rule' is that if the frame is still good, the costs of the rest of the 'attachments' are relative to how much the rider enjoys the performance of the frame.

 

[Brandane]

Thanks for editing the thread title. It was making me itch.

Yes; me to.

 

[Brandane]

At what point do you say bike just isnt worth it?

Thing is though, if you plan to replace it with another second hand bike, you are back to the same problems re not knowing its history. You might end up with more issues, perhaps the same or different to what you have now.
This is why I like to keep bikes for the long term, even though I have mostly bought second hand in the past. After a while you know when the chain and cassette was last changed, gear/brake cables inners and outers too, wheel bearings, bottom bracket etc.. (Actually, to confess I am a bit OCD in that I keep a written record of replacement parts; it makes life easier when you have 6 bikes!). That way, if something goes wrong, you generally know where to start looking. Rather than blindly replacing parts which might be perfectly good.
So my opinion is - get it fixed, and keep the Giant.

 

[Marchrider]

Interesting niblet about reversing the cog on the cassette - how does it affect the gear changing?

I have never noticed any difference, may be we have all been sold a pup with these fancy ramps to make changing easier?

Someone did tell me once the ramps are to help changing down a gear (up the cassette) whilst at full power on a hill. And I would never do this as it seems wrong and likely to cause problems

Would it even work? Aren't the freehub splines assymetrical? I've never tried to put a sprocket on the wrong way round, but this picture suggests that it wouldn't fit unless you took a Dremel to it. There's a big "anti-spline" and a little one next to each other (z in the diagram) and they'd be the wrong way round to mate up with the spines if you flipped it over.

As usual - I'm probably wrong. And as noted, I've never tried it

you need to file a little bit away, just the bit to the left of the positioning marker in this photo, then it will go on flipped over

here is an old one that has no doubt done a lot of miles in both directions, so to speak

now think about the chain turning the bottom sprocket clockwise, that is quite an easy slope for the chain to slip up, now compare that to if the chain was turning it in the other direction, the chain has something to get a bit of purchase on

Seriously it works, and if you're a bit of a skinflint like me where every penny is a prisoner. Then it is worth trying. Esp if you have just fitted a new chain (this is where a bit of slipping is first noticed) and it is just slipping in one or two gears, flip them over and you will probably get the chain out of it.

 

[presta]

If by "won't index" you mean false changing, that's caused by worn pivots in the derailleur parallelogram. Give it a waggle, it'll be obvious if they're worn.