Hi! I bought this bike on fb marketplace for $100 at the beginning of this spring. I rode it almost every day, including quite long distances, and I had so much fun and joy riding it. It was in excellent condition, but now I feel that it needs servicing, as it makes various noises from different places and doesn't ride as smoothly as before.
But servicing it costs as much as I paid for the bike. Do you think it's worth the money? Or should I just keep riding it and save up for a new one? My new bike costs $440 in the store.
I don't have most of the tools I need to service it myself, nor do I have the stand or, most importantly, the skills.
by PapaverArmeniacum
9 Comments
So the real question is if it’s worth it to pay 100$ to service a 440$ bike… if it’s a done by a good mechanic, then yes, probably.
Tools last forever, buy them once and you have them for life. Same with maintenance skills, learn how to fix stuff and you have those skills forever, YouTube is free.
You won’t need to spend $100 on basic tools to do most of the maintenance, and honestly, just cleaning and lubing that chain would help no end.
Spend $100 to keep it running nicely, and save for your nicer bike down the road. When you get it, congrats! Now you have two decent bikes, or a beater to loan to a friend.
But honestly, it just depends on what you want, and what you are willing to put up with. I bought an old 1970s steel frame for $25 at a garage sale in 2006. I’ve probably put ~800 in it over the years with tune ups, new tires, normal mx stuff… and it still rides just fine almost two decades after I bought it and five decades after it was first built. All told, I’ve been in for around $40/year if you average it out. I think it’s been worth it, but I also do the same thing and make the same calculations with my vehicle (2001 truck).
If you’re going to be putting hundreds of miles per year on any bike, especially on wet, dirty roads, you can expect to be paying at least that much per year, having a shop replacing parts. I spent probably $200/year or more when I was commuting every day (work from home, now). That was on bikes that cost less than $1000.
I imagine that the less expensive the bike is, the less the replacement parts cost. So, that can assuage the doubt about spending a higher percentage of the purchase price on replacing parts.
But, you also want a bike that shops carry replacement parts for. A big box store bike might not qualify for that.
If you buy a newer, more expensive bike and take care of it exactly has you’ve taken care of your current bike you will likely spend as much or more for yearly maintenance.
“I rode it almost every day, including quite long distances, and I had so much fun and joy riding it.”
There’s your answer. No matter what bike you have, you’ll always need to take care of it and service it.
If you buy a more expensive parts, you will spend even more on upkeep as the wear items (cassette, chain) will be more expensive. If you buy more expensive tires, they will feel nicer, but be more expensive and probably wear out faster.
If you want a nicer bike, get one, but it will be more expensive to run. Servicing cheap old bikes is probably the cheapest way to ride.
if you have the time and space, you might as well learn how to do it yourself. even at 500(this is a lot) you will pay for maintenance costs after 2-3 tune ups
What I’m hearing is you bought a bike for $100 and you like it.
If there’s another bike you could buy for $100 and you’d like it just as much, maybe there’s a choice to be made, but in a year’s time, you’d have to fix that one too.
I’m with everyone else here. Bite the bullet and get it tuned up, or invest in the tools and skills to DIY.