Car bad, bike good and all that but bicycle maintenance is absolute bullshit. This is what I've been through just this year:

  • First the chain and sprocket needs to be replaced. Also the front tire is flat.
  • I try to replace the chain myself. It's too loose and worse than before.
  • I try to put a new hose in the tire. The bike pumping station malfunctions and explodes the hose.
  • I buy a new one and put it on.
  • The next morning it's flat again.
  • I give up and go to the bicycle repair guy
  • The day after it comes home from the repair guy some spokes break and one of the tires on the bike trailer is flat.
  • Bike lights? The little fuckers just vanish in thin air all the time.
  • Front wheel? Flat again!
  • I manage to patch it and put it back on. I inflate it.
  • A few hours later it has pushed the tire off because of some dumbass fold
  • This goes on for days. I inflate the tire, thinking this is the time that satanic monstrosity has straightened itself out, only to discover I was wrong. This goes on for days.
  • Guess what? Another broken spoke!
  • Bonus: The gear cable is almost breaking in half.
  • The plastic wheelguard? It breaks in half. Because it can.
  • Then I run over a branch of some tree that best can be described as nature's own version of barbed wire and one of the tires on the bike trailer is impaled on a big ass thorn.
  • I manage to patch the tire. As I put it on the tool slips and pokes two new holes in the tire.
  • I patch the tire again and gets everything together.
  • The next morning it's flat again. The second patch didn't adhere properly for some reason.
  • I patch it up for the third time. This time our seems to hold.
  • The next morning the other tire is flat.

What the absolute fuck? This is ridiculous. I didn't remember having so much stupid pointless trouble back when we had a car. Why are bicycles such absolute shit?

  • kissinger
    ·
    1 year ago

    deleted by creator

    • SoyViking [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I buy some self-adhesive patches that seems to work moderately well. I can never get the old-fashioned ones with the little tube of glue to work properly.

      I think a lot of the problems is because the bike has to carry a lot of load. I'm a very heavy guy and I use the bike to draw a trailer with kids and groceries in it. So the wheels, especially the back one, has to deal with more force than usual. My girlfriend has the same issue with spokes and she's also to the heavy side.

      I'm not up for fixing spokes myself. I pay a repair guy to do it and he seems like he knows what he's doing. He hasn't been able to come up with an explanation or a solution.

      I might give changing the selector cable a go myself.

    • SoyViking [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      It's cursed but with all of this bullshit it's certainly not free.

  • CommCat [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    wtf of all my years riding bikes, I've never experiened anything beyond a flat tire from glass or other sharp objects. Even when the chiain is all rusted I could still ride. Cursed bike indeed :(

  • Spike [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Is your bike cursed or something? Did satan possess it? I've had a cheap factory built bike for about 20 years and the only issues have been the chain coming off the gears when I've gone too fast over an obstacle

  • FloridaBoi [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Get some tire liners, possibly replace rim tape, have spare inner tubes, wtf are you doing

    Edit: the rim might be out of round causing the spokes to break from impacts. You might need a new wheel

  • Cummunism [they/them, he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    might be because cars are more heavily regulated for safety? I feel like bike parts could be cheap as fuck(in quality, not price necessarily) compared to cars. My civic definitely sounds more reliable than your bike and that sucks.

  • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Some of this sounds like you had a faulty wheel (or something between the wheel and the inner tube), some of this is a matter of how patching is a skill that not everybody is good at and some tires just don't patch well, some of this is just plain old bad luck. In any given year of heavy cycling I've never experienced more than a fifth of your list (unless you factor in a bike getting stolen).

    However, did you get a new kameloso?

  • honeynut
    ·
    1 year ago

    deleted by creator

    • fart [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      tubeless tires are the best of both worlds. No flats, better ride

  • ancom20 [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    This is something I've thought about too. Per mile, I don't know how much a bike costs to run.

    One nice thing is on a bike you can usually do your own maintenance rather than taking it to a mechanic.

    I recall reading that electric bikes were more efficient than regular bikes due to caloric consumption: https://medium.com/@EEnviroMag/e-bikes-better-for-your-carbon-footprint-than-regular-bikes-7214d1995539 https://sites.google.com/site/shelbyelectro/general-ebikes/sustainability