Comment by kazinator | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kazinator | Hacker News Reader

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Please throw away your helmet and get a new one; they are only rated to be in one accident.

Also, get a better bicycle for commuting; chains should not break after a few weeks. This shows that the bicycle had been heavily used, or is an ancient rust bucket, and may be a "bicycle shaped object" to begin with.

I carry a Park chain linkpin press tool for opening and closing chain links. Though occasions for using that on the road are rare if the chain is well-maintained and replaced regularly, not long ago I had a fairly new chain derail off the front ring, and by some unfortunate combination of events get itself into a tight kink which jammed and caused a link to bend severely. Having the tool, I was able to splice out and discard the bent link, and be on my merry way. I also carry a short piece of chain that was left over from the original chain installation, because there is only so many links you can throw away before the chain gets too short.

When you get a new chain, the rear gear cluster should be changed at the same time, since they wear together. A new chain can slip on old sprockets even if the old chain didn't. The front rings have to be changed maybe once every three chain changes.

My $80 walmart bike lasted 3 months. My $200 bike from a bike shop lasted years (and is still going without rust) and was totally worth the purchase. I always advise people to avoid cheap K-mart, Walmart, and Target bikes in favor of ones from their local bike shop. Especially if they're presents for their kids and you want them to last throughout their teens. The gift of a functional bike keeps on giving when it turns into a memorable nostalgic functional bike that you've had for 12 years. It's worth it.

$80, $200? Did you make a typo in these? You're lucky to get a good bike for $200. A bike I can keep for 12 years would easily cost me 500 euro (~US$625 currently), for the most basic model, probably without gears at that price.

Wow, where I am, anything over $600 US would likely be a racing-style or mountain bike (or electric-assist or something).

Here in the midwest of USA, I spent $200~ for a used good bike at a local bike shop. You can spend thousands for a bike here if you want, but generally speaking at a local bike shop you can get a good durable bike for less than $500. This year I spent $350 at the same bike shop for a 1 year old used bike for my wife.

I didn't own a car when I bought my bike and I rode it most 10-15 miles most every day for 2 years. Now 5 years later I still ride it at least twice a week, and the only replacements I have needed to do is 1 set of pedals, and the usual tire stuff.

In general, if you go in a dedicated (serious) bicycle store, you should get something worth the price. After, this is just plain logic : the more you pay, the better it will be ;)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Roadmaster-Granite-Peak-26-Men-s-M...

I had a huffy bike (walmart style) that lasted 10 years of heavy riding, before it was stolen. Replaced it with a $200 restored 80's Raleigh road bike that I got by a side-of-the-highway bike shop.

Never really understood the masses that go to a shiny hipster bike shop and pay $700-1000 for a brand-new basic commuter. There are so many used bikes out there that need loving owners.

Cool, glad that works for you. But the 'hipster' bike actually has lots of cool features, like repairable, light, faster, less problems with rust.

Can we define what we mean by 'hipster' bike? Because to me, it means "a fixie", and those just aren't appropriate everywhere.

Decent bikes from the as far back as the 60's mostly use standard threading and can be easily repaired with new parts. I ride a bike from 1971, it's quite light and fast, and like any bike that's properly cared for doesn't have problems with rust. $250 on craigslist.

One of the main advantages of buying used bikes is that people actually used to build bikes properly so they last 43 years with all stock parts.

hammock said "hipster bike shop", not "hipster bike".

Hipsters go to hipster bike shops to get hipster bikes?

You can definitely find department store bikes for less than $100. You get what you pay for.

$200 for a decent bike might be a stretch, but $300 definitely gets you in that range.

Damn. How is it that in a (generally speaking) bike-unfriendly country like the US bikes are so cheap, while in a bike-mad European country where sales per capita are probably >10 times as high prices are so much higher?

Supply chain. Entrepreneurism. More business opportunities. More tax friendly. The list can go on and on. Every European country I visit I'm amazed at the lack of department stores, and lack of overall consumerism. Where do people buy things? Where are all the stores that aren't little shops?

> Where do people buy things? Where are all the stores that aren't little shops?

They buy them at the little shops.

> and lack of overall consumerism.

Feature, not bug.

Another factor is to consider what's expected for a city bike for a daily commute.

It needs front and rear lights, fenders, chain guard, and likely a built-in lock. It also needs to be able to stand up to being outside in the rain for long periods of time.

While a bike in the US, used only for sunny days and by people who aren't wearing office clothes, and which is stored in the garage or basement, doesn't have the same requirements.

In the UK you can get a bike for comparable prices (here's an £80 mountain bike). Again, they'll fall apart aftera few months though. The cheapest decent bike? Hmm, personally, I'd guess around £300, but I haven't done enough research to know for sure.

If you're OK with friction shifters, you can get a used bike from the 80s for < $200 that will work well. I've got a buddy who beats me on flat stretches with his old Schwin World Sport (a really fun bike if you're looking for an old reliable work-horse). I happen to live in a very bike friendly city so they used bike market might not be as good everywhere.

I love the trickle down effect in bicycling. I got my 2001 Trek 5200 for ~ $1000. The components are a bit behind, but I'd be happy to ride the carbon-fiber frameset for the next 10 years!

Just beware that pretty much every sub $500 bike uses plastic bearing races in the bottom bracket. They will fail after a few thousand miles.

Your walmart bike experience resonates with mine. Last year I bought one of those, and it lasted about 2 months. The crank literally snapped apart from the part that connects the frame to the crank. I was very disappointed.

Another point of anecdata: I paid $200 for a used Dutch bike and it has served me well over 3 years of snow,rain and locusts.(10miles biked daily anywhere from -25C to 35C).

I wear my helmet mostly because of safety, but also because it is a bit like having a towel when traveling, police think you are a serious biker and never stop you.

> it is a bit like having a towel when traveling

+1 funny

I swapped a bottle of home made elder flower wine for my bike. It's made by Peugeot and when I got it it had inner tubes made by Nokia. I have no idea how old it is, but it's still doing fine 8 years after I got it.

I don't know who sold you a new cassette when you got your chain changed, but they are nothing but a salesman.

I've never heard of chains slipping teeth, most notably because it would need to slip all teeth in contact at once (8-20 of them).

If you are having your chain slip off, you need to adjust your deraileur.

When your chain stretches beyond a certain point and does not get replaced it will begin to wear down your gear teeth due to excess friction against the sides. Eventually your gears can become worn enough that they will cause skipping (aka chain slipping off the teeth).

Yes! Stretched chains (not actually stretched, but elongated due to link pin wear) will devour gears.

I have experience with this. Changed a freewheel on a bike, but not the chain, which was stretched. 11 months (!) later, the freewheel was garbage.

This used to be common advice (replace the chain and cassette at the same time). Nowadays, the best pracrice is to replace the chain before it stretches too much and starts wearing down the cogs. If you do that consistently, a cassette should last a really long time. I ride about 2,000 miles a year commuting and have been using the same cassette for 7 years, changing chains about every other year.

Chains stretch over time and use. Oil them well and often and they last longer.

Measure your chain with an old style American ruler (with 'inches'). Twenty links should be exactly 10 'inches'. [0] If it's 1/8" 'inch' longer, replace the chain. If it's 3/16 'inch' longer, replace the rear cogs and the chain both. Consider replacing the front chain rings, too, especially if the chain is longer or they're made of aluminium.

A stretched chain ruins gears. Ruined gears will ruin a new chain, too. Proper maintenance fixes both problems. New quality chains cost about US$10-15.

[0] Wikipedia says one 'inch' is 2.54 centimeters, if you believe that.

Sounds like me - the middle gears on my DuraAce cassette finally wore out after 20+ years so I pieced together a new one. It's a major pain on vintage bikes, definitely want to change your chain before it wears and maybe get a higher quality chain. I also recently invested in a chain cleaner - loads of fun.

> I don't know who sold you a new cassette when you got your chain changed, but they are nothing but a salesman.

My most recent experience with new-chain/old-cluster was that the chain skipped a tooth three times per pedal revolution! Replaced gears, problem solved.

To go buy the new gears, I first had to temporarily put back the old chain, to make the bike ridable. :)

Adjusting the derailleur can help; in particular the "B tension" adjustment to get the jockey wheel to track the gear cluster more closely for more wrap. However, if it's that bad, it won't help.

I have decent experience adjusting derailleurs. Even taking apart the non-adjustable ones and drilling holes in new places to change spring tensions.

> 8-20 of them

You're not going to get 8 teeth of contact on an 11 tooth cog, nor 20 teeth of contact on a 26 tooth ring.

Yes and no. You will get slipping on heavily worn cassette (read: sawtooth shaped teeth) and a new chain or vice versa, but heavily worn these days might be 4-6000 miles of abusive riding. For the average commuter, this would be several years of use, as well as a fair deal of casual riding.

I stand corrected. I've never had that happen before but i'll take your word for it.

I still wouldn't consider a cassette something you should change as a matter of regular maintenance. Certainly not as often as a chain. I've had cassettes last through multiple wheelsets.

I recently had to replace my front chainrings after about 7000 km because the chain was jumping when I applied lots of pressure. The rear cassette was also replaced because the old chain (5k km) had damaged the cogs. So gears do indeed wear out, but it takes a good amount of riding.

That's just abuse. I ride much more than 7000km per annum and never change gears. Also, it's the worn chain that wears down the gears; replace the chain more often the the gears will last many years.

> Please throw away your helmet and get a new one; they are only rated to be in one accident.

Other than Reddit style white knighting why did you say this?

You are basically defaulting to the OP is to stupid to know helmets are one use only, which is common knowledge.

Because the comment was totally off-topic /s

This is a post intended to tell people to wear helmets in the first place. I don't think the target audience is likely to be aware of that tidbit either.

> I don't think the target audience is likely to be aware of that tidbit either.

Personally I'm a firm believe people who assume others are stupid without proof are the real stupid ones.

It was white knight style, lets get karma and pretend OP is to dumb to look after themselves, I'll be the hero and give them condensing advice.

No mention of helmet reuse was in the original post at all.

So it's probably a good thing that it was brought up then.

Completeness is a Good Thing, it's unclear why you're bent out of shape about it.

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