Buy it for Life

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A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!

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Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!

Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.

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The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
You cannot be a large corporation.
The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.

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Repairable Bike Tips (self.buyitforlife)

submitted 1 month ago by houseofleft to c/buyitforlife

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm looking to purchase a bike (probably second hand) and I want to make sure that it'll be easily repairable in the future for at least standard maintenance stuff.

Thing is, I don't know anything about bikes- I've heard people say off hand that modern bikes might perform better but are less maintanable, is this a thing? What qualities/features in a bike tell me that it'll be easier to maintain in the long run?

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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago

As long as you avoid complicated systems--like electronic shifting, hydraulic anything, and so on--anything that's mid-tier and above, purchased from a bicycle shop (not a sporting goods store, not a dept. store) is going to be pretty repairable for the foreseeable future.

I can still easily find parts for my 2013 Fuji Cross. Honestly, the worst part has been pedals; I had Speedplay Frogs, and when the pedals wore out completely, Speedplay had stopped making them (and had been sold a few times), which leaves me with no pedal options that combine the ridiculous float with the feeling of being firmly locked in.

Anything proprietary is going to be harder to find parts for to repair, or to replace. For instance, Cannondale's Lefty fork, and their old HeadShok system; good luck fixing those now. Simpler is usually going to be better; suspension may add comfort, but unless you're mountain biking, I'd skip it in favor of rigid frames and forks.