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Mechanics Ask Walmart, Major Bike Manufacturers to Stop Making and Selling ‘Built-to-Fail’ Bikes
“The problem with budget bikes is everything. They’re literally built to fail.”
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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
“ “minimum durability standard” of 500 riding hours”
(12 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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It would great if parts were built to last. Especially chain/cassette. It is surprising how much bicycle maintenance costs, especially if you are higher mileage and cycle in the winter.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The 8 speed cassettes readily available now seem to be made of cheese.
I burned through a brand new claris cassette during the first year of COVID and then found a very old Ultegra 8-speed cassette in the bits box. Must've had that for a good number of years.
It's been going strong ever since, outlasting 2 chains. The claris cassettes looked more shiny than this one. Different alloy?
Would try Suntour 8 speed but they never seem to have them with sensible sprocket sizes for road/touring use.
Surprisingly chains on the fixie seem to last a lot longer than the geared bike, despite no cleaning, a badly worn front chainring, more mileage and general abuse. Same chain (KMC 8 speed) in both cases. Must be something to do with the bending and loading of the chain?
Considered going to 1/8" for supposed durability on the fixie but then thought "why".
My old fixie sprockets get a second life as keyfobs at work, for all those keys that you don't want strolling workies to pocket and wander away with...
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'm not sure there's much that can be done to improve the wear characteristics of the modern chain and cassette significantly. Given the conditions they operate in (and the lack of maintenance they often have to endure) I reckon modern drive train components from reputable manufacturers perform pretty much as well as could reasonably be expected. (IIRC some manufacturers e.g. KMC do offer vaguely "ruggedised" versions of some of their chains - I think this largely consists of improved seals around the rollers.)
Going back to old stylee drive trains with thicker chains and fewer sprockets on the cassette would probably give slightly better drive train life, by increasing the contact area between the chain roller and the sprocket tooth and thus reducing the pressure within said contact area for a given amount of tension being exerted on the chain by pedaling. But I can't see that happening in the mainstream market TBH although, perhaps ironically, it's probably the 'built to fail' bikes that still commonly use such lower tech components.
I think you need to be looking at a completely different drive train technology to get better service life, especially in adverse weather conditions. Belt drive and hub gears spring to mind, though I've no idea how current offerings of that type actually stack up against chain and cassette in terms of reliability and reduced maintenance requirements.
Another option might be enclosed shaft drive. Had this ever been tried on a modern bike? I can imagine it would have a fairly significant weight penalty vs the comparative lightness and elegance of chain and cassette, which would likely not appeal to 'high mileage' riders at any time of year. (The same would likely be true of belt drive and hub gears, come to that.)
And then there are the more exotic drive train technologies which pop up from time to time, but never really seem to break through in to the mainstream, largely due to cost and/or inadequate development before coming to market (as the old saying goes: good, cheap, quick - pick two).
Yes, drive train maintenance can be a bit of a chore, especially in winter. Probably the last thing you want to do when you're tired after a cold, wet ride is to start faffing about cleaning and lubing a road grime encrusted drive train. But with the current, well tried and proven technology it basically comes with the territory. So you either deal with it in one way or another (i.e. do it, or don't do it and shell out on replacement components much more regularly), or else you find something completely different to devote your time and energy to.
Posted 2 years ago # -
“Surprisingly chains on the fixie seem to last a lot longer than the geared bike“
Not really, think of all the changes of direction - around the the pulley wheels and all the sideways twists to change gear.
Comparatively, 3 speed chains go on ‘for ever’.
Shimano used to use better materials for ‘top end’ equipment - Deore, Ultegra etc - than ‘mass’ versions.
Presume still do, but - more speeds with thinner sprockets/chains (almost) inevitably leads to shorter component life.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think the point in the original post is that it's more than just the drivetrain. It's literally everything on the bike that is designed to fail - completely unmaintainable - once you fix one thing, another thing breaks...
Posted 2 years ago # -
The original article is about cheap bikes/components/durability.
My experience of really cheap bikes is that they are HEAVY.
Far too many seem to put people off riding long before they wear out.
I posted the “ “minimum durability standard” of 500 riding hours” bit it see if anyone had stats/opinions about the 500 hours (5,000 miles?)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Any bike sold in a shop whose main product lines are not solely bikes, or sports equipment, or to some extent travel and transport items, is designed expressly to be purchased and taken outside, its raison d'etre fulfilled.
When I worked as a mechanic, there was a reason we referred to Apollo and Coventry Eagle products as "mountain-type bicycles". Even that was us being somewhat generous, and were more appropriately the well known term, "bike-shaped objects".
Apollo bikes were known as Appalling, and the Coventry Eagle Blackrock had hub bearings that were so awful we joked that they were really silver cake decorations. I built plenty of both. We actually made a case to our buying team for them to stop buying the bikes altogether.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I recall buying a cheap mountain bike (Apollo) from Halfords and I spent more time at the shop complaining about it and getting it fixed than riding it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
A similar problem to the musical world, where schools stock the music department with Guitar Shaped Objects.
Posted 2 years ago # -
@neddie: I think the point in the original post is that it's more than just the drivetrain
True. Apologies for contributing to the thread drift (it wasn't me that started it, sir, honest).
Posted 2 years ago # -
*distant laughter*
Posted 2 years ago #
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