Are Modern Bicycles the End of DIY Maintenance?

[Deus]

interesting read

Are Modern Bicycles the End of DIY Maintenance?

Bikes today perform better than ever, but many are too sophisticated for home mechanics. What’s being lost?

www.outsideonline.com

 

[Raboa]

The internal cable routing is aesthetics, supposedly aero advance and marketing gimmick
Press fit bottom brackets are cheaper to make than threaded ones, bike companies are starting to return to threaded ones
The advantage of sealed bearings us cleanliness, less grease over tools etc.
I would not say it's the end but it's became more expensive tool wise and more hassle
You can make make bearing presses out of a bolt, washers and some nuts

 

[AndyBike]

tl:dr

To sum up though the answer is no, in fact i would say we need, at least in part, to do more maintenance than before, especially with the advent of full sussers becoming more popular.
Forks need regular work, as do rear shocks. Brakes while mostly fit and forget, do need cleaning to keep them functioning perfectly, or at least checked on a yearly basis. Suspension pivots occasionally need changing, and that itself is a big job requiring specialist tools.
Derailleurs dont seem to be as robust as previous eras(80's,90's)

Overall though, bikes have developed technically and maybe keeping their condition in good order is just the way of things.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

High end bikes are proprietary but cheaper bikes are still very open designs with the ability to use a wide range of different components. High end bikes are typically performance bikes either road or off-road so they are destined to be shorter life anyway, weak light road bikes or complicated dual suspension off-road bikes with CF frames. I remember reading on a Chinese site around 2013-2015 that over 95% of bikes sold in the world are steel. That is the ratio of what they were exporting from China, be it entry level road and mountain bikes, childrens bikes and entry level ebikes steel is still extremely common and many bikes that need more robust strength without suspension have steel forks even if the frame is aluminium.

So if you want a bike that you can do your own maintenance on, buy a more generic bike or cheaper bike. Bike brands love proprietary components as they can charge more for them and they force consumers to buy replacement parts off them but at the bottom end of pricing they can't afford to include proprietary components because they cost more to make and develop and lower price bikes are in a very competitive pricing sector.

 

[AndyBike]

So if you want a bike that you can do your own maintenance on, buy a more generic bike or cheaper bike. Bike brands love proprietary components as they can charge more for them and they force consumers to buy replacement parts off them but at the bottom end of pricing they can't afford to include proprietary components because they cost more to make and develop and lower price bikes are in a very competitive pricing sector.

Cheap parts are really not up to standard and you'll need to replace more often.
I've worked on too many cheap bikes customers bought from places like halfords or out argos and believe me its a nightmare.

They are cheap for a reason.
Higher end, well you should expect quality components. I mean you wouldnt buy a Ferrari and expect to find a ford escort engine under the bonnet.

Heres a more bike orientated example. Cheap bike - £99 suntour fork. Expensive bike Fox 36 or 38.
Which fork would you expect to survive prolonged use in rugged offroad conditions ?.

Hint: It's not the suntour
In fact in all honesty the suntour rarely survives light duty commuting for very long. Again, it's cheap for a reason.
Overall cheap bikes are a false economy.

 

[flecc]

Heres a more bike orientated example. Cheap bike - £99 suntour fork. Expensive bike Fox 36 or 38.
Which fork would you expect to survive prolonged use in rugged offroad conditions ?.

Hint: It's not the suntour
In fact in all honesty the suntour rarely survives light duty commuting for very long. Again, it's cheap for a reason.
Overall cheap bikes are a false economy.

But truly cheap bikes don't have suspension. I've never owned a suspension bike, never would have done and never needed it, it has no place on bicycles. Look at the bikes they make and ride in India and Africa where much of all riding is off tarmacked roads, yet they never have suspension. Basically because they cycle at sensible cycling speeds.

It's only because we do daft things since the 1980s like riding at moped speeds on our poor roads or ride fast off road that it's felt we need it. So the manufacturers are only too happy to get extra cash off people for providing it.
.

 

[AndyBike]

Look at the bikes they make and ride in India

er...

Basically because they cycle at sensible cycling speeds.

Further er...

As to Africa, theres plenty of riders riding trails in the South. They have some of the best terrain in the world.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Cheap parts are really not up to standard and you'll need to replace more often.
I've worked on too many cheap bikes customers bought from places like halfords or out argos and believe me its a nightmare.

They are cheap for a reason.
Higher end, well you should expect quality components. I mean you wouldnt buy a Ferrari and expect to find a ford escort engine under the bonnet.

Heres a more bike orientated example. Cheap bike - £99 suntour fork. Expensive bike Fox 36 or 38.
Which fork would you expect to survive prolonged use in rugged offroad conditions ?.

Hint: It's not the suntour
In fact in all honesty the suntour rarely survives light duty commuting for very long. Again, it's cheap for a reason.
Overall cheap bikes are a false economy.

I pretty much totally disagree with your points except the one where you compare the ford Escort to the Ferrari as of course the Ford Escort is far more reliable and dependable than a Ferrari which many have burst into flames spontaneously and are hugely unreliable. That is not a good example for spending more on a bike if that is your comparison.

I would totally agree about the Suntour vs Fox but again I'm not advocating a low end suspension fork I'm saying most people don't need suspension and so a rigid steel fork would be far safer, dependable and completely maintenance free compared to a Fox fork which do need regular maintenance. However in fairness Suntour aren't bad forks generally and they are the manufacturer behind many of the more expensive forks anyway as they have a large OEM business but I can't remember which other forks they manufacture, might be Fox or might be Rockshox not sure but they have two factories the cheaper forks up to XCR level I think are made in a high volume factory in mainland China but they have a high end lower volume fork factory for their OEM business and more expensive professional forks which I believe is in Taiwan. I think the highest fork I have is the XCR coil fork not the air version and I have a few entry level Rockshox coil forks which are a bit worse than the XCR, I don't have any air forks at all or any Fox models. I'm only a very casual off-roader and more interested in road use and exploring the road network and getting fit.

Halfords take about 25p in every £ spent in the UK on cycling which equates to as much maybe as 40% of bikes sold as they do a huge range of entry level bikes which typically are huge sellers. However Halfords do some fantastic bikes at step up pricing, maybe £400-1000 which in an independent bike shop for the same spec would be £700-2000 for the same component level.

My point is more about proprietary and where its sits in bike pricing. You can have respectable bike brands like Giant and Merida that offer non-proprietary bikes up to a certain price level perhaps mid-pricing but beyond that their bikes become very proprietary. It's not just entry level that is non-proprietary. Such bikes up to mid-pricing have a likely longer lifespan, more easily customised and repaired and in my opinion much better bikes for general use than high end bikes. Shimano 105 is a lot stronger than Shimano Ultegra and Shimano Claris is a lot longer lifespan than 105 has more steel components so chainrings are thicker and last longer etc as do the steel cogs of Claris cassettes. A 8 speed chain has thicker strong plates than 12 speed chains. A quick link for a 8 speed chain is completely re-usable but on a 10 speed chain or above its pretty much single use only because of the thin metal. Thicker tyres offer more road grip, more suspension and more protection against punctures.