If I had $1000 to spend on bicycle parts ...

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1504

Specop_007,

".....10 cheap bikes at WalMart...."

Yeah. And make sure they are all identical, so the parts swap out painlessly.
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Local fix-it guy..

IanC

Great thread!

Unfortunately, $1000 gets eaten up pretty fast. However, I think biking is a tremendously important part of PO preparation.

I would highly recommend converting one of your bikes to an Xtracycle. We have had one for a few years and it is a fantastic tool. I can transport 2 kids and 4 bags of groceries on it. I've hauled lots of different loads of varying size in many weather conditions.

If the Xtracycle isn't your style, look into a trailer. They've been around long enough that you can get yourself a used one pretty easily.

I would buy a case of inner tubes, some rain gear, and lubricants. I like the advice on scavenging parts from thrown-away bikes.

Keep pedaling!

-Ian

wtshtf_in_ks · Coal Joined: Oct 28, 2007 Posts: 9

if you are gearing up for the apocalypse:

Go for steel over aluminum frames. Yeah it's heavier but if the frame gets bent you can bend it back.

Ride in relatively low gears. You can save your knees for the urban gardening you'll need to do and you will probably wear out the cogs on the back wheel a lot slower.

I used to get flats once every two weeks. Now I have plastic lining inside my tires and have not gotten a flat in almost a year.

If you do not know how to fix bikes and cannot make sense of the instructions at SheldonBrown.com go for a simple bike-one with a single speed and a coaster brake so there is less to break. However if you are in the hills that may not make sense.

I don't know if anybody has done this yet but probably for most people learning bike repair is so much easier when you can see it be done than reading instructions.teaching a class on YouTube.com would be a great project.

I used to sell used bikes on craigslist.org and I was forced to sell for half the price that bike shops were selling for. they have more trust. Even if you don't know bike repair you can tell the bike is working right by taking it for a ride.

kakkerlak

Hi,

As a Dutchy in Bikeland it's not very surprising that i know something about bikes. And a real Dutchy also knows something about money or to be more accurate about how not to waste it.

If you're going to spend 1000 dollar/euro for a bike then you really need to learn the value of money! You can get a bike and make it function for a very very long time using only 50% or maybe less with that money.

First you need a GOOD bike. Not some "modern/expensive" thing you can buy with all kinds of useless stuff attached to it. Most bikes are low quality and will collapse under their own weight in only a few years. Keep it simple, stupid!

The best type of bikes ever made are "omafietsen" as we call them here in the Netherlands. They are simple, strong and with a little maintanance now and then will function for centuries.

Click on this link to see an image; This is the type of bike you want. It's strong enough to carry two/three persons. One on the back and on on the saddle. And if you're creative (like Dutch people) you can even place a kid on the front in a special bike chair (an adult is possible too if he/she doens't care about pain in the butt).

I swear it...i have used bikes like these to transport washing machines, couches, televisions and lol...people.

If you're smart you can get a second hand bike for a few euro. Here in the Netherlands i wouldn't pay more then 10 Euro to get myself a nice bike. To add to it; the older the bike, the better it is. Don't waste your money!

Bike repair is very easy and i learned it at the age of 6. Even a kid can do it; it's that easy. Really!

You don't need many spare parts. The most important items are a "tire repair kit" (click image) and a pump to fill those tires with air. A bucket with water is also very helpfull, but that's not a problem. Wink

Usually if you are nice to you bike and talk to it once in a while (lol) then you don't need more then those two items. For the long term it's not a bad idea to buy two extra wheels, complete with tires. One front wheel and one back wheel because sometimes being nice to your bike is not enough.

I have never seen a chain break! And trust me...i can destroy everything except for that damn chain. But if it breaks you're in big trouble, so it's not a bad idea to buy another one just in case.

If you have gears....get yourself a spare "cable in rubber/plastic/whatever". You know...those black cables.

Note 1: make sure that those "chain protections" and "coat protections" are not made of plastic! NO PLASTIC! Plastic is bad! Get steel!

Note 2: Brakes...get a bike that allows you to brake by "biking backwards". I can't explain it better in English...you need to be able to move your legs in the opposite direction to brake. All other kinds of brakes are bad! They break! Look at the picture....you will not see any breaks...but they are there. Wink

Note 3: In this little "tire repeair kit" you can find a few spare light bulbs. Buy at least 10 of those kits. They are cheap...around here 1 euro for a kit and 10 kits is enough for a lifetime.

WARNINGS! Don't buy popular bikes! They are wortless! A bike is to get you from point A to point B. They are not for show! Mountain bikes are evil too! You only need 3 gears. Any bike with more gears is bad! Cool bikes are bad...you want a simple, plain and a boring bike made out of steel! Let me repeat that! Steel!

Watch these pics...

If you want to know more about bikes then you have to visit Amsterdam. After a visit you will have learned more about bikes then you could do in your entire life studying.

Get a "grandma bike"! They are the best!
Have fun!
Roach

*PS* Sorry for the big pictures.
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"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." ~ Albert Einstein

JoeW

drew

1000 bucks for parts??

Quite a few people have some good lists but they are incomplete for the most part. If you are talking replacement you need to consider those parts. Start with a good quality bike of course.

Wear parts include all the components that have bearings. Therefore you need bearings for the head set, and maybe even an extra complete head set.

On the above topic, get bearings and cones for the wheels, bearings for the bottom bracket, and bearings for the pedals. The hubs, bb, and pedals will eventually wear out too, when their cup surfaces become pitted.

As for the rest of the wheels, quite a few spokes/nipples would be a good thing to have as well as extra tubes and tires. FYI there is absolutely nothing wrong with aluminum rims as long as they are beefy. (with the exception that they are a wear component with rim brakes-get discs instead) My 'single tracks' are pretty much bomb proof at 570g a piece.

As for drive train get several cassettes, derailleur jockey wheels, several sets of front rings, especially if alum., an extra free hub body, and chains.

A bunch of inner wires and 30 or 40 feet of sis housing is good, as is a bunch of brake cable.

Grab a spare derailleur or two, an extra set of brake levers and shifters, some grips, and some brake pads and you should be good to go.

(I just did this for fun, the poster who mentioned local bike recyclers is right on the money!!)

Drew

ReducedToZero

I think it comes down to quality versus quantity. It seems perfectly logical to own 5 x $200 bikes...

ReducedToZero

I will be traveling to Amsterdam soon I wish be sure to take as many bicycling pictures as possible to continue this thread.

SILENTTODD

SILENTTODD

When I want to be optimistic about what kind of world we can transition to (usually when I've been drinking), it's one filled with Bicycles!

Like the one I saw on TV of China in 1972 when Nixon made his historic visit. They had almost a Billion people THEN! and used a minute amount of oil compared with what we (the western world ) or they do today.
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Skeptical scrutiny in both Science and Religion is the means by which deep thoughts are winnowed from deep nonsense-Carl Sagan

Vegas

In a pinch an old steel fork makes a good DIY trueing stand.
Flip it up sidedown, clamp it to a table. Take a pair of brake calipers and grind down the bushing a little, so that when the bolt is tightened, they are not free moving. Insert a bit of metal in the place of the brake pad, this works with post-type brake claipers, not so with stud-type. Use one caliper for trueing, one for rounding.
Works with a couple of c-clamps too, just more fussy.
You have to bend the forks out a bit to stuff a rear wheel into it, front is 100mm, rear is 135mm, and a little file work for the difference in axel diamiter(9mm vs10mm).

If you true your own wheels, read up on it a bit. Trueing W/O rounding can make ya end up with an egg-shaped wheel.
Always tune spokes in pairs, tighten on one side, loosen on the other, for trueing. Tighten on both sides for rounding.
Never just run around the wheel tightening up the loose ones;)

Park makes good stands, I think they have a consumer stand for less than 100 bucks, but I aint sure. The park spoke wrench is a must have, very high quality.

One speed bikes are great, in denmark and iowa.

Alanintx · Coal Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 15

Don't forget to get a chainlink tool! Not much good to have extra chains without this $10 tool.

Anyway, cable, couple of extra rims, an inexpensive but durable complete drivetrain replacement (doesn't have to be Shimano, but not Wal-Mart cheap), couple of set of tires, as many tubes as you can buy. You will always be able to barter the tubes.

However, BEARINGS. Someone else mentioned it, but your bearings will be one of the first things to wear out. Without bearings, you bike will become as useful as your neighbor's Surburban. Actually less so, as with the Surburban you could make a chicken coop. These days, bottom brackets are sealed, so you need two of those in reserve.

And...patches. Tons and tons and tons of patches. And adhesive. I think one could probably have a very nice little business post peak just making very simple repairs--patching tubes, selling patched scavenged tubes, truing wheels.