Advice on a Ridley Crossbow Please

UphillBen

I suffer severe depression, 2 weeks ago I bought a previously-loved Ridley Crossbow for £400 - to ride away the pain. I've been out every day since then for an hour of road and/or track riding, it's brought the sunshine back. Love it!

At some point before I bought it, someone has swapped the std wheels for a pair of Easton EA70s, I broke my first drive-side spoke on Saturday. I've just been told that these wheels are notorious for losing spokes, it's costly to buy new spokes, and that a new set of wheels is going to cost £3-500.

I really think that cycling is the answer for me, but I have a family to feed, so not looking for ways to spend money. I don't know a lot about bikes.

Should I hold onto the Ridley, replace the wheels for £300 and chalk it up to experience, bringing the cost up to the price of a new low-end bike?
Or should I fix the spoke, sell the bike for £400 (hope) and buy a new Kona Jake for £700?

All and any advice appreciated

Thanks[/b]

BelgianBeerGeek

Hi Ben, you have posed a bit of tough one!

Don't really know what riding you do, but unless you are throwing your bike off a cliff regularly most wheels are fairly tough. Breaking a spoke is not the end of the world, take the wheel (or even whole bike) to your local bike shop and have a chat with them. They are generally good guys and if they don't want to chat then beware (others will know more about your local bike shop than me). Also worth asking if they can measure you to the bike - I'm assuming you have the right size?

Ridley make great bikes and you may already have the makings of a competition winning bike. Go ahead and ask both face to face and even on here..

Ben, I too have been where you are and cycling has been one of my ways to getting back on track...all the best mate, wherever cycling may take you

veronese68

I don't think you need to spend that much on wheels. The wheels on a kona Jake probably aren't that much. I've got one and the wheels seem quite robust but aren't particularly light. I think Spa cycles are quite good for buying wheels. You could just replace the back wheel for now.

shouldbeinbed

Replace the spoke, have the wheel properly tensioned & trued and see how it goes. Once one spoke goes & isnt properly replaced its like dominoes going over. Do you knoe the maintenance & service history of the bike?

+1 on cycling to fight depression, cycling helped me a lot and was strongly pushed by my GP & counsellor when I talked about it.