Decision time...

Sailorchick

...do I fix up my carrera subway or get a new bike.

Carrera needs a new chainset, gears are naffed (long time since they've got anywhere near a smooth change) and brake cables etc all need replacing.
My maintenance skills are minimal and the husband is getting p'd off forever having to adjust my bike (brakes stick all the time, including 5 min after they've been adjusted). So I either pay lots of money to my lbs to fix it up or bribe the hubby to do the work and I buy the bits.

Or, I buy a new bike.

So how much is doing up the carrera likely to set me back? Is it actually worth it? The carrera is 3 years old and is my main commuting bike.

EKE_38BPM

Easy, fix up the Carrera and buy a new bike for sunday best.

Sailorchick

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Easy, fix up the Carrera and buy a new bike for sunday best.

I have a sunday best bike - specialised dolce.

Jay dubbleU

keep getting hubby to fix the brakes - he'll get so fed up he'll buy you a new bike

king_jeffers

Sailorchick wrote:

My maintenance skills are minimal.

Same here - pending finances I would get a new one.

....Unless you really enjoy doing the maintenance part. If you do still get a new bike and keep the old one for experiments :twisted:

Sailorchick

Can't see hubby getting me a new bike (he's saving up for a roadie for himself and I have cyclescheme available to me soon)

He's also a rubbish teacher of bike maintenance. Probably because he's a fairly practical person he doesn't get why I don't understand and then get's p'd off with me.

Maybe new bike, and very slowly do the carrera up a bit (make it a winter hack bike) as a learning project.

SimonAH

This is a little tough for me as I'm a little like your husband. Because this sort of stuff is all pretty obvious to a mind with an engineering bent I get frustrated with folks who don't 'get' it and make a lousy teacher.

BUT why not locate your local re-cycle group? If it's anything like the guy who runs the Newport one you'll find a free, patient teacher with a community based workshop who'll step-by-step you through the process as you fix your own bike.

You'll come away with a sorted bike and the know-how to do it yourself next time - and if you leave a donation it will be going to a very good cause.

rolf_f

Thing is, it doesn't take long for a bike to start getting a bit off tune. So, unless you learn how to sort it, or don't mind taking it along to someone who can on a regular basis, all buying a new bike will achieve is having the same problem more expensively in 6 months.

It's fine to buy a new bike because you want one, but not because you have neglected the one you already own!

cjcp

What SimonAH said. My Spesh Rockhopper is in a similar state to yours (except it's a 2002 bike). I don't want to get rid of it and it's too easy to go out an buy a new bike - there's a challenge in doing it up cheaply.

supertwisted

Why not do the work yourself? Parktool.com and Sheldonbrown will teach you everything you need to service your bike, It takes nowt more than common sense and a methodical approach.

davis

I think you have to learn bike maintenance yourself. Even a new one will need fettling from time to time, so adding a new bike to the fleet won't make the maintenance problem go away; it'll just delay it for a while before shifting it to a different bike. I'm completely self-taught using Sheldon Brown, Park Tools, the odd manual, and just playing about, and I successfully built a bike.

If your other half isn't that good at teaching, then you're going to have to learn it by yourself. It really isn't that hard, and most of the problems your Carrera's developed would be sortable by inner+outer cables, and brake pads. (That's a bit of a generalization and a over-estimate of the work required, but I'd bet that would fix it)

If you get stuck, there's always the workshop forum.

Vegeeta

Personally, I'd look at getting a new bike.

There's nothing wrong with Carrera Subway frames, but from what you're describing a fair few of the parts are starting to get worn and on a bike like that quite often it's good money after bad.

You haven't said much about what your actual commute is like (hills, distance etc) but given the type of bike you've got and the problems you're having I'd recommend something like a Trek Soho...

http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/to ... oho/soho/#

Sailorchick

Thanks for all the advice, sounds like I need to learn better maintenance for it. There is a cycle event at Weston shore this weekend with DrBike there so I reckon I'll get his opinion on exactly what I need to fix/replace and cost before finally deciding what to do to it.

My commute is 3.5 miles when I do the direct route and fairly hilly (one hill in particular is short but very steep - most cyclists walk it!) When my carrera was in good nick I would do longer routes home, upto about 11 miles I think is my longest. At the moment with the bike riding awful I don't enjoy riding it so just do the direct route.