Originally Posted by
wahoonc
When you only have one bike that is being used as a commuter the above process would only allow you to ride the bike maybe once a week if it keeps getting nicked up.
It is a bicycle, it is meant to be used and in the cases of most commuters it will unfortunately suffer some abuse.
Aaron
You don't need to inspect your bike every 5 minutes for a nick or scratch, you do so as part of regular maintenance, you wash your bike say once a week, take care of the nicks and scratches that have accumulated during the weeks riding. A nick on Monday will not rust out the tube by Saturday. Look for a rust inhibitor/primer in one, with a quick paint over time, give any nicks a shot, then later on give them the paint, one of the best tools, a small artists brush, that lets you daub on a small amount of paint. Give it the Sunday to dry throughly, and your ready to ride on Monday, you can do the finish work the next week.