Originally Posted by
wphamilton
Now that you've got a decent number of miles in and have reached a reasonable cost per mile how about an assessment? Particularly, we often assume that the single speed is a more reliable bike. It seems obvious, less complex equals more reliable, but that doesn't necessarily hold true. So in your experience with this bike, in the most general sense of the term, has it been a more reliable than your other rides?
I don't think that I've ridden enough miles yet to make an accurate comparison. I think 10,000 km will provide a more accurate reflection.
My current hunch is that the next parts requiring replacement will be:
1. front tire at around 2000km (1300 miles) which is OK for a cheap Kenda tire. Here there is no advantage with a SS bike.
2. chain at around 3000km (1900 miles). here, i believe that chain in under less stress as it always runs in a straight chain line and there's no lateral pressure on it.
I think that the real savings would come in as the chain/freewheel will last longer than a standard chain/cassette combo and will be less expensive to replace.
To be honest, I should get roughly 1 year out of the bike (3000km or so) with only replacing the original tires and possibly the chain.
Let's see what happens!