Originally Posted by ItsJustMe

It's odd, I have a $300 bike with 14000 miles on it, and I've never had it down for repair. There's nothing on a bike that's all that hard to fix. The worst was when I stripped the pedal threads and had to go into town and buy a new crank. But even then, it was about 10 minutes to put the new crank on. Building the new wheel on the back by taking the old one apart first, I did that over the weekend so as not to risk not having a bike the next day.

I do have a car to fall back on, but I never have. I do drive it 4 or 5 times a year to work, if I have to pick up something very large or heavy near work, but never because my bike isn't working.

My wife does have a bike that I guess I could ride if it came down to it; I'd just have to move some lights over if needed, and toss my stuff in a backpack instead of panniers, and ride with platforms. And move the seat up quite a ways, but apart from that, it'd be fine.