Originally Posted by
Big M
As a car enthusiast, I used to always tweak and tune my car. Most others will look at a car as a mere appliance, and tweak nothing, as you described.
Bike riders may tend to be enthusiasts, and therefore more in touch with their bike's finer points. Especially if you're active on BikeForums.
My bike, I used to just get on and ride, not caring or noticing that the derailleur skips 3 gears at a time and that there's a constant clicking on the chain ring. Then again, I barely rode it much until I got into it this year.
It's all about your level of enthusiasm.
+1
Before I had kids, I used to do 95% of the maintenance on our cars. I was into cars at the time and I can tell you I spent a lot more time on the cars than I do on bikes.
When I first started commuting I wasn't really into bikes that much. It was just transportation in the way most people view their cars. I didn't care of the shifting wasn't optimal or if the rims weren't perfectly true.
Now I'm more of an enthusiast and spend more time working on the bikes. I enjoy it and it's a much less time consuming hobby than cars were because bikes are so simple by comparison.
The exposed components on bikes means more maintenance for things like chains but that's not entirely because of the racing influence. It's because most of the market considers cycling to be a fair weather activity.
It's good that low maintenance items IGH's and drum brakes are available. It's also good that you can get really light weight bikes, - not just for speed, but for ease of ownership. Portability is something that's very important to many commuters. I've watched women struggle getting their bikes into the racks on our light rail train line. I had a woman ask me just last weekend about a bike I was selling. She wanted to know if it was light enough for her to easily carry up two flights of stairs to her apartment.
One point of contention in my family was eliminated when I got a lighter bike that I can easily hang from the rafters in our garage each evening. Now I don't need room on the floor and a clear path maintained from where I kept it to the door. I can carry my new bike over my head easily.
If racing plays a role in making lighter bikes available and more affordable, I'm happy for it's influence.
I'd say for most commuters, unless they're commuting in nasty environments like salty slush covered roads, a regular tune-up and going over at an LBS once or twice or year is probably all they need aside from keeping air in the tires.