Originally Posted by
pinkrobe
I don't do much maintenance on my bikes other than putting air in the tires and lubing the chain. My Cervelo requires the least maintenance, despite the 10-speed cassette and copious amounts of carbon and alloys. In terms of saddle time, I spend the most on it in any given year. My Trek requires the most maintenance, but it gets rode hard and put away wet all winter. It also lives outside the back door and gets exposed to +35C days, -35C nights, hail, snow, rain, dust, bird poop and cat scratching.
My experiences are similar but I have a cheapo racing bike that's only got a few carbon bits. I think we imagine commuting to be a tough and grueling life for a bike and in some cases it is. But in terms of sheer mileage, it's the racing bikes that see most of the action. So while some complain that racing bikes are finicky and fragile, it's often not the case. My guess is that maintenance saving things like sealed bearings started out in the racing world.
Anyway the "racing" bike I use as my commuter for 8 months of the year requires much less maintenance than the poor mountain bike that gets doused with salt and grit during winter, - even though I put far less miles on it. I may may convert an old road bike to a single speed and give that a shot this winter.