bike maintenance expendatures
 

First off when I got into biking I never knew maintenance had to be done on a bike other than breaks. I'm just wondering for those who commute year round what your expendatures are on maintenance and what things you replace on a yearly basis. This is from 6 months of riding so others may have spent a lot more than I have and I know the more expensive parts will have to be replaced some time too. Also clarify what bike you are riding to commute on too that would help a lot.

On the bike alone I've replaced...
(1)chain $16
(2) break pad sets $20
(3) intertubes $12
(1) set of fenders $38
(1) rear rack $20
(1) set of pedals $20

total= $126

This was in a six month period but I"m realizing that other things will have to be replaced especially my cogs, I rode them way too hard when I started riding.

No tools? I've spent more so far on tools than I have on parts. Of course, now that I have the tools I need, the parts expenditures will increase much more quickly.

A tank of gas is $50, so I'm not too worried about the cost of maintenance on the bikes. That said, I started acquiring tools in the 80's, and some of them actually still work! :) The tools I can't live without:
chain whip - $7 in 1987
Shimano cassette removal tool - $8 in 198?
Park Cable Cutters - $23 in 2002
Crank Puller - $5 in 1987
Hex keys - $19 in 2002 [+ various smaller sets since the 80's]
Crescent wrench, Phillips screwdriver, hammer, etc. - $various

In terms of routine expenditures, it's $7 for brake pads a couple of times each year, a couple of tubes at $4 and some red wine [$14-$50/bottle]. Note that the wine is for me, not the bike.

No tools yet I've used all of my dads tools for now. I asked for a lot of bike stuff for christmas and figured I could wait. What about cogs? how often do you replace them and how much do they usually cost?

Fenders, rack, and pedals can't really be considered maintenance items IMO. I buy lots of tubes and some tires. I mostly replace stuff early before things wear out.

My plastic pedals broke, I wouldn't normally concider it one either. Fenders do have a certain life though and then they need to be replaced.

A car registration and compulsory insurance here is around $1000 per year. By having replaced a car with my a bike I could literally buy a new $1000 bike every 12 months and still be saving.

Off the top of my head:

2-3 chains at $30 a pop.
A few sets of brake pads at $15 front and back
Two bottles of chain lube each year.


Plenty of misc parts that I wear out or break during wrecks. WAY more than the above in discretionary upgrades.

Ten cents a mile for replacement parts, ten cents a mile for replacing clothes and accessories.

Fenders and racks are maintenance?

At 4500 miles a year:
I go through 2-3 chains a year (1800 miles each). About $6 each.
Brake pads, maybe one set a year, $10. OK, $15 now that I'm running discs in the front.
Rear tire about one every 1.5 years, front every 3 or so, $25

$1 for a quart of SAE 30 motor oil and I'm set for about 3 years for chain lube. I've tried pro-link, and teflon sprays, and all manner of stuff and I still get 1800 miles on a chain, so to heck with it, I'm using 30 weight.

I bought a $300 bike and had to build a new rear wheel at about 2000 miles because the factory one was falling apart; that cost about $50 and shows no signs of failure at 12000 miles.

I replaced the bottom bracket ($15) at 12000 miles. I've replaced two freewheels now, but that was because I was stupid and let the chain go too long and wore out the freewheel. $13 each for the freewheels.

I replaced the crankset once ($30) because last winter when it got down to -20*F I decided to swap out my SPD pedals for platforms so I could wear hunting boots, and I stripped out the pedal threads. Hint: if it's super cold out and you have steel threaded into aluminum, heat the aluminum first before unscrewing.

Probably I should figure $30 a year for lighting; either a battery will die, or my HID lamp will need replacing or something eventually.

Fenders aren't really a maintenance item.

So guaranteed about $70 I guess, plus figure another $50 for stuff that's just going to come up periodically.

I haven't bought any new clothes at all this year. Some is starting to come unravelled so I need to do some stitching but I don't think I'll be buying anything much next year either for clothing.

I haven't been keeping a bikes long enough to do any real maintenance.

In the last year and a half I've done nothing but clean and lube a chain - as far as maintenance is concerned. Hopefully I will become happy enough with a bike that this will change though.

I just had to replace the headset bearings on my MTB. $8. woot. :)

It depends how many miles you ride each year.

I'd say you can get about 3,000 miles each out of chains and tires. I'm sure people will see this and tell me, "I get XX miles out of my chain/tires, so HA!." It all depends on what you buy and how you ride. 3,000 miles is a good rough estimate for me, though.

5,000 miles might be good for brake pads. I get more than that, but there aren't any long and/or steep descents around here.

I replace brake/shifter cables once a year. They're cheap, so why not? Bar tape might be replaced 1 or 2 times a year.

Two bottles of lube sounds about right. You'll also want some sort of cleaning product to get the old lube off.

I'm probably forgetting something. Since major repairs, broken items, etc. are tougher to predict, I'd just budget in maybe $100-200 a year and hope you don't crash.

Well I went to the bike store today to change my chain and I guess I've ridden my 3rd smallest cog way too much, I mashed the hell out of it in fact. So with a new chain It still skips and is hard to get in gear but not as bad as the chain I replaced it with. I can never get a strait answer with my cog questions. What tool do you need to take the cogs off and if I only need to replace 2 cogs do I order them online and how do I make sure it is the right size or should I just buy a new cogset that is going to last a lot longer than my previous one?

Ebay is your friend...

My LBS wanted $26 for a single SRAM chain... got two on Ebay for about $10 each
Got my last set of brake pads for .50/pair for Jagwire all weather pads

But then I'm willing to go to more trouble to save some cash. :D

OTOH, why? My cheap bike is going on 13000 miles with the original cables, which have never seen so much as a drop of oil, ridden year round for 3+ years now summer and winter (salt spray), and they still seem fine. I look at them but they're not fraying, though they have a healthy coat of surface rust on them. Certainly if they started to fray at all or even a single strand snapped, I'd replace them immediately. But for now everything still works smoothly, and I don't fix stuff that isn't broken.

1. If your chain/cassette are worn, you need to replace *both* or the old worn part will ruin the new one. I'd get another chain when you replace the cassette.
2. Low-end cassettes are cheap enough that you'll probably want to replace the whole thing. Besides, chances are some of the other cogs are worn too, and you'll also want a set of cogs that were designed to work together.
3. I think you need a chainwhip and lockring remover.
4. As for size, count the teeth on your largest and smallest cogs. You'll also need to know what kind of cassette you're looking for, whether you have a freewheel or a freehub, etc.

If you mention how old your bike is and what kind of rear derailer you have, it would be easier to tell you what you need.

Check this link too:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

If your going with that thought on fenders wouldn't they need to be counted $$$ wise when you replace them not when you first buy them? Otherwise you have to include your whole bike in that because eventually everything will wear out including potentially the frame.

Personally I go through
Tires 3x rear $120
Brake pads 2x $40
Chain 2x $80 (I have to use two chains due on my xtracycle)
Cassette 1 $30
Tubes 1 $3
Patch 1 $1???
$274
Hm.. I think that would be about 6k on my car just for gas so I'm cheaper then gas per mile wohoo! Now just don't ask me to list non maintenance items and I'll stay ahead of gas/insurance per a mile (no property tax on cars here)

I would rather not bother with the trouble to save cash. $30 isn't much money.
Plus, it is good to support ones LBS. At least I refrained from purchasing the top of the line SRAM 10 speed chain. Almost $60.

My MTB that I commute most of the winter on runs about 25 cents/km total outlays after 5 years.

I also XC race on the thing, so that outlay includes a few ********ly expensive parts being written off from mud and crashes, along with my inane "upgrades" that serve no real purpose other than bling.

My gut reaction to your list is that a lot of it isn't maintenance: it's additions. i.e fenders, rack, pedals (were they replacing dead ones or an upgrade?)

Less the fenders & rack, the bill was $68, about half. $11 per month. not bad ;)

personally, in 6 mo i generally go through:

chain - $15
tires - $60 (guessing hi here... I buy nice tires & current set is at 11 mo)
batteries - $5 (aaa's for blinkie)
brake pads - $6? (disc brakes, 11mo on current set, $12/set)

This is MAINTENANCE only, replacing what wears out.

that's all i can think of. Upgrades or additions, on the other hand, is more. I budget about $500/yr in total for bike stuff. Insurance on my toy sports car was about that. I figure it's money better spent on the bike ;)

I have a shimano tourney derailer, lol bet you never heard of that one and the cogs say shimano as well.

Boy, that's the truth. I did some research before buying the disc brake set for my front wheel, but what I DIDN'T check on was the cost of replacement pads. $20!!!! heck, I can almost buy car pads for less.

I went up on eBay and found 3rd party BB7 pads for $6, and bought two sets for $15 with shipping. They seem just as good as Avid pads, though I haven't worn out a set so I don't know for sure how long they'll last yet. They're not quite as pretty but they're flat, they fit, and the braking surface is clean and uniform, and I can't see the pads after they're installed anyway so who cares?