That was you? Well ... thanks!

From where I stand, this has lots to do with the transient nature of college life in my area as well as milineal culture.

College kids here treat bikes like there Ikea furniture, post on craigslist and hope for the best. If not, they head back home and leave it on the curb. In some ways, I get it. Shipping a bike back to your hometown for the summer is a PITA and more expensive frankly than just leaving it locked to a pole and starting over again in the fall.

I finally paid cash last year after buying a string of new cars (apartment living and no time to deal with clunkers). After doing about 20 hours of work on it I felt like I accomplished something (tires, struts, timing belt). Felt good, almost like being a teen again.

I do remember college days...if it didn't fit in my pickup,
it was dumpster bound. Many of these kids buy too much throughout the year and realize they need to completely vacate their dorm within a week of finals, no time to sell anything...and the market is flooded with crap from like minded students so they can't get a decent price anyways. The best place and time to dumpster dive is after finals week at your local college.

Here in Madison, college move-out week is referred to as Hippie Christmas.

Like many other items, they became disposable when it got cheaper to buy a new one than fix the old one. Unfortunately this is happening with just about everything. Manufacturers have figured out they can charge ridiculous prices for spare parts and labor (local labor at least) is a lot so the guy that can't fix his kids bike is looking at 75 bucks for a minor repair and for that he can get another walmart special.

Same thing happening with appliances, electronics, and so many other things.

I wonder if some of the parents want it that way. They don't want those cheapo goods sitting in their basement--easier to buy another set of things come next semester. Or they don't have space for it.

I wonder more about where all the kid bike riders have gone. In my neighborhood, I rarely see a young person on a bike. Never an adult.

I suspect the only disposable bikes are the department store ones when new bicyclists discover what they really want to ride.

I kept a $700 car going for 3 years and nearly 200,000 miles on less than $1500 worth of maintenance and repairs. I see people take on a $40k+ debt all the time because they need something "reliable," ignoring that their down payment would have bought two solid used cars, giving them a spare in case something does go wrong.

As for big box bikes, IMO, part of the problem is that the stores that carry them don't carry most of the things needed to maintain them. Wally World will happily sell you a Kent Road Tech 700C that they don't sell the tires for. Good luck finding a cone wrench, crank remover or BB tool outside of a good bike shop. I had to raise a stink with a manager at WM to get them to go back to carrying a cheap chain breaker by pointing out that the Bell chains they carry say right on the package "chain tool needed." (Snapped the pin off my favorite chain tool trying to fix a broken chain a mile from WM during a commute. Ended up borrowing a hammer and nail from a construction worker in their parking lot to shorten the new chain.) Especially if someone is dependent on the bike, $150 to just replace it and not miss 2-3 days of work waiting for parts to be shipped in is a good deal, especially if the parts are going to be $50 or more.

Well, if you had nice, sunny days I'd tell you to look around during one, but then I saw where you are.

Perfect riding weather here more than 8 months a year. It's not the weather that keeps the young people off bicycles. My guess is youth bike sales are less than they were 10 years ago.


I used to live in CA, got tired of all the sunny days without a cloud in the sky.
Anything over 80 is HOT. Have a burnt summer in that great TX weather.
Give me green + mountains.


edit: Saw your June will average about 90, Seattle will be about 70. Fly northwest and I'll take you on some long routes where you don't fry.

I think the lack of riders is due to the orbiting parent.

Growing up I would never walk to see friends, I always rode my big wheel, and later bicycle. I am 44 and we still went to the local school (a mile away). Nowadays fewer kids are given the freedom to just ride or have a place to go to. In addition, I believe many kids don't go to their 'home' school due to ratings, or some other reason... while I am desperately trying to get my kids on their bikes, there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day for them to get the confidence they need... they're in day care till 6pm. (I still try!)

Putting that aside,
I would ride to scouts, baseball practice, school, friends houses, the lbs, everywhere. Today Mom's and Dad's are either too eager to taxi...or required to (which irritates me as the kids lack Independence and problem solving skills).

I work at a community college and see Mommy's and Daddy's dropping off twenty-somethings every day. Pathetic.

Is this the 50-plus forum?

I gotta +1,000 this statement.


True story from last summer. Anything between the 'quotes' are the man's own phrases. He's a very nice neighbor.
A 36yo fit 'runner' who has been an 'off and on cyclist' decides to spend more time on a bike and is tired of his 15 year old alum roadie. Does his research and ends up with a dept store hybrid, 700c wheels, 38mm tires, flat bars w ends, some Shimano parts. Says it's 'the best value for money spent', and 'the best one in the store'.
And that's fine, no problem - I agree with it all.


After a few weeks of 'training', he wants to go on a 'fast ride' with a small group. Where he went and how well he did, I don't know. Next time I see him the hybrid has clipless pedals and clip-on aero bars, and he is now a proponent of getting aero on his rides.


A month later he is dejected - 'can't keep up' etc. Well, after adjusting one of my bikes (a nice one with tubies) to fit him, I convince him to go for a ride on 'the Old Man's steel bike'. We go for a ride and after getting used to Campy Ergo, this guy is seriously a strong rider. He now owns a mid-level carbon fiber with tubulars - and he keeps up. 'Best value for the money' went out the window, or at least seemed to be coming from a different point of view.


He does not keep what he does not use. The hybrid is a goner = disposable.


As always, YMMV. ......with apologies for the long story.

They're ALL 50-plus forums.

I dunno. I hear your point, but Walmart doesn't sell all the parts I need to service my vehicles. They only sell that which they can move. I can hardly blame them.

But you're right, it wouldn't kill 'em to have a some of the common tools.

No apologies needed, it's a good story. In some ways it seems prudent: a good amount of mid and even high end bikes on CL appear to be barely used. Imagine if your friend had gone the other way around.

Is that where Tiger Woods spent the night......?
Nice jail facilities.

We've been living in a disposable society for over 30 years. It's harder to find a fixit place to fix your tv or small appliances. And if you can find someone to fix it, odds are a new one will just cost a tiny bit more, and odds are, what you're trying to repair isn't some vintage antique, so you wind up getting rid of it and springing for a new one.

I still hold on to my cars for 10-15 years or more, whereas most of my neighbors, family, and friends are leasing and getting rid of a car every three years. My Mom does buy her cars outright, no leasing or financing, and still gets a new one every three years.

Talking about college kids moving out, the other part of this disposable problem is the animals they leave behind. That's way worse than a bike left behind.

As an budding curmudgeon, let me rant about fasteners in general ... too many small appliances are built with fasteners that can only removed with non-existent tools, or without damaging the connection point so they cannot even be replaced with simple screws. Then the only answers are glue or duct tape.

Personally I am starting top mix not being around a college with dorms ... I am in the mood to pick up some cheap parts to play with.

Cone wrench for the ungreased hubs? Something to get into the ungreased cup-and-cone BB of most WM bikes? Those both should be done before actually riding the thing. Tires are also an obvious maintenance need, and they sell chains but didn't carry a chainbreaker for a while there. They also carry cable sets, but only V brake pads.

Our world is in a disposable mindset I picked up a 25 year old riding mower a couple of parts and some adjustments and it is good for a few more years most garden tillers sold today are junk I finally broke down and bought a European walking tractor and a tiller attachment to have something I could depend on and repair. Most kids today think they above working with their hands. Guess that comes from having everything handed to them . when I was a teenager If I asked for something I usually got the name of the local farmer needing help
Roy

I picked up a pile of bike goodies off CL from a well-to-do neighborhood. The fellow selling let me know the wheels I was taking were replaced by a set of carbon Mavics he garbage picked from his neighbor, when they upgraded to a better wheelset

Wish I lived in a place like that!

Never seen "Demolition Man"? Underrated film.