Does it get better?
 

I bought a Trek 7300 in 2003. I rode it about 90 miles and got in a bad car accident (not on the bike, car on car.) So it sat in my garage for years until a few months ago. I put some new oil on the chain, replaced the tubes - still had a brand new bike. Rode it another 170 miles since then. Chain broke - wheels lost true, hub got rough, tires started coming apart - all in all, the bike costs about $2.75 per mile to operate. ;)

Are all of these issues just age related? Seems like every other day I've got this thing clamped into my repair stand and I find myself driving when I want to ride. I'm really hoping I can get this buttoned down and only put air in the tires for the next thousand miles. Is that realistic?

Bicycles, like anything else mechanical, require periodic maintenance, based on both miles and time. Rubber dry rots, grease hardens, metal oxidizes. This is just the realities of the world. Is there a bicycle that you can jump on and ride 1,000 miles with only putting air in the tires? None that I have found in my 58 years on this third rock from the sun. Even if you don't ride on gravel paths or off-road, dirt gets on your bike, and when it meets metal, it is like grinding grit that wears moving parts.

Much like an automobile, a bicycle requires regular maintenance. The quality of bike you start out with, how you ride it (think things like "bunny-hopping" curbs here) and such are all going to have a bearing on how frequently you'll need to maintain things, but even a bike hanging from hook in the shed or garage deteriorates with age.

Remember too when buying replacement parts, that what you spend up front may have a bearing on durability. Those ten dollar tires may seem like a bargain until you discover that every ride includes a stop for a patch or tube swap out. The more complicated the bike is also has a cost effect. Front suspension may be way cool until it stops working as designed. In this respect, the simplest quality design that gets the job at hand accomplished will be the best bike for you down the road.

You ride on the street, and maybe an occasional excursion on a path? A full suspension, downhill bike, with all the bells and whistles is expensive overkill that will cost in added dollars and hours of maintaining it. Of course, the opposite is true as well. If you are an X-Games fanatic, spending your time trying to jump park benches and picnic tables, a lower end hybrid is going to get torn to shreds and become a maintenance nightmare.

Hope this helps provide some answers. Good luck!

Thanks, yeah, I really feel the sentiment for spending money on good components. I'm going to look for a mid grade replacement chain, SRAM looks nice. I put Bontrager hardcase tires on it. (Even downsizing my tires, I can feel the difference. They should have called them Bontrager: Exercise edition instead ;) ) I'm just hoping I can avoid spending any more money on it, at least for a while, outside of regular maintenance. Sorry for the rant, it's just obnoxious when I planned on spending most of my vacation riding the bike, but it ended up broken/needing parts/unrideable every other day!

I try to be nice to my bike - avoid potholes, curbs, etc. It does have a suspension fork. I'm waiting for that to give out/fail and I'll replace it with a solid one.

Well, like everything, this could be argued. Its hard to get a grip of how much your bike was damaged. Sure, components can be fragile but they are not kid glove fragile. Most components, my experience on Shimano that is, are sturdy and tough if frequently and properly looked after. On my hybrid from 2002 the Acera (considered low end) rear derailleur is my most impressive piece of cycling gadget in my house (and I´ve got stuff people would pay handsomely for). I´ve thrown just about everything at it, even converted to drops and made compatible with Sora brifters, and it still works like new.
Firstly, its about the builder of the bike - if they got a hunch as to what the bike should do or be, they built it rightly without un-necessary bling-bling. Secondly, maintenance will never harm any kind of technical device. A ten year old bike isnt by any means old. It should withstand some beating.

I purchased a Trek 2200 in 2003. I rode it a while (500 miles?) and then my knees decided to be mean to me. The bike sat in my garage, out of sunlight but still getting temperature cycles (40-85 in Nor Cal weather). I started riding the bike again in 2009. I just added oil to the chain. No problems. After 1000 miles in, I replaced the tires since they seemed a bit dry on the edges and I didn't want to risk tire failure. I had a 2 mph "fall" that resulted in a broken shoulder. No real bike damage, just some twisting of shifters. I then got the $80 tune up and the shifting felt even smoother. As I have to replace parts, I'll look for the sweet spot where you get better quality for the price, but aren't paying extra $ to shave off 100gm of weight.