In December I ordered the Dawes SST (not AL, steel). I've been riding around 250 miles a month. I clean/lube the chain every 200 miles or so. I don't do maintenance other than that, really.

How long does it have before something goes wrong? What will be the first thing I have to replace? I'm new to bike maintenance and I'm not sure what all I should be doing, so tell me what I'm doing wrong (other than telling me to buy a Kilo TT). Because this is a low-end bike from BD, is there anything I should be especially worried about?

You will probably need to replace the chain after a few thousand miles, but you'll need to ride more than 250 a month for that to approach quickly.


You want to have the hubs repacked and properly adjusted because out of the box they are usually too tight. Same goes for the headset

I got about 1,000 miles on mine before it was stolen.... No big deal, got it just to see if I liked SSFG, now I ride a Kilo WT - I'm only a commuter.

Problems I noticed: Wheels are really cheap. I had issues with truing and spokes breaking. A wheel upgrade is probably one of the first things you will need. Second thing is the bottom bracket. It started acting up 800 miles in and I was planning on replacing just before it was stolen.

Bike is cheap for a reason and it is the components. Frame will last a long time, just replace cheap components with decent parts when the time comes and the bike should last a long time.

You should be able to get several tens of thousands of miles out of the whole bike, except consumables (chain, tires, tubes, brake pads, bar tape). Wheels generally go out of true and spokes fail because the wheelset wasn't properly stress relieved and retensioned when they were built. It has little to do with how "cheap" the wheels are. Have your wheels professionally finished (or learn to do it yourself) before things start to go wrong and you will never need to mess with them again.

Yeah, the wheels are already out of true a bit. What was wrong with your BB?


Thanks for replying, everyone Would it even be worth it to upgrade the components on this bike? Not that I really have the money to, but would upgrading the wheelset be smart or is getting them re-tensioned/trued enough?

I think you should keep doing your thing until something actually breaks. It wouldn't be a bad idea nor expensive to get your wheel professionally trued/tensioned though.

I tried emailing my LBS but they didn't respond. What's it usually cost, $20 per wheel?

thats as much as I've ever paid

Bike shops generally are really bad at email, but any shop worth going to is great at talking in person.