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Maybe I've just had bad luck, but two of the bikes I've had have come apart. The derailleur gets misaligned for whatever reason. One of them I had to take to a

Maybe I've just had bad luck, but two of the bikes I've had have come apart. The derailleur gets misaligned for whatever reason. One of them I had to take to a shop because despite extensive experiment I could not get it to properly align, and I don't know that they did either. The other was perhaps just old - an '80's era steel frame road bike from a Sears catalogue I donated to a repair shop, and it eventually got exploded for parts. I suspect the third would've succumbed to the same fate. It may just be me mishandling them, but if they can't handle this style they're not fit to ride. :cool: Also I hate dropping gears in the middle of an intersection.

bagels 4y ago
They got a lot better if you were buying quality bikes (not department store bikes) in the 2000s. I have a road bike that has 20k miles that never needed shifting adjustments besides replacing worn out chainrings and chains.
- brnaftr361 4y ago
  I busted a Kona Splice's drive train, started ghost shifting and I couldn't figure out how to get it adjusted. I had a Cannondale that I never had problems with but it didn't get used a lot. Maybe it's hopping curbs? Can't be helped here, the roads just aren't designed for bike commuting and everybody has a lifted 3/4 ton they can't fineagle into their garage. It's lovely.
  - downut 4y ago
    "Maybe it's hopping curbs?" Can't see how that would affect the shifting, but if you are graceless you can beat up the wheels enough to cause them to get out of true. If you have my wheelsets, 32 spoke 3x on HED Belgium Plus rims that I built myself, you can hop curbs all you like. I do, and I ride non-technical dirt too. As for shifting, I've been riding for 45 years and have never had a problem with manual shifting, from the dark ages 5x2 speed to my current 9x3, 10x2 and 11x2 rides. Frankly I am happily shocked at the precision and durability of my newest bike, the 11x2, given the narrowness of the chain. After 2.5 years of 3x weekly 3000' climbing, including some dirt, riding through the winter, and the drive train is dirty, no missed shifts and no noise. Amazing. I would never have guessed that.

bagels 4y ago

They got a lot better if you were buying quality bikes (not department store bikes) in the 2000s. I have a road bike that has 20k miles that never needed shifting adjustments besides replacing worn out chainrings and chains.

brnaftr361 4y ago
I busted a Kona Splice's drive train, started ghost shifting and I couldn't figure out how to get it adjusted. I had a Cannondale that I never had problems with but it didn't get used a lot. Maybe it's hopping curbs? Can't be helped here, the roads just aren't designed for bike commuting and everybody has a lifted 3/4 ton they can't fineagle into their garage. It's lovely.
- downut 4y ago
  "Maybe it's hopping curbs?" Can't see how that would affect the shifting, but if you are graceless you can beat up the wheels enough to cause them to get out of true. If you have my wheelsets, 32 spoke 3x on HED Belgium Plus rims that I built myself, you can hop curbs all you like. I do, and I ride non-technical dirt too. As for shifting, I've been riding for 45 years and have never had a problem with manual shifting, from the dark ages 5x2 speed to my current 9x3, 10x2 and 11x2 rides. Frankly I am happily shocked at the precision and durability of my newest bike, the 11x2, given the narrowness of the chain. After 2.5 years of 3x weekly 3000' climbing, including some dirt, riding through the winter, and the drive train is dirty, no missed shifts and no noise. Amazing. I would never have guessed that.