3 ms·

> but a courier or serious roadie could wear it out in a matter of weeks worked as a cycle courier for almost 3 years here, full-time (6 days a week) + a commu

by luqtas 2y ago

> but a courier or serious roadie could wear it out in a matter of weeks worked as a cycle courier for almost 3 years here, full-time (6 days a week) + a commute of 20 Km (back and forth) as my parents lived in the suburb, wasn't rare to work in the rain (113 days of sun in a year)... NO FUCKING WAY you can destroy a bicycle chain in a matter of weeks! unless you don't know how gears work, which i doubt couriers don't know (and most of them use single/fixed gears, which the chain is waaay sturdier than 8,9,10 speed ones) still have my +20,000 Km without previous experience 'hand' centered/aligned aluminum entry category wheels on my 1996 road frame

ericyd 2y ago
I didn't know fixed speed bikes were popular among couriers. Do you know if this is regional? I've always thought fixed speed would be a nightmare in somewhere with any elevation gain like the hills of San Fransisco. Or, is fixed speed with electric assist the combination that makes this tolerable?
- luqtas 2y ago
  Brazil here... city had lots of hills tho i always said it was a 'mild hilly city', my cycles when i measured were around 700-2000 meters of altimeter, between 35-60 kilometers; sometimes we had bad days of few workers (motor and bicycle), so they had to send bicycles far away from the center (which was flat). i remember 3 or 4 people having fixed gears, some single (i had one for a short time, with a ratio of 1.6 or 1.8:1 i think) speed but the vast majority used gears didn't read much on the internet but fixed gears is quite popular among couriers in flat cities (London, NY). maintenance is simple and cheap. salaries are quite low too :) i never saw an electric fixed gear bicycle, nor much electric bicycles down here (i can remember only 1 guy with an electric bicycle back in 2017 and never saw him working much... maybe it was a occasional teen worker that was there to get some dime for parties (we had a bunch of them)). lately people here ride four-stroke engine adapted bicycles... it's quite rare to find a human-powered bicycle courier nowadays. basically Ycombinator liberated a grand for a super anti-competitive and non-ethical company (Rappi) and they destroyed the local courier scene here, later Uber also entered the scene. now you either work on a motorcycle (which also got effected) or you probably be working as most people back in my days; if you don't love cycling in 3 or 4 months MAX. you will give up from the job and you are doing strictly as an extra income or till you find something better (basically any legal job as far as i know)
- 0_____0 2y ago
  People have ridden fixed in SF for decades. I have as well. You learn to prefer certain routes, and when the hill is steep, you just deal with the low cadence.
sudosysgen 2y ago
I can certainly wear out a bicycle chain in a matter of weeks. If you use a fixed gear bike, your tolerances for chain wear are far looser and you can always adjust the spacing to compensate. But for anyone using a modern drivetrain, you will rapidly wear the chain to the point where it will damage the cassette fast enough for it to be economical to replace the chain in order to avoid replacing the expensive cassette (and having poor shifting/skipping cogs). On an e-bike you can wear your chain even faster, especially if you stay on the small gear too much. At the end of the day it's not really an issue though, a chain is 10-15$. That said you're right about the frame lasting far beyond, a good aluminum frame could certainly last over 100'000km
- idunnoman1222 2y ago
  Agreed except for the aluminum frame wears is out after 10 years, and fails spectacularly
  - sudosysgen 2y ago
    While this kind of failure is certainly not unheard of, it's not exactly the norm for good quality frames in my experience; I've had quite a few old and well used but high quality frames. One of my frames did start to crack, but it is now 35 years old - it's an Olmo record
idunnoman1222 2y ago
Wrong you should change your chain every couple weeks if you ride eight hours a day otherwise you’re going to wear your cassette and then you are going to be skipping, and need to change the whole drive chain. Which is why fixed gear is popular among couriers the chain is thicker and the whole drive chain can wear together
- luqtas 2y ago
  chain rotation is nice, makes them even last longer..! you can also don't do it and fit a new chain when the 1° is over in an 'old' cassette and after some gentle rides it'll settle there and stop skipping (at least 2-3 times till the cassette comes to an end). you can even rotate the crank cog when you change your chain, so you have less tear as the crank arm tends to make pressure in only some parts of the cog (aka. concentric movements)... but i can't see a case where you destroy a chain in weeks, with our without rotation, doesn't matter if you are a 100 kilos or a 55. maybe without doing any cleaning and no oil, still i have my doubts as i rode for some months as a test, with my chain without oil just to check how much it would last! in my defense i cleaned it every other day or on a daily basis if there was rain (also i had mudguards)
0_____0 2y ago
If properly cared for, and under common urban all-weather cycling conditions, yeah your chain is going to last for more than a few weeks. 1500 miles is what I get on my 12sp MTB chains, which get exposed to more severe service than urban bikes do. I have taken a chain from new to letting the .5 gauge barely slip through on the chain checker in about a week though. It required riding through all manner of mud and crap for about 18 hours a day during an ultradistance race.

by luqtas 2y ago

ericyd 2y ago

I didn't know fixed speed bikes were popular among couriers. Do you know if this is regional? I've always thought fixed speed would be a nightmare in somewhere with any elevation gain like the hills of San Fransisco. Or, is fixed speed with electric assist the combination that makes this tolerable?

luqtas 2y ago
Brazil here... city had lots of hills tho i always said it was a 'mild hilly city', my cycles when i measured were around 700-2000 meters of altimeter, between 35-60 kilometers; sometimes we had bad days of few workers (motor and bicycle), so they had to send bicycles far away from the center (which was flat). i remember 3 or 4 people having fixed gears, some single (i had one for a short time, with a ratio of 1.6 or 1.8:1 i think) speed but the vast majority used gears didn't read much on the internet but fixed gears is quite popular among couriers in flat cities (London, NY). maintenance is simple and cheap. salaries are quite low too :) i never saw an electric fixed gear bicycle, nor much electric bicycles down here (i can remember only 1 guy with an electric bicycle back in 2017 and never saw him working much... maybe it was a occasional teen worker that was there to get some dime for parties (we had a bunch of them)). lately people here ride four-stroke engine adapted bicycles... it's quite rare to find a human-powered bicycle courier nowadays. basically Ycombinator liberated a grand for a super anti-competitive and non-ethical company (Rappi) and they destroyed the local courier scene here, later Uber also entered the scene. now you either work on a motorcycle (which also got effected) or you probably be working as most people back in my days; if you don't love cycling in 3 or 4 months MAX. you will give up from the job and you are doing strictly as an extra income or till you find something better (basically any legal job as far as i know)
0_____0 2y ago
People have ridden fixed in SF for decades. I have as well. You learn to prefer certain routes, and when the hill is steep, you just deal with the low cadence.

sudosysgen 2y ago

I can certainly wear out a bicycle chain in a matter of weeks. If you use a fixed gear bike, your tolerances for chain wear are far looser and you can always adjust the spacing to compensate. But for anyone using a modern drivetrain, you will rapidly wear the chain to the point where it will damage the cassette fast enough for it to be economical to replace the chain in order to avoid replacing the expensive cassette (and having poor shifting/skipping cogs). On an e-bike you can wear your chain even faster, especially if you stay on the small gear too much. At the end of the day it's not really an issue though, a chain is 10-15$. That said you're right about the frame lasting far beyond, a good aluminum frame could certainly last over 100'000km

idunnoman1222 2y ago
Agreed except for the aluminum frame wears is out after 10 years, and fails spectacularly
- sudosysgen 2y ago
  While this kind of failure is certainly not unheard of, it's not exactly the norm for good quality frames in my experience; I've had quite a few old and well used but high quality frames. One of my frames did start to crack, but it is now 35 years old - it's an Olmo record

idunnoman1222 2y ago

Wrong you should change your chain every couple weeks if you ride eight hours a day otherwise you’re going to wear your cassette and then you are going to be skipping, and need to change the whole drive chain. Which is why fixed gear is popular among couriers the chain is thicker and the whole drive chain can wear together

luqtas 2y ago
chain rotation is nice, makes them even last longer..! you can also don't do it and fit a new chain when the 1° is over in an 'old' cassette and after some gentle rides it'll settle there and stop skipping (at least 2-3 times till the cassette comes to an end). you can even rotate the crank cog when you change your chain, so you have less tear as the crank arm tends to make pressure in only some parts of the cog (aka. concentric movements)... but i can't see a case where you destroy a chain in weeks, with our without rotation, doesn't matter if you are a 100 kilos or a 55. maybe without doing any cleaning and no oil, still i have my doubts as i rode for some months as a test, with my chain without oil just to check how much it would last! in my defense i cleaned it every other day or on a daily basis if there was rain (also i had mudguards)

0_____0 2y ago

If properly cared for, and under common urban all-weather cycling conditions, yeah your chain is going to last for more than a few weeks. 1500 miles is what I get on my 12sp MTB chains, which get exposed to more severe service than urban bikes do. I have taken a chain from new to letting the .5 gauge barely slip through on the chain checker in about a week though. It required riding through all manner of mud and crap for about 18 hours a day during an ultradistance race.