[bikeqld] Bikeshop... "you've flogged it"

[Ian Lister]

On Wed, 4 Feb 2009, Peter Whittle wrote:
> If the frame is fine, you can make it a decent bike again, and even upgrade
> to better brakes, better gears, or whatever is stuffed. What exactly is
> stuffed? Chances are it's brake pads, cables and housing, chain, cassette
> and the middle ring only, and these are inexpensive on lower/mid range
> bikes, if you shop well - and they are consumables that you should be
> counting on replacing periodically anyway (along with oil).
[snip]

I was surprised to hear yesterday from my LBS that I should replace 
my cables and housing every six months. No doubt that's at the more 
frequent end of the scale, but I had always thought of them as lasting 
many years.

Is component life generally getting shorter, or am I just becoming a 
better consumer? Has the continuous reduction in weight and size (e.g. 
chain width) caused this, is it a case of designing components to be 
consumable rather than long-lasting, or has it always been this way? Am I 
just a cheap old b.stard for not wanting to replace a signficant portion 
of the parts on my bike every six months?

Ian