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France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

cyclingweekly.com

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Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#161

Post by tiborsaas »

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Do most people really need $50 for bike maintenance? I think I've spent about $15 on my beater bike over the last couple years, just to buy a new tube and maybe some wd40. For the vast majority of people I would imagine that they don't maintain their bike at all, modern bikes hold together pretty well.

In the very next week, I'll get my 30y old bike getting painted, pedals, breaks replaced and wheels polished.

My company will cover the costs. Not that I couldn't pay for it, but it's a nice gesture to motivate us to use them, just like this French deal.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#162

Post by Scoundreller »

jabroni_salad wrote: post #71
GhostVII wrote: post #9

Do most people really need $50 for bike maintenance? I think I've spent about $15 on my beater bike over the last couple years, just to buy a new tube and maybe some wd40. For the vast majority of people I would imagine that they don't maintain their bike at all, modern bikes hold together pretty well.

You do see a lot of people riding beaters with flat tires and I get the impression that they do not really like riding their bike but it's better than walking. Seasonal tuneups are pretty popular for people who actually like riding and do so recreationally. Working with the cables and derailleur can be vexing if you don't know what you are doing. It's also nice to support a local business that serves your hobbies, bu…

I just use chainsaw oil.

1L for $5 and I’ll likely die before I use it up.

And an eBay sourced $3 applicator bottle. Or just re-use another oiler.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#163

Post by adwww »

cultus wrote: post #69
ogre_codes wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bikes tend to degrade slowly over time if you don't do regular maintenance. Most people don't notice the slow decline until it's quite bad when suddenly it feels like an unreliable POS. Giving people who are just a little frustrated with their bike might go a long way to helping keep people from getting to that point at least once.

This doesn't get enough attention in cycling promotion. One of the absolute biggest reasons that people aren't on their bikes is maintenance. Wheels go out of true, shifting gets wonky, and it starts to look like an unreliable form of transport. Sturdier commuter bikes help a lot with this, but every commuter seems to think they need a bike with super-light wheels and a thin, weak 12-speed chain.

> One of the absolute biggest reasons that people aren't on their bikes is maintenance

I wish that was the case.

The reason people are not on their bikes is because the roads are scary and we don't have nearly enough dedicated bike infrastructure.

(By "we" I mean the entire world with just a handful of European exceptions.)

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#164

Post by locallost »

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Do most people really need $50 for bike maintenance? I think I've spent about $15 on my beater bike over the last couple years, just to buy a new tube and maybe some wd40. For the vast majority of people I would imagine that they don't maintain their bike at all, modern bikes hold together pretty well.

Bikes wear out if you ride them daily. I also ride a cheap bike that doesn't have to work perfectly, but eventually everything breaks down. Even faster if you don't maintain them, and it will spread out to other parts if you don't replace the worn parts in time. Tires, brakes etc. just wear out in any case.

You can then either replace parts or get a new beat up bike that at least rolls (and stops) for $15, but that's not always realistic. I'm tall and need a large bike, and these are not always easy to find used.

tl;dr 50 is not a lot.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#165

Post by dkdk8283 »

com2kid wrote: post #121
NicoJuicy wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Often some beaten up thing they probably paid €30-200 for at a flea market or bike shop In Belgium, Belgian people buy mostly new ones in the range of 500-1000. People who don't earn much or students, buy the cheap/used bikes you mentioned. Electrical bikes are > 2000 € and pretty popular. In general, a whole family can bike together and it's very popular during the summer. We can bike were-ever we want during Covi…

One thing confused me about this. In major American cities bike theft is incredibly common, to the point that the police won't help at all. I've had bikes repeatedly stolen out of locked garages at home! I'd never buy a bike that was worth any reasonable amount of money, my commute pre-covid was a good candidate for an electric bike, but no way would I spend more than a 2 or 3 hundred dollars on something that will g…

Police regularly stopped and scanned bicycle serial numbers at caltrain stations in the bay area. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen this though.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#166

Post by lostlogin »

loeg wrote: post #129
ogre_codes wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reasons I think people like the bike share programs. The bikes are burly and slow, but they get the maintenance they need where they usually don't end up truly horrible.

In my experience they mostly don't get maintenance; they're just built extremely cheaply and treated as disposable. Various parts that are easy to break (derailleurs) are elided by using Internally-Geared Hubs (IGH). The wheels are non-pneumatic and just a solid piece of rubber, so they never go flat.

> Internally-Geared Hubs (IGH)

Just so good. I wish they had more gears. My older one has 8, and I see more on newer ones but not a lot.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#167

Post by soperj »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #127
Etheryte wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't agree with the original discussion points, I don't think this counterpoint has much merit. While France may not be "one of the richest" verbatim, there's no denying France is a rich first-world country. In the list you linked to, it ranks 25 out of 187 by the IMF estimate and similarly in other listings.

This was not a counterpoint point at all. More like bike-shedding meets strawman. There has not been any counterpoint to my comments yet, actually. My guess is because people have an emotional and ideological take on this: Cycling is good so giving money to fund repairs of bike has to be a positive measure as well. Except that it is not based on any economic or rational reasoning. I'm pretty certain that the only res…

How? they aren't even giving people the money. It's literally just for repairs. If anyone here is having an emotional/ideological take it would be you.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#169

Post by tomcooks »

loeg wrote: post #134
tomcooks wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can save further by patching air chambers with other air chambers, or better yet fit a ring of old air chamber between you tire and the air chamber, creating a thicker wall that it's harder to penetrate by debris, glass, nails, etc. You can get your tires pumped for free at most bike shops, gas stations, public bike repair stations. Use your saved up 50€ for beers or better yet give it to someone else so she can…

Inner tubes are like $1.50-$2 and with some commuter-friendly tough tires like Schwalbe Marathons or Conti Gator-skins you probably avoid most punctures to begin with. I would not recommend shoving a second inner tube in your tire, that will probably not seat well and may adversely affect handling. Real tube patchkits are also very inexpensive, there's no reason to bodge something together with old tubes.

Where you live probably.

Cycles 13k+ km and had no problem with second inner tube, it's pretty common. Your mileage might, literally, vary.

It's not about the money but about recycling, feel free to buy more if you like the market, cheers

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#170

Post by [deleted] »

loeg wrote: post #134
tomcooks wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can save further by patching air chambers with other air chambers, or better yet fit a ring of old air chamber between you tire and the air chamber, creating a thicker wall that it's harder to penetrate by debris, glass, nails, etc. You can get your tires pumped for free at most bike shops, gas stations, public bike repair stations. Use your saved up 50€ for beers or better yet give it to someone else so she can…

Inner tubes are like $1.50-$2 and with some commuter-friendly tough tires like Schwalbe Marathons or Conti Gator-skins you probably avoid most punctures to begin with. I would not recommend shoving a second inner tube in your tire, that will probably not seat well and may adversely affect handling. Real tube patchkits are also very inexpensive, there's no reason to bodge something together with old tubes.

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