Cycling paradoxes

My Sharona

So it would seem that in this city, cycling requires great agility and skill to avoid death/injury etc, but on the other hand, the possibility of extracting decent mileage from a good quality bike is almost nil due to risk of theft. What's a cyclist to do? Buy a decent bike every couple of years and regard it as expendable, or make do with a banger and put up with the difficulties this entails? Any thoughts perhaps on disguising a bike's value or decent bikes from the past that are well up to the job?

daymobrew

I'd go decent bike. I have a Specialized Rockhopper Comp. Been commuting on it for 4 years now (and I expect a good few more years). Only problems have been a few broken spokes (blamed on the road surface and spokes being too tight!).

With a decent bike your ride will be more enjoyable. If you ride the bike in the rain your shiny frame will be covered in dirt in moments. I can't count the number of times I've cleaned the bike to only have it undone after a ride on wet roads.

Civilian_Target

You'll be fine as long as you don't park your bike in the open, in town. For example, I'd never park on O'Connell St. or Grafton St.

If you're sensible about where you park it and have a decent lock, you'll never lose it. You may lose a wheel or two, but thats easily fixed. I've never had anything stolen from my bike and I'm doing minimum 40 miles a week on it so I'm getting my mileage.