Stolen Bike

[sponge]

[James S]

[Warren]

A Mini/BMW dealer can answer that question, but I just looked it up, and it looks expensive, $200+. I'd say just put it in the car, I put 2 bikes in a totally messy Ford Taurus, one can definitely fit in a MINI.

As for "modding", most definitely yes, but you have to know what you're doing. You'd be best off having the dealer put parts on. You can buy frames and buy components separately, but that's really only for bikes over $1500.

I've never seen a disc brake bike for $350, but then again, I know nothing about Raleigh. Also, factor in that disc brakes cost about $100 more than normal brakes, meaning the bike without discs should cost about $250, and that's not that special of a bike. I also thought Raleigh focuses on road bikes, but I don't know too much about road bikes.

[EDIT] I just looked at Raleigh's website, I'm assuming you're talking about the M40DX. The brakes are nice, but all other components are quite low grade, especially the derailleurs and handlebars (and other parts with companies I've never heard of). The M50DX is far better with much better components and an actual aluminum handlebar rather than the M40DX's steel. Can't really tell much about the fork, 75mm should be fine, but "adjustable" can mean a lot of things, such as "you need a special tool to do it that really only the dealer can do" or "there a twisty thing on top to do it yourself", so check it out first. The M50DX is in the "400-700" dollar range.

[David Horn]

Dunno if you can get a bike rack for the back of the Cooper, but a friend has the S-type and he paid for a roof rack to hold his bike. Will hold two bikes securely (he told me he did 130MPH and didn't notice they were there) but does require that holes are drilled in the roof of the car.

Also expensive.

[David Horn]

[Warren]

[David Horn]

[Warren]

Those cadence things are from my owner's manual. And 100 rpms is not exceedingly fast when you're going 10mph and hopping from rock to rock avoiding trees and stuff.

[refractor]

Using the wrong gear can be costly - I used to regularly destroy the hub cartridges by brute-forcing my way up (short) hills instead of using the right gears.. and when a cartridge goes bad it hurts (imagine stomping up a hill and having the one-way mechanism in the cartridge fail). Luckily my brother (at the time) worked in a bike shop and I got replacements reasonably easily.

And shifting under loads always sucks.

[Warren]

I have another bike, which I call Scheißrad, which means "shit bike", but anyway, the bottom bracket is broken, and whenever I try to peddle heavily (or just more than normal riding), it breaks with a really loud "PPAAANNNNNNNGGG!!" and the peddles just fail and down I go to the ground. Ironically, it ALWAYS does this when I'm crossing the street, and therefore is actually trying to kill me. I only ride it in bad weather. I'd try to fix it, but I'm lazy.

[refractor]

[Warren]

[tomdon]

The thing that clicks is the freewheel . I have a lovely rear hub on my bike made by a company called Hope. Its all titanium .

[David Horn]

I have a Hope rear hub as well, though mine clicks loudly. I think a hub that's loud (but "clean") is also the sound of money talking, as mine does it and so does my friend's (£2700 bike).

[refractor]

Please tell me you're not keeping them in Leeds...