Alas, poor Bike!
I have a cheap bike and I don't take very good care of it, ergo it is not in great shape. Actually, that's an understatement. The bike is currently unrideable and, if such a grand word can be used for such a little bike, it is, in fact, totaled. I've known this was coming for a while. Firstly, the wheel hubs are made of unpainted metal and they've been rusting for the last year or so. Secondly, the right pedal is half-smashed off from the odd accident or two. Thirdly, the rear derailleur lever is broken off, so it's effectively a two speed bike now (the third gear on the front derailleur isn't usable due to bad derailleur adjustments on my part). Fourthly, the back tire has a tendency to go flat and I have a tendency to ignore it, so the tread on the outer tire is pretty much worn off. Same story with the tread on the front tire to a lesser extent.
But none of these faults, either individually or collectively, were enough to stop me from riding. The final straw was a persistent flat that defeated all my attempts to fix it. It behaved like a puncture each time, but I couldn't track down what was causing the problem (submerging the inner tire in water, for example, provided no clues). After burning through a couple of new inner tires, I gave up and have locked the bike in the basement so that it may ponder its faults in solitude. I suppose it's about time I got a car anyway (which I will hopefully take better care of).
But none of these faults, either individually or collectively, were enough to stop me from riding. The final straw was a persistent flat that defeated all my attempts to fix it. It behaved like a puncture each time, but I couldn't track down what was causing the problem (submerging the inner tire in water, for example, provided no clues). After burning through a couple of new inner tires, I gave up and have locked the bike in the basement so that it may ponder its faults in solitude. I suppose it's about time I got a car anyway (which I will hopefully take better care of).