[narwally]

For damage, how do you handle things likely caused by poor maintenance? I used to work as a bike mechanic, and there were plenty of times where a customer's bike got completely trash if they had just learned how to do some very basic routine maintenance and had brought it in to the shop once a year. Thinks like riding the bike when the the headset or bottom bracket are obviously loose, or riding on wheels that are very noticeable out of true.

[zerni]

Maintenance is indeed tricky.

Our way out is probably that the minimum bike value has to be £500 but the average customer has a multiple of that value and bikes at home. Passionate cyclists buy into our concept.

We are looking into how we can institutionalise maintenance a bit more because there is a strong case to drive down cost further for everyone if a decent mechanic sees your bike at least once a year.

My personal top tip are chain catchers. It’s a matter of time until the chain drops and if the front mech is not well adjusted. And if you get unlucky and have a carbon frame you might rip a hole into the frame.

[narwally]

Yep, I've seen that multiple times. Just knowing how to check your limit screws occasionally would save a lot of people some future headaches. It would be cool if for a certain price range and kind of bike you could get insurance that would cover certain routine maintenance costs. Maybe something that would help cover annual suspension services on high end mountain bikes, or that helped cover routine tune-ups. As a mechanic I'd hate to have to navigate that kind of system in order to get paid, but as customer I'd love it.

Most people just don't realize that they'll save money in the long run if they just put some money into their bike every year. We had customers that would buy an S-Works every year or two because they just pounded out miles but never wanted to pay for maintenance. If they put $500-1000 into the bike every year they could have kept it 5-6 years instead of the 1-2 they were getting out of them.