There were at least 500,000 miles on this machine before it was lost:
A mid-80's Schwinn mountain bike, totally rebuilt multiple times. A good bike, bought new and owned by the same person all this time. Three cranksets worn out in the years I worked on it, also dozens of tires, four saddles, three forks, three wheel sets, many chains and freewheels and brake pads, etc. etc. I think not a single component was original to the bike. This rig survived numerous accidents, in weather of all types, on- and off-road, and was stolen and recovered at least once. The owner found a number of local "bike shops" who refused to work on it, who only wanted to sell him a new bike. "Too old," they said, "not worth the repair," they said, "can't get parts for it," they said. "Bull," I say. It's too bad, that kind of snobbery which is one of the things driving customers out of bike shops and onto the web. Or in some cases out of cycling entirely.
