Normalicy bias, or normality bias, depending on where in the world you speak english, is the congnitive bias that leads people to minimize warnings, threats or issues. We tend to prepare inadequately for failiure, like storms, stock market crashes or bicycle drivetrain wear.
I mean, the gearshifting on my commuter bike, knows as Snow White, wasn’t that bad. It shifted, most of the time. I just needed to use a bit more force.
And the chain had “only” done 2 years of service and about 6000 km commuting (I do about 3000 km/year commuting according to Stava). Plus some extra non-logged ones, but everyone knows that if it is not on Strava, it does not count…
And I did change the cassette. When I got the new wheels. In 2020. Or something like 13.000 km ago.
And yes, I do take good care of my bikes so it is a lot. But slowly the small things has come sneaking up on me, and I have totally fallen into the normalicy bias and thought “I’ll look into it soon”.
Soon came abruptly a couple of days ago, when I snapped my chain. Luckily for me, about 200 meters from my LBS. So I went in and got a new chain and a quick-link from the shelf and paid for it. Totally ignoring the rest of the drivetrain. Becaue that is what you do when you normalize a behaviour.
Snow White had other ideas yesterday. I could run in gears 1, 2, 7 and 8 on the cassette and the middle gear on the front sprocket. Not a pleasant commute when I was either to low geared or to high. And any gears in between made the chain jump a cog or two.
Luckily for me, I have the great LBS, Tellus Cykel & Motor, on my way home. So I dropped Snow White into the hands of the mechanics there and walked the rest of the way home.
And today I could pick her up, with a fresh drievetrain, a new gear-wire and housing, the derailleur hanger straightend and some other small stuff.
Now everything is smooth as silk again. The gearchanges are distinct and instant. The bike is silent when pedalling. I got a new Snow White.
Yeh, the “bike dwarfs” at my LBS know how to dig for gold, but now I have a couple of years left on that bike.
