Well yeah? I don’t know if anyone implied otherwise, I sure didn’t. I mean even if Apple & every other brand had their own set of upgrade dongles, it would still be better than what we have now.
I would submit home appliances to this list. especially “smart appliances.” eight or so years back we upgraded our washer and dryer to “smart” ones; supposed to be more efficient, less water and electricity usage, tailored ways of washing/drying your clothes, etc. washer acted up a couple years later. there was very little repairable in it. basically all I could do with it was check continuity on a few circuits. repair bill was $250 just to have a tech show up, who just said “replace the motherboard first” at $300, before troubleshooting anything else. so we got the most analog/repairable washer we could instead, and off the old one goes to the landfill. OK, not really… likely it went to a scrapyard who sold off what they could in parts and recycled the rest. but I’m sure a decent bit of it was wasted. and especially for me, financially.
the basic ones are hard to find though. everything is moving in the other direction.
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I’m not disagreeing with you. Not trying to correct anything anybody said, just mentioning a previous example of a similar technology. I’m trying to agree. I guess I’ll stop.
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That looks quite servicable, if you can find the parts.
But there are lots of other components even experienced shops won’t mess with:
Nexus hubs:
Campy brifters:
Even if they are technically servicable, often it’s cheaper just to buy a whole new unit than to take it diagnose, disassemble and repair it.
If I can’t take it apart and put it together myself I’d rather not have it on my bike.
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probably not Mirage these days but you can buy more recent parts for Campagnolo shifters, most internal and external parts. Shimano seems to be more you can only buy faceplates and clamps and such. Sram you can sometimes buy paddles and springs, sometimes not.
nature of the bike business though is that once it’s old enough (and 9 speed would qualify here) you can’t get parts any more. planned obsolescence. kinda like “hey everybody needs a disc brake bike now!” 
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Does this apply to gear with outdated drivers, leaving the gear useless?
This is a large part of why I’m moving towards having no computer in my “studio”.
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Sounds like you could use a SpinCycle:
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This meme thinks it’s about generational intelligence but it’s really about litigiousness .
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Obsolete IC’s, unobtanium mechanical/case/keybed parts etc… the joys of vintage gear! But it’s still fun.
I’ve got an old Italian combo organ with strings etc in the parts pile. There are individual boards per key that handle the keying and individual VCA’s. Each one dipped in ceramic coating! They look like huge misshapen caps! They’re pretty much unrepairable.
I once had an MS Surface Pro 3. It was wonderfully powerful and thin but as a result didn’t dissipate the heat it evolved…eventually bricked just after its warranty period and could not be repaired.
MS were offering more recent models refurb’d as replacement and at a price…these were also bricking for different reasons.
I know of a few places in the US which specialise in retro tech and spares, seen a few youtube videos about them, great stuff.
I think there are a few here in the UK too, not sure about elsewhere, but I wish there were more, ideally in every county.
I will as far as possible actively avoid buying anything that isn’t within my means to service and repair, and I don’t mind paying a bit more if needs be, in the long run it is probably more economic, not to mention more eco friendly of course.
Fixing stuff has tons of benefits, and few downsides aside from a little inconvenience, and the necessary tools required. And if you can’t diy then there is probably someone local who can for a fee, or sometimes free.
Yeah, there had to have been some trick I wasn’t aware of. I even called my Dad up, who has ridden and worked on bikes forever. As soon as I mentioned “coaster brake”, he said “You didn’t take it apart did you?” Haha, I knew then I was screwed. I am sure there is a youtube video that would make perfect sense of it nowadays.
Yeah, that’s what I ended up doing, Got a whole new wheel with a coaster already installed for about $50. Well worth it in my book.
I had a bike for years with a 3-speed Nexus hub. I definitely knew better than to take that one apart. It was a nice system. Never needed much maintenance, and was really easy to calibrate if the gears were out a little. Much easier than a standard derailer shifting system.
Same. For the better part of the past decade or so I mainly have used single-speeds. Even have taken them on the occasional 35-miler without issue. Nice and simple machines. When I go on longer rides I have a small bag under my seat with the tools to fix most common things that can crop up, except for maybe any bottom bracket issues. Of course, I rarely have any issues anyway. Besides the occasional flat, most issues can usually wait to be fixed at home.
This is the prototype for the Pulsar Soma 23. This may not be unrepairable, but wow, I would be following more leads than Columbo. I wonder how the production model looks compared to this?
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TBH even a lot of Lenovo ThinkPads are amazing in terms of repairability. I had a T440p for years. Could easily source and replace every single component; even the CPU, motherboard, screen etc. Swapped out the CD drive for an extra hard drive, upgraded the screen to 1080p IPS, added an m.2 SSD (3 hard drives total) etc. If looked after well, one of those things could last forever.
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The problem is that most persons can’t operate their technology. “Easy” is a ridiculous promise that nobody actually wants in practice.
What people want/need is warranty support, parts availability, less unwanted DRM + lockout means and serviceability from the ground up, let alone less guaranteed e-waste.
Watched this some time ago which seems to suggest Tesla cars are almost impossible to repair because they refuse to sell people any of the parts or specialist tools required to repair one.
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No, we specifically want easy to repair, meaning that the device wont either break when you try to open it or needs to be disassembled completely to get to a part that needs to be replaced.
The former is already not a problem so long as you own tools, the latter again you will always have layers with computing devices like phones, tablets and laptops.
Right to repair and modularity are completely different topics. One is political and standards-making and one expects every person to be able to repair every device, which is just not realistic to the design of modern computing devices.
“modular phones” are easy to replace bundled component modules on but not to repair, not get replacement parts for.
When the company stops making the modules you’re SOL. You can’t just 3d print them.
The phones exist, why are you not buying them already?
Sorry if i come across grumpy for that is not my intention!
I am not unempathetic, I repair my own iPhones and worked for a PC manufacturer in sustaining engineering, both in sourcing repair/replacement parts and supporting repair facilities. I am very opinionated here from my POV not out of favor of the consumer and their interest, but in the structure of manufacturing and design. Cost, size, and how much consumers are actually interested in these things does matter.
The vast amount of persons are happy to not do the work, and those who are can follow iFixit guides, ASSUMING the parts are available.
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I’ve been a Fairphone user since it launched. They’re not as fancy as a high end Samsung or iPhone, but they work well enough for me. When the battery on my original Fairphone failed I could buy a new one. When the microphone on the FP2 failed I could replace the relevant module. I haven’t had to fix anything on the FP3.
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Sadly, this is no longer true. They also gutted the old IBM field service org.