Murder Was the Case That They Gave Me

I killed my bike. On Wednesday, the gears gave out - every time I switched gears in the rear derailleur, the knob just sort of slid along until it settled on the lowest gear. Fortunately, this happened close to the end of my ride home from work, so I only had to hold the gears in place with my finger for about ten minutes.

The bike shop claims that not only did I completely wear down the gear system, I destroyed the derailleurs too...and we've reached that magical point where it'd cost more to fix the bike than to get a new one. Compounded with the information that they don't even make parts for my bike any more (it's a classic model) I'm upgrading to a road bike in the near future. (Any suggestions out there?)

I gotta say, if my bike has to stop working I'm glad that it's because I beat it to a bloody (oily) pulp. Definitely got my money's worth out of that purchase--$125 in 2002, and several hundred commutes since.