How long before major work is needed?

chronyx

I understand there is no such as a definitive answer for this question.

Nevertheless, I thought I'd get your opinions and experiences on how long a bike will 'run' for before major/important/expensive components need replacing. I haven't run a bicycle to high mileages before and I plan to with this one. :twisted: It will be nice to have some idea of what to budget for. It's a Giant SCR2.

So things like bearings, bottom brackets, dérailleurs, rims even.

My bike is garaged and hasn't seen a wet day so far! I am mechanically sympathetic and change gear under light load, with the chain on the correct gear ratios to the best of my ability.

Thanks

Belv

It depends on your definition of 'major work' as well as how you use it and how you maintain it.

I have found that 4 years is about the limit for the £300-ish bikes i buy.

I get through about one chain+cassette a year and a bottom bracket every 2 years. The derailleurs are pretty much knackered by 4 years and i've usually had to replace a rear wheel, plus numourous tyres and inner tubes and brake blocks.

Important consideration is that i am very lazy with maintainance though. Tyres pressures are checked weekly, chain is oiled when it occurs to me. Other than that, it tends to be fixing things that break rather than look after what's there.

rjeffroy

This was the schedule for my commuter (steel roadie with Campag Centaur) over 3 years / 15000 miles:

tyres/inner tubes - frequently
brake blocks - every 6 months
chain - every 6 months
cassette - every year
cables (inner+outer) - every year
front wheel every 2 years
rear wheel - every 3 years
chainset - cracked after 1 year, replacement still OK
BB - never
headset - never

cleaned, lubed every week

Random Vince

chronyx wrote:

I understand there is no such as a definitive answer for this question.

Nevertheless, I thought I'd get your opinions and experiences on how long a bike will 'run' for before major/important/expensive components need replacing. I haven't run a bicycle to high mileages before and I plan to with this one. :twisted: It will be nice to have some idea of what to budget for. It's a Giant SCR2.

So things like bearings, bottom brackets, dérailleurs, rims even.

My bike is garaged and hasn't seen a wet day so far! I am mechanically sympathetic and change gear under light load, with the chain on the correct gear ratios to the best of my ability.

Thanks

i managed 8 years of using the bike every day for off road riding in the summer, got the bike when i was 10, it was stolen when i was 18,

after 6 years it had had the mech's replaced due to falling off, the brake pads and tyres were still the originals - not sure how, not managed to repeat that on any other bike i've had.

Matteeboy

My 1997 Stumpjumper, apart from the odd puncture repair and brake block replacement, needed NOTHING doing to it for 6 years! That was with a big commute and loads of MTBing.

It finally started to wear a couple of years ago so got new crankset, chain, freewheel, front mech (rear XT one still fine), pedals and that's about it.

It's still going strong and with the upgraded parts, weighs naff all!

chronyx

This is all really good to know