Bike life

BigLights

Hello.
I've been pounding the London streets on my Specialized Sirrus since early 2010, every day without fail. I reckon i've put at least 15,000 miles on it. It's well maintained (serviced every 6 months, new chains/cassete usually), replaced teh wheels with some Shimano r501s recently but it does live outside its entire life.

My question is, is it like a car, in that will there be a point (ie, now?) where I should put it out to pasture and replace it or should it just keep going as long as I maintain it?

supersonic

Sounds like you have a good service and maintenance regime - so I'd keep going! Just keep an eye on the frame and forks for any cracks etc, and replace parts when they die.

raymondo60

What great value for money these Bike thingies can be if ridden regularly and looked after properly. Wonder who has THE (verifiable) highest mileage bike on this forum?

clarkey cat

iPete has done some serious mileage on his Allez.

BigLights

Cool-thanks chaps. It's due another service, i'm tempted to go the whole hogg and get the full strip down effort this time, give my beast a refresh.

Headhuunter

I don't think bikes are like cars, there are far fewer parts to go wrong for a start. A cars body can rust, electronic and mechanics can fail etc. Eventually it becomes uneconomical to repair. A bike can go on pretty much forever if well maintained and if worn parts are repaired. I mean other than moving parts like hubs, bottom brackets and drive train, what is there to go wrong? The frame isn't suddenly going to rot away and fail unless you have crashes... I know in the past you haven't looked after your bikes in the past but even then they're fairly easily rescuable with a bit of technical knowledge etc...

OneForTheRoad

BigLights wrote:

Hello.
but it does live outside its entire life.

I assume you've got some kind of cover for it. If not get one and it will extend the life a hell of a lot as well as letting you enjoy the benefits of all the servicing you've done for longer.

dav1

I think I have probably done around 17-18k on my second hand virtuoso. Mostly due to lack of funds to buy a new bike

That said i have replaced most of the stock parts due to wear and rear. All thats original are the frame, fork bars and stem.

I find that an annual full strip down and rebuild makes it feel like new and ready for another 5000 miles of abuse.

BelgianBeerGeek

I remember a story a few years back in our local paper about a German (?) guy who had ridden about 300,000 miles on some old bike all over the world. Until he got to Portsmouth and someone nicked it.
Unless it gets a very hard life, or is badly made, I can't see why a bike should ever die.

Moodyman

Dav1 wrote:

I find that an annual full strip down and rebuild makes it feel like new and ready for another 5000 miles of abuse.

Absolutely. Do it in the autumn before the proper cold weather sets in. Stops parts seizing and reduces the salt/water damage.

Moodyman

BigLights wrote:

My question is, is it like a car, in that will there be a point (ie, now?) where I should put it out to pasture and replace it or should it just keep going as long as I maintain it?

If you maintain your bike well it should last a heck of longtime. That's why the big manufactureres offer lifetime warranties.

BigLights

righto then thanks chaps - it's the full strip down service this time. The bike only cost £500, so to spend a fifth of that on a service seemed excessive, but if it'll keep going for another couple of years then i'm happy. I've historically replaced my commuter about once a year (2 got nicked to be fair, the other 2 I really didn't like) because I could justify it on public transport savings grounds....but austerity, kids and all that...reality bites a little.

Oh - an no cover during the day (it's left outside the office), but at night yes.

TBH it's getting sentimental now - it looks so battle scarred it's crossed the line from looking a bit natty, to quite cool (I think).

father_jack

Problem being when you're throwing money at the bike, I think next next chainset and shifters need replacing, I'll junk the bike (new groupset is about is only slightly more than new bike) If everything else needs to be replaced as well- wheels, cassette, BB, cabling, brakes etc,