Bicycles, life cycle and beyond economic repair.

[Time Waster]

Got a recumbent that's costing £300 to fix too. Chainring, 2.5 chain lengths, cassette, jockey wheels for rear derailleur, rear brake cables etc. Triple 9 speed. It'll be fun for him to source the parts. 11 or 12 speed is not top bad but 9 or 10 is getting harder he said.

20 plus year old SMGT in steel. Is it worth it? Cost me £500 but no idea how much now secondhand.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If the frame is fine and it’s just normal wear and tear I’d replace the worn out parts. If it has a rubbish ride we’ll that’s a different consideration. Even if the frame goes after you’ve added new parts, just take parts off and move to another frame. My recumbent drive train is off my mountain bike from when the frame went on that. It’s 9 speed as well and no probs get parts in the UK at least.

 

[Time Waster]

The bent is OK but I've gone with the mechanic's recommendations. It's worth keeping on the road being steel and uncommon.

The mtb we're taking back as it is. We might look at a second quote or another bike. Ride on it is good, but mine but my partner rates the comfort. It's used as a touring bike with panniers, bar bag, small frame bag and dry bag on top of rear rack. It works for road through to bike trails. It might get fixed elsewhere.

 

[All uphill]

I often see a problem when regular bicycle maintenance has been deferred over several years and many parts become worn out at the same time.

If regular maintenance had cost £50 per year that might seem reasonable and the bike would probably give good service for 25+ years. Put off that maintenance for five years and a bill of £250 seems less reasonable.

In my experience some people then rationalise the purchase of a new bike for £600+ and the cycle starts again and the over consumption continues.

 

[wafter]

I've bought plenty of used Alloy bikes, that have been over 10 years old and I've never seen any of this so called "Alloy Metal Fatigue".

I think this "Alloy Metal Fatigue is mainly occurring in other products that are under more tension and stress than a bike. Look at all the alloy chainsets on steel vintage bikes that are still working fine for over 40 years.

So, I'm yet to be convinced about "Alloy Metal Fatigue" and bikes.

It's definitely a thing. Here's my experience - granted mine seemed to fail particularly early (probably exacerbated by poor design choices) but it's well documented that ally doesn't like fatigue loading.

If the bike's well designed, used respectfully and sparingly you might never see it; however all things being equal it's measurably inferior to steel and CFRP when it comes to cyclic loading.

It seems to usually occur at welds, presumably because of the stress concentrations they inevitably create, as well as their likely location in areas of high stress (at the ends of tubes that can exert a far moment arm on them). Makes me wonder about the fatigue life of TIG welded steel frames compared to those of more traditional brazed-lug format - I guess time will tell..

 

[Time Waster]

Our bikes get reasonable maintenance at home, clean, degrease, lube, tweeking where needed. Nothing top difficult but no idea how much that costs. Then you still get wear and tear expenses in our mtb case a hit of a few things at once. I think £50 a year on regular maintenance won't stop the need for new chain, chainring and cassette at some point in its life, certainly not if used regularly.

With my recumbent I degreased and lubed the chain once but it really only got a spring and summer use so perhaps that's not as bad as it sounds. Actually that's what I did but the bike shop did a bit when I first got it. Two routine maintenance hits in 6 months. Still has worn parts which might get by for a bit longer but with a chain change you're best doing those other components at the same time.

The mtb is a solid lump of alloy. Small frame and over engineered it looks like to me as in made stronger than needed. Certainly a bit heavy for an alloy bike despite reasonable spec. Whether that reduces risk I don't know but the bike mechanic did say he wasn't worry about the frame falling due to fatigue. The frame could take replacement components needed but his point was whether it's wise considering a new, modern bike would give more trouble free cycling for not much more than the repair costs. Better suited too considering this is a heavy mtb used for the road with slice tyres.

 

[bonzobanana]

I've bought plenty of used Alloy bikes, that have been over 10 years old and I've never seen any of this so called "Alloy Metal Fatigue".

I think this "Alloy Metal Fatigue is mainly occurring in other products that are under more tension and stress than a bike. Look at all the alloy chainsets on steel vintage bikes that are still working fine for over 40 years.

So, I'm yet to be convinced about "Alloy Metal Fatigue" and bikes.

I think the bike certification is based on a frame lifespan of about 7-10 years of normal use at the stated weight limits but its very easy to either extend or reduce that lifespan depending on actual use. Mountain bikes ridden properly off-road can have the frames die pretty quickly but those mountain bikes not ridden off-road tend to last a very long time. Road bikes tend to fatigue and fail much earlier due to their lighter construction but then if the cyclist is very light and only rides it at weekends this will massively extend lifespan. So many s/hand bikes are from people who didn't really use the bike, got bored of it and it remains in a very good state as a garage queen for many years. However some aluminium self-hardens so becomes more brittle over time even if not ridden.

There is no endurance limit with aluminium it always gets weaker with use. They engineer the frames to be very strong at the beginning so there is sufficient strength even after years of fatigue to last a reasonable length of time. Steel in comparison does have a endurance limit so you can engineer a frame that will last decades if you can avoid corrosion or you can engineer the frame to make fatigue very minimal or alternatively you could even make a steel frame that fatigues even faster than aluminium if you make the tubing very weak but generally nowadays steel frames aren't too bothered about weight mostly as there are other materials for that so most steel frames are longer lasting.

Who typically encounters broken frames through fatigue? I'd probably say people who do proper off-road cycling on tough courses, people who use touring bikes, very heavy or powerful cyclists. People who go for weaker bikes, bikes from certain brands have much lower weight ratings and you had the Crack'n'fail Cannondales from a few years ago. Folding bikes seems to suffer a lot from fatigue especially aluminium frames. Tern had a massive recall on a huge number of models a few years back. Decathlon seem to have had many frame and fork recalls including rockriders and step-thru models because of early frame failure and they had a very low 100kg total load rating at the time which I'm sure many riders went above.

 

[Fredo76]

We have seemingly unlimited capacity to manufacture cheap crap, and not enough to make high-quality, durable items.

What can I say? People want their crap cheap. Planned obsolescence is key to many industries' stability these days. It's pretty disgusting, all right. Yes, an anticipated short lifecycle is very much a purposeful characteristic of the modern bicycle industry, IMO.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDfLWFv3ixk

 

[alchurch]

My first good bike was a specialised Roubaix , carbon with ultegra g/s. Eventually the shifters failed and could not be replaced.It ended up with a near bottom of range changing mechanism. I hooked the bike up to the turbo trainer where it has stayed for about 5 years. I would also use it for a dirty or wet ride . According to the manual, the carbon seat post has a life, and I have changed this once, it is on its 3rd or 4th set of wheels (rim brake)

 

[cyberknight]

Commuter gets probably 2-3 chains a year and 1 cassette,brake pads when needed,new chainring after 18 months.new BB about the same all of which I do myself to keep costs down.ohh and recabling if and when needed

 

[Reynard]

Mmmm, as someone who finds it hard to get bikes that fit (I'm a bit, err, short...) I'd say comfort and fit trumps everything else, especially if there's nothing wrong with the frame. Plus you can customize to the exact spec you want. And as others say, the parts can easily be swapped over should a better / nicer frame come up in the future.

Spa cycles and SJS do very nice drivetrain bits for those on a budget. Likewise Taylor Wheels, although the price might have gone up there, as they're based in Germany. Failing that, there's always Decathlon, whose parts are also good bang-for-buck.

Parts supply is a bit of an issue at the moment, but if nothing is urgent, buy bits as and when they're available.

 

[Blue Hills]

Decathlon seem to have had many frame and fork recalls including rockriders and step-thru models because of early frame failure and they had a very low 100kg total load rating at the time which I'm sure many riders went above.

Cripes that is low - very. Doesn't offer much of an allowance for loading. Sounds way too low to me for anything other than a minimalist racer.

 

[Blue Hills]

Likewise Taylor Wheels, although the price might have gone up there, as they're based in Germany.

I bought a pair of wheels for a general purpose/touring bike build from Taylor Wheels. Excellent quality and value. But I thought they had done a Rose and stopped shipping to Brits?

 

[bonzobanana]

Cripes that is low - very. Doesn't offer much of an allowance for loading. Sounds way too low to me for anything other than a minimalist racer.

I think its still 100kg in mainland Europe for most bikes but in the UK they raised it to 120kg despite being the same bikes that are 100kg in mainland Europe unless that is changed now or there are minor spec differences. Weaker frames, reduced spoke count etc all help towards lowering bike weight and many people are obsessed with bike weight and are relatively light riders. However recently they bought out some gravel bikes that are rated to 170kg the highest rating of any mainstream brand so its a confusing brand when it comes to weight limits. These figures are all total load, rider, bike weight, accessories, luggage etc. Riding above the weight limits doesn't typically mean instant failure it just erodes the lifespan of the frame with accelerated fatigue. There was one rider who got 18 months out of his Decathlon frame after overloading it a fair bit, I don't think he mentioned his actual weight in the forum posting but the Decathlon store gave him a letter to say it would be ok at his weight so presumably not hugely over their standard weight limits but the frame still failed and he was refunded without issue I think.

 

[Dogtrousers]

What you describe (worn rims from braking, worn out drive train, brakes need fettling) is just ordinary wear and tear. The mechanic is right to point out that you have a choice: fix up this bike or buy a whole new bike for not much more.

And as others point out, if you do this at home you save the labour costs and could do it for significantly less, but it will take up time, and may require outlay on tools.

Bike components do have a life span, especially the drive train, tyres, braking surfaces and cabling. But this is less true about bikes themselves - especially if you keep on top of maintenance with regular inspection and replacement of bits as and when needed.

So ... write the bike off and get a nicer, better new one or spend a bit less and keep this one on the road? Both entirely valid approaches and only your partner can make that decision.

Whichever you choose, do try to keep on top of maintenance and don't let the bike get into a condition where it needs a whole load of work all at once. Without wishing to sound too finger-wagging - if you (or your partner) had spread this work over the past few years you wouldn't have noticed the cost so much and the bike would now be fine.