How long should a bike frame last

[Venod]

Ti is my favourite frame material, I have had five, and everyone of them I thought this is a bike for life, but things change, the first one an Airborne (they became Van Nic) was not getting used as I was doing lots of MTB and running, so sold it to a mate who still rides it and it looks like new, the second a Sunday Cycles ( they became Sabbath) split where the butting of the top tube changed near the head tube, it was a very light triple butted frame, a mate at work welded it and I rode it on fixed for a while before selling, I think its still going but back on gears. the third a Kinesis Gran Fondo, a very nice frame but limited to 23mm with guards, I did run 25mm but they were very close, the fourth a Van Nicholas Chinook, a very lively quick frame but I was spoilt by the comfort of the bigger tubeless tyres that I was running on the fifth Ti frame, the Van Nic would only take 25 mm max.
I still have the fifth Ti frame and this will probably be a bike for life, its a Planet X Pickenflcik and was the cheapest of them all, it takes massive tyres even with mudguards, it's had lots of abuse and its still going strong, with a good clean it looks like new.

 

[Drago]

Whatever works best for a given application and design is my favourite material.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Whatever works best for a given application and design is my favourite material.

Exactly.

For certain applications, pasta is the ideal material for a bicycle...

 

[Johnno260]

Whatever works best for a given application and design is my favourite material.

And budget.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Aluminium will last far longer than most people want to keep a frame for. I like it myself.

 

[Rooster1]

My GIant Defy (Alu) has done 30,000 miles and doing just fine.

I have only had to replace every component a few times.

 

[Alien8]

As the miles slowly clicked by i got thinking how long my alloy Specialized Allez frame could potentially last before failing.

My 2009 aluminium Allez has managed 48,550 miles so far without incident ... to the frame anyway.

 

[Smokin Joe]

People who tell you they wouldn't have an aluminium frame because it will break are happy to ride round with aluminium brake calipers, stems, bars and cranks.

 

[Drago]

People who tell you they wouldn't have an aluminium frame because it will break are happy to ride round with aluminium brake calipers, stems, bars and cranks.

...in cars with aluminium engines, aluminium suspension arms, even full aluminium structures on some models, and enjoying trips abroad in aluminium jet airliners...

 

[johnnyb47]

My 2009 aluminium Allez has managed 48,550 miles so far without incident ... to the frame anyway.

Wow, That's some serious mileage you've covered there on your bike. As it's a 2009 Allez (like mine) I'm assuming your forks are carbon. How have they faired up to that great mileage 👍👍

 

[tyred]

My 1937 Humber still rides well.

 

[Zipp2001]

My carbon Zipp2001 (1993) has taken a back seat the last 10 years, but it was my daily ride for almost 10 years. After that it was used mainly for weekly club Time Trails and century and double century rides. It's sitting at a tad over 110,000 miles, and now is set-up as a Single Speed for it's senior years. I'm expecting this bike will outlast me.

 

[simongt]

I have only had to replace every component a few times.

Ahh, a two wheeled Trigger's broom - !

 

[matticus]

People who tell you they wouldn't have an aluminium frame because it will break are happy to ride round with aluminium brake calipers, stems, bars and cranks.

On the one hand ... that's an excellent point!
On the other ... we expect to get more miles out of frames than handlebars [think the manufacturers recommend changing every few years IIRC?]

(Failure rates are just statistics, not predictions.)

 

[tallliman]

My handlebars have done about 21,000miles, they were carried over from the frame I broke mentioned earlier in the thread.