Premature wear

[twobiker]

When we were kids we had bikes for ever, we never changed parts except for other old parts and we rode them, off road, on road,through the woods,on the same tyres,totally reliable. Now ,every five minutes they seem to need sprockets, chain, tyres,for road, for trails,for mud,what is going on ?.

 

[Night Train]

I remember them days, mid 70's to mid 80's.

The only things I ever bought from the bike shop was brake blocks or decorative chrome horns and squashy rubber bar grips.

I did rebuild the bikes quite often but that was more swaping and trying new arrangements of parts and then building custom choppers. I only had one tyre failure and that was a sidewall that exploded open. Never wore tyres out to the canvas despite skidding and sliding about and riding down stairs never hurt the wheel rims or the bearings.

 

[rowan 46]

Partly I think is that when we were kids near enough is good enough, so we put up with things that were not perfect, we only had the money to keep the bikes functional not perfect. Also stuff nowadays is a lot more lightweight and race tuned so its probably not as hardwearing but I also remember my childhood bikes as being quite heavy and a lot harder work than my bikes of today. I guess being an adult I also look after them better. Also as an adult I do more miles . It seemed like miles and miles as a kid but until I was about 16 I probably never did more than a 10 mile trip it just seemed more with those old heavy bikes and little legs.I didn't get my first bike with gears until 74 and that was a chopper before that just single speeds as were most of my mates my first and only road bike was a dawes 10 speed I couldn't get on with drops and swapped them for cowhorns then eventually flats.

 

[Banjo]

I have a heavy old steel folder that gets chucked in the boot if I am going away anywhere and dont want to take a proper bike. It was a cheap chinese job for about 70 quid ten years or more ago. Never been maintained much. Still rides great.

The crunch is though that I probably do more miles in a month on the road bike than I have ever done on the folder.

Same with kids bikes.They may be used often but most kids dont go far and grow out of them before their worn out.

 

[Alan Frame]

I didn't get my first bike with gears until 74 and that was a chopper.

Respect ! Most people are making use of their bus passes by that age.

I too remember the days when things didn't wear out as quickly as they do now. Think it's a combination of lighter weight and possibly fragility and people's paranoia these days that something might melt in the rain or that something is only 99.99 % germ free. I blame the advertising industry.

 

[gbb]

It's purely the fact that sprockets etc were made of proper steel that lasts forever.
Progress...you get lighter, thinner, better looking components, but it wears quicker because its lighter and thinner.

Otherwise, we'd be riding on roadbikes that weighed half as much again.

 

[twobiker]

Built in obselence does not justify technical innovation,resources are not finite.

 

[derrick]

I think as kids as long as you could ride it that was good enough, never had the money as a kid to maintain a bike properly, my bikes back then were very basic most were fixed wheel, could not afford all the bling, oh happy days.

 

[Norm]

I have long been comparing my Tricross with the better bikes from my youth. Solid, dependable, go anywhere, blingless but reliable.

I don't think it is the fault of the manufacturers that things wear faster, even if it is true. Who on here has actually considered longevity over color schemes, who has ever asked about the expected lives of 105 compared to 2300 components rather than the headline theoretical weight saving and bar room bragging rights?

 

[MacB]

I have long been comparing my Tricross with the better bikes from my youth. Solid, dependable, go anywhere, blingless but reliable.

I don't think it is the fault of the manufacturers that things wear faster, even if it is true. Who on here has actually considered longevity over color schemes, who has ever asked about the expected lives of 105 compared to 2300 components rather than the headline theoretical weight saving and bar room bragging rights?

guilty as charged

 

[byegad]

My Dawes Roadster, bought new in 1962 did a fair mileage (Three or four thousand miles I guess.), for a kid, and was a pile of crap by the time I outgrew it. My 7000 miles old QNT is in far better condition. But I take care of that!

 

[rowan 46]

Respect ! Most people are making use of their bus passes by that age.

I too remember the days when things didn't wear out as quickly as they do now. Think it's a combination of lighter weight and possibly fragility and people's paranoia these days that something might melt in the rain or that something is only 99.99 % germ free. I blame the advertising industry.

that is one of my most embarrassing typo's yet. I meant 14 terribly sorry about that

 

[Globalti]

My old Raleigh Roadster must have weighed two stone and I weighed about five so it's no surprise that it never wore out.

Now my bike weighs less than 10 kilos and I weigh 72.