How old is your bike?

Curious how long one keeps their race bike. I have a SoftRide (old school) that is now 5 years old. It fits well, Durace 9 sp, Hed tri-spokes , carbon fork etc. Basically it is up to date. I have a new road bike (Merlin) for training to keep miles off the tri bike. Other than mechanical issue or bike lust (biggest factor?) when do you go for the new?

Thanks,

Fal7

It depends on the frame material. With carbon and titanium, two materials with a high resistence to fatigue, there is not much of an issue. Metals have a limited number of stress cycles, and this is an inherent material property. Steel and aluminum both have fatigue cycles that wear out long before the rest of the bike. Steel will get very noodly while aluminum will just crack becasue of its high stiffness. Titanium is so strong that it takes either a very high ultimate stress or a ginormous amount of fatigue cycles before it will wear out.

Bottom line, with ti and carbon, you will get sick of the bike before it wears out. Carbon is subject to catastophic failure, however.

tommy

My bike is over 10 years old. A Bianchi Eros steel frame and Shimano RSX triple. I put a Scott aero bar on it when aero bars were first becoming popular. I’m sure I could be much faster on a new bike, but I still do pretty good and I don’t have the money for a tri bike at the present time.

I’ve been on my Cannondale since 1995. The frame, seatpost and brake calipers are the only original parts left. I was thinking of upgrading to a sexy new bike this year but my daughter’s need for braces is probably going to mean I put it off for another season. I’ve been telling her that I’m going to call her braces P3 :slight_smile:

My Klein quantum II is 6 or 7 years old, ultegra 600, 8 speed

My next bike will be a cervelo team soloist… once i scrape together some cash… (many years from now) or something catastrophic happens to this one… I think I would have sold this one and gotten a new bike a year or two ago if the resale was any good.

In answering your question the factors that go into deciding on getting a new bike

  1. do you have the money? (if not nothing else matters)
  2. do you need it? (did your bike crack or something along those lines?)
  3. if not how bad do you want it? (hey something to be said about bike lust… or lust of any kind)

good luck

My daily ride is a steel Holland built in 92. I re-grouppoed it in '01 to Ultegra 9. I can’t really imagine ever replacing it. It ought to last 20-30 years.

I bought my tri bike on Ebay. It is a “Xero” – a prototype out of Easton aluminum that never got into production. I don’t know how old it is. Maybe Gerard does. I bought it from one of his employees who had to get rid it before going to work for Cervelo.

Becasue I own a triathlon bike store I am constantly getting new bikes and selling old ones. Now, this is really great, but, I don’t like getting used to the new bikes and setting them up is a lot of work. I prefer to buy one tri bike and one road bike and stick to those but that never happens. At any given time I have two bikes built up for review, a couple for riding, one or two under construction and a couple I’m selling from a previous year. It sucks becasue I never get enough time on any one of them. My two main bikes are my Colnago Dream and my Cannondale MS5000. Those are each over a year old, which is antique for me.

1986 Miele Alizee

1999 Giant TCR-1

2002 Cervelo P2K
.

2002 Colnago that replaced my 98 Cannondale that replaced my 84 Colnago
.

the question is really, what do you gain from getting a new frame?
If you have all the money in the world, well don’t ask, go and buy a new one every year.

Let’s asume the component are up to date and well maintained (you have aero wheels, good BB, HS and all the rest), then chances are that you don’t gain anything from a new frame.

If you’re not a pro and putting 10’000 miles on your bike a year or your name is Chippo and you have a 1000HP engine, then you’ll get sick of your frame well before it’s letting you down.

This is only true if you get a good frame in the first place!

let me say this, and I know a lot of people on here will hate me for that.

The advantage you get from a cervelo, litespeed or all those fancy aero bikes is virually not existing for all us ‘normal’ people. Hey, they are cool and I wish I had the cash to get one, but will I be faster than on my old Principia, I don’t think so.

When I go home this evening, I will be riding my 1985 Vitus with full Campy Super Record components. The only updates are tires and seat. Bought five of them when I had a shoe store/ tri shop in the middle 80’s. Cost to me for what was then cutting edge, $1,100.00.
Now have a 2002 P2K and if frame doesn’t matter, how come my lowest ave. mph in a triathlon now(age 64) is the highest I achieved in my first triathlon life and that was 20mph in the Bud Light USTS nationals in Hilton Head?

Bob Sigerson

I’m at a time in my life where I don’t see a big need to upgrade.

I have rigs that range from 7-13 years old (and that encompasses my Softrides as well). The Paul Barkley is 13 yrs, the TiCycles road Softride is 8, and the Ticycles track is 7. All have the original beam. In addition, I have a Burley tandem that I’ve had for 7 years, but I bought it used, and I have a Proflex 853 that I don’t ride, which is 10 years old.

I have an 9yr old 23 pound softride that I am retiring. Bought a new softride to replace it. Other than being a bit to small and having lots paint chips the frame is in very good condition. It has about 30,000 miles on it. For several years it was my only bike, training, racing, commuting. Most people’s frame will outlast them unless something catastropic happens. Parts on the other hand, well that another story.

Ooo…Cerveloguy’s Miele beats me by a year. I’ve got a 1987 Trek I use for road bike training and a 2001 QR Private Reserve for tri’s.

I actually still ride the Miele. It has a wonderful riding lugged steel frame made of Ishiwata 022 quadruple butted tubing. I used it as my tri bike for my first two seasons but ugrades with aero wheels, shorty aero bars, clipless pedals and moved the downtube shifters near the brakes with Kelly Bike Co. “take off” brakets. The bike is seventeen years old already but I’ll bet it’ll still outlast my newer aluminium bikes.

My current bike, which is behind me mounted on the stationary, is a rather old Specialized Sirrus. This is the Sirrus of road racing days, with a full 105 outfit, downtubes, and a Biopace crank. The lugged frame is a nice teal green. It replaced, this past spring, a Trek 2120 frame with a mix of bad and ok components. The Sirrus was my dad’s tri bike in the early 90’s, and he had purchased it used, so I do not know the specific vintage. It still shifts, however, and it’s big enough for my 6’4" frame. This spring, a new addition will perhaps be added, but undecided as to either the new Cervelo One or perhaps a cyclocross bike.

Darrell

I have a hard time parting with some of my bikes. My oldest is a 1973 Motebecane Jubile that I bought while in high school. It was my first ‘good’ bike and it was also the bike I did my first triathlon on, the old short course Wildflower before they bumped it up to Olympic distance. A trusted old friend like that you just can’t part with.

I’m at a time in my life where I don’t see a big need to upgrade.

I’m in the same boat, perfectly happy aboard my Calfee

Forget the bike, how old is this thread.

Referencing your original post my bike is 3 years in the future and all w/o a Flux Capacitor.