A lot of folk seem to change bike often, I’m curious as to why?
I’m not talking about buying another bike, I mean selling one and replacing it.
is your riding evolving so quickly that you need to change your bike completely? are you so harsh on bikes that they need replacing often? Do you just make a lot of poor choices? or are you simply like the dog outside the butchers shop from aesop’s fable?
I’m kind of the opposite, I’m lucky enough to have a bike for every type of riding I like and each is specced exactly how I need it so I only replace parts (incl frames) when they wear out or break. – the only complete bikes I’ve bought in over 10 years were bought as it was a cheaper option than buying the frame alone (crazily)

For me, it’s either because they break or because I’m gradually trading up to get exactly what I want – I’m not willing to pay out new prices for stuff. Also, what/how I ride changes over time to I build bikes to suit.

the industry has to convince people that the bikes they sold them just a short while ago are now not up to the job, and they need the new amazing revolutionary product that will solve all their problems. people buy into this myth and can’t rest until they satisfy their newly identified requirement. cf. the rest of capitalism.

Not always – I still ride my ’95 Kona amongst my various bikes – changing need/priority/availability/cash are perfectly good reasons too.

oh yeah, not everyone. just the constantly updating sorts that GW is referring to, a lot of the time.

I always wonder the same about cars.

clubber – trading up? how does that work? if you sell a reasonably new bike you make a big loss surely? then if you buy a higher-end bike to replace it it’ll cost more than the first one, do that a few times and for the same money you could have just waited and bought a very high-end bike without even selling the first one. 😕

flatboy – are you saying they are all just falling for marketing bullshit? that can’t be right, can it?

I find that if you buy a frame off here it doesn’t cost too much to sell the frame a year on and buy a different frame from here, so there isn’t such a cost involved. This gives people the choice of playing around with the type of bike they ride. So if you just fancy a change its easily done.

I’ve changed bike frames over the years because I’ve moved to different areas. I didn’t own a car, as I used bus and train to travel to work, so didn’t drive to trails so would mostly ride local trails.

I’ve had the same hardtail since 2003 and intend to keep it but I do change the build depending what I’ll be riding mostly. I moved to chester from west yorkshire 5 months ago so I’m looking at putting a much lighter build with fast tyres that don’t need as much grip. But my full suss is built as a do anything bike so I can drive off to trails that have real hills.

I might end up in Cumbria in the near future so will change the build again to suit the terrain.

Because the new ones are shiny. No more. No less.

At least in my case.

A: why not?

I’m pretty happy with what I have now too but changed a fair bit over the years to find out what I liked (& initally to have the “latest thing”).

that is exactly what i’m saying, though i guess it’s not always marketing and industry driven, a lot of grass-is-greener typical human behaviour going on as well.

sorry, I meant buying new, not s/h

because they are there. Beautiful lovely bikes mmmmm. I’ll have one of those and those oh and one of those.

cynic-al – I’m not asking you to justify it, just curious as to why? for you it’s the dog n butchers’ thing – i can understand that, but with women rather than bikes in my case. 😳

Because it takes a fair while to work out if a bike suits you and the different terrain that you ride on a regular basis.
It would take at least a two week test ride for me to work out if a bike wasright for me. Although as I’ve become more experienced, I’ve now got a better idea about what might be right for me.

mt seems have confused them with women 😛

If you can afford it, why not?

I can’t so i buy a year old frame, usually. I just get bored and fancy a change. Nothing more, nothing less.

Ah, well for me, buying new and then selling to buy new again the next year is for people with money to burn. But I’d like them to keep doing it so there are lots of nice, newish, parts turning up on the classifieds. In the bike buyers food chain we need these people to supply us bottom feeders with secondhand parts. 🙂

trailmonkey – after a while you must know what componentry works for you so why change the entire bike and not just the frame?

Why? Like I say just to try different stuff. I worked in the trade for a time and so got stuff cheap, also buy s/h and sell on at little loss. Nice to see how different materials/geomteries work, also even HT frames evolve over time. I pretty much know what I want these days, but even last year I tried an Alpine then realised there was no point – I wasn’t going big enough (nice geometry though).

I agree, its beyond my why some (the likes of Justa and some real life mates) spend mucho £££ on changing stuff so often. I know a guy who had 2 identical bikes (kept one for racing) what is the point?

Because even though the pace of technological and radness development at the bleeding edge of the industry is so rapid it barely keeps pace with the exponential and pregressive growth of my gnarl.

Not sure that I do that. Last few bikes I’ve bought have been frames only and I’ve swapped all the bits over. Recently changed forks to 20mm bolt through, as that better suits the type of riding that I’ve progressed to.

Sometimes, it makes economic sense to buy a complete bike rather than just a frame.

I change my HT frame every now and again just so I can try different things out for a while. I have had the same FS for a few years now and have no intentions of changing it as it does the job (for me) perfectly (a Rocky Mountain ETSX 70). I almost changed it a a few months ago then realised that was a bit dumb as I was changing it for something a bit shinier but with no guarantee of it being better and it could have been worse but cost me money.

As for the HTs, over the last few years I have had a Cove Handjob and Stiffee, Giant XTC, Merlin Malt and curretnly have a Cotic Soul, doubt will change it for a while as out of all the HTs I have had it is the one I enjoy the most. I dont think owning any of these has made me a better rider but I think it has helped me understand more about different types of frame. I also enjoy getting new stuff 😀

I also bought a new Anthem-X (at a very good price!!) recently, I didnt need it but I wanted it and am very glad I bought it as its a great bike.

Even after what I have said about the HTs I do think some people change bikes far too often, for me it takes a while to get the feel of a bike. If someone can afford it then I dont really care if they change it but sometimes they may be better just adding a cheeky upgrade here or there rather than replacing an entire bike.

Some people are hppy with long term bikes, some arent, its like any other sport / hobby / etc. People buy lots of new stuff, get bored, sell it cheap on Ebay, classifieds etc and buy other new stuff, and so it goes on. If I can get cheap stuff every now and again then long may it last 8)

the exponential and pregressive growth of my gnarl.

you can get cream for that, you know – you should get it looked at, it won’t go away by itself.

This thread was tailor made for Ton.

bikes are like women: when they are new every little thing they do excites you, the sublety of how the react to a little flick here and a respond to each of your every inputs excites you because it is different. But after a while the constant maintanence and however hard you try you just can’t seem to stop that whining sound they make.

so you have to trade it in for a new one. 😀

GW – I did say that I never buy new, hence why I don’t lose (significant) money doing it.

In fact, I don’t even buy expensive second hand – eg I’ve got two full sus frames – one cost £140 (Spesh Enduro), one cost £60 (Rocky Mountain Element) from the classifieds. Both are good bikes though both have been well used but work fine. Clearly wouldn’t work if I was precious about the cosmetic condition (though I do try to keep them looking decent) or keeping up with the Jones (no pun intended!)

Isn’t the purchase of new complete bikes the same as buying replacement components (especially frames) if the buyer is not as mechanically savvy / doesn’t have a decent LBS?
I tend to have “mutating” bikes in that they change over time but still have references of the original buried within. This is mainly because:

1. stuff breaks
2. better stuff comes out (brakes and forks especially have made major improvements IME over the last 5 years)
3. i start wanting to ride a bit differently (sudden urge to learn DJ, still unforfilled)

If I wasn’t a self confessed spanner addict I would probably have bought new bikes to satisfy the reasons previously stated.

bikes are like women:

Don’t tell anybody I’ve got four chained up in my garage then!

had my stumpjumper FSR for 3 years and the pivots were wearing out and squeaking even after full bearing replacements – then onto a marin MV – ex demo – thought was Ok but eventually thought too high and too short – then went finally for a Orange 5 frame upgrade (after 1.5 years on the Marin) and finaly satisfied so as long as it lasts I’ll stop there I think. How long are you thinking of i.e.

A lot of folk seem to change bike often

are we talking months or several years – I would not think of changing a bit within 1 year myself unless it broke but then it would still be under warranty!

Just to try out different bikes. One day I’ll come to the conclusion that it’ll never get better than the one I had 5 bikes ago or whatever, then I’ll settle on that. Probably.

Those Lapierres look good…

The grass is always greener, and for those of use who don’t own ten bikes there will always be a type of ride we’re missing. I ride 2 mtbs, a big pig bike and a short travel xc bike. I’ve been thinking about moving down to a 4-5 inch fs and a HT. Of course if I did that I’d then miss the previous 2. Living in a flat with a family I can’t have more than 3 bikes at a time.

Another thing that helps with bike turnover is buying secondhand. Some people don’t like to do this, so will naturally keep their bikes longer. I’ve had good luck with the second hand market, frames have been in good condition etc. If you know you can get a properly good bike for 500-1000 on ebay, sell your own for however much, then it doesn’t seem like such a big deal.

I used to change my bikes all the time, i think i went thru seven in abotu as many months, some were stolen, some i bought and they didn’t fit me right, some i had to sell to pay for my nicolai. my current two bikes are my handjob, and commuter, the commuter will soon be going for something lighter and faster, the handjob will stay with me for ages.

i have a big bike coming, and thinking i’ll get a short travell full sus for when my bike bike is to much.

I think the price some stuff goes for 2nd hand on here encourages people to change things a lot 🙂

Personally, I seem to change my frame every 18 months to 2 years. The rest of the bits sorta evolve.

Mind you, I’ve had quite a few bikes now over the 10 year period

Of course you need to change your bike regularly, if you haven’t ridden every bike ever made then how are you going to be able to back up your authoritative posts on here? 😉

I think you either change often and get the benefit of good second hand prices (frames I’ve sold have always been very popular choices and I got what I asked – SC Nomad, Cove Hustler to name but two), or you keep it until it dies when it is shagged out and worth sweet FA. I’ve done both TBH – except the ones I’ve really wanted to keep hold of haven’t lasted long!

mamadirt where are you?

Well I am going to be very honest and say…… GW – you say how does trading up work…… well simply buy cheap sell at a good price. I started with an 02 patriot, very basic spec… I now have an 08 Commencal furious with very very nice spec (rocco, Ti Sping, Gravity Wheels, Thomson Etc). Cost to me £0, I traded all the way up though 12 bikes and a few hundered parts over 2 years. I don’t do it just for profit, I love bike building, fettling and planning. Like others I cannot afford to buy a bike from new with nice upgrades. Once I finish a bike I get itchy feet, it keeps me occupied as it is a hobby in it’s own right!

mamadirt where are you?

I was just thinking that….

Waves . . . 😀

Erm . . . I guess I just love trying out new set ups, and speccing new bikes. My ideal job would be a mag test pilot then I wouldn’t have to drop so much money on my tiny bike fetish.

Sure, I lose a bit of money when I sell a frame on but at the end of the day I could be spending the same amount on handbags or shoes and where’s the fun in that? 😉