If the cost and longevity of car parts was in proportion to bike parts how long would it be until the roads were empty and the automotive industry in ruins?

I once made a similar reference after getting failed suss bearings (11 months old) on my bike! I was promptly flamed from here to kingdom come!

Depends what cars you want to compare it to, if you look at top end MTB bikes as race machines maybe it’s not too bad?
Certainly parts on utilitarian bikes last a long time usually.

I used to race motorbikes, TZ250 and 350 Yamahas needed new pistons and rings every 2 races and a new crankshaft mid season, + all the bearings, oil seals and gaskets that go with it. My road Yamaha 250 never needed much at all.

My commuter is from the 60’s, it last had a new drivechain in the 80’s.

On that basis the Focus will need a major overhaul in 2026 and still be in regular use untill 2050.

Depends what cars you want to compare it to, if you look at top end MTB bikes as race machines maybe it’s not too bad?
Certainly parts on utilitarian bikes last a long time usually.

precisely – I’ve got an old step through, rod braked bike that had lived in a ditch for 40 odd years. Apart from the tyres, everything – drive train, hubs, bottom bracket headset – everything that moved worked, straight out of the ditch even without lube. If we want to have bikes that last like cars we need to ride bikes that are built like hackney cabs, not bikes that are built like race cars.

We’ve got no tradition of transportational cycling in this country – even people who commute do so on bikes that are designed for other purposes. People buying CX bikes to ride to work on, couriers on track bikes. We’re such a bunch of dicks in the UK (myself very much included) you pretty much can’t even buy a proper bike here and even on a cycling forum there’ll be very few people who actually own one.

It’s a bit ridiculous IMO!

Daft that sealed bearings have **** all grease in them.

Price of oil etc boils my urine!

Price of oil etc boils my urine!

if you rode a bike with a proper chain guard you wouldn’t need to buy expensive stuff or use very much of it 🙂

Anyway I hear your hot piss is a delicacy

Got belt drive, hub gears & drum brakes on my commuter, barely had to touch it for 2 years and it’s running absolutely fine.

I expect it to for many more years to come, too.