Nearly time for a new bike.what bikes have people had that have been reliable had no real issues and been free of any creaks or rattles over a couple of years.currently riding a 3 year old Santa Cruz 5010 that has been great always feels solid.I’ve changed the shock bushings once and had the bearings replaced once and it still feels like the day I bought it but fancy something new with maybe a bit more travel.which brands should I look at and more importantly which to avoid.

How long is piece of string?

Totally depends on riding, and luck, I think. I know a guy who has had a Nomad for three months and the bearings have gone. On the other hand, my Heckler is trouble free.

Orange? I don’t have one but ‘1 pivot no problems’

None & all

Depends on use, maintenance, luck

I’ve been very impressed with my Ibis so far and should it go wrong, the have a long warranty and a good reputation for standing by their bikes

If there was a bike as trouble free as my Shimano Trail pedals please let me know?

The sc ikes I’ve owned were the best sealed ever, the carbon blur still had original grease in the bb shell and upper pivots. 1 pivot is only simple and reliable if it’s reliable, being easy to change is a cop out.

Was thinking of an orange,I’ve had a couple of fives and the stage four looks interesting but there seems to be more failing recently than a few years ago so that’s putting me off.

Good warranty support is important, at least if they make a rare cockup it will get sorted (even the best brands will have failures). I’ve found the user can sometimes be the biggest issue. You know that bloke you ride with, always has problems and breaks things regardless of what he buys.

You wouldn’t be making a bad choice sticking with Santacruz.

More (Oranges) failing? Source?

My lad has a Five and though I don’t enjoy riding it (not least ‘cos of the noise), it is pretty bombproof

A mates four failed recently cracked weld in the swing arm they sorted him out so all good.also heard of other failures recently.not a deal breaker as these things happen and he still loves his four.

The most trouble would be a >£1500 Cannondale. I can’t answer your question though.

I’ve been reluctantly impressed with Trek- it’s not so much that my Remedy’s maintenance free, it’s got a million bearings in after all. But it’s incredibly easy to work on, it all comes apart and goes together easily and the bearing access is simple, with them all being reasonable sizes too. Things like the internal routing hatches are clever too, and the torque settings and direction of rotation on all the pivot bolts. Basically it’s been designed by someone who maintains bikes. I had it anodised recently so had to change all the bearings and it was done in minutes. I really appreciate that even though it has its custom funny shaped shock it uses standard bottom shock hardware and service kits and all, it has extra clever bits inside but day to day it’s just an Evol.

With Orange, I think a lot of people go “maintenance free, just 2 big bearings” and then you get it in the stand and they’re absolutely destroyed and neglected. But bearings aren’t really that big a deal when you consider the cost of suspension servicing.

The answer is simple. Any Surly or On-One single speed.

Absolutely no point in having any more technology than needed.

They will work forever with reasonably decent components and minimal care, no need for esoteric bling.*
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*It’s nice to have a wee bit of bling though. 🙂

epicyclo – Member
The answer is simple. Any Surly or On-One single speed.

Absolutely no point in having any more technology than needed.
That is why maintaining them is worth every penny 🙂 Lots of fun to be had with all those bearings, gears and suspension parts moving around 🙂

Of mine?
Brompton. Bar the odd clean and regular tyre checks, pretty much maintenance free!

Parts. Time pedals. Bombproof.

mikewsmith – Member
That is why maintaining them is worth every penny Lots of fun to be had with all those bearings, gears and suspension parts moving around

🙂
Nah, maintenance is like polishing. Uses up good riding time.

Giant, I’d say my TCX is bombproof. Other than one rear mech cable fray it’s been spectacular in its lack of breakages.

Something with a long warranty. A friend has just had his Voodoo crack, turns out they only offer a 2 year warranty. Shows they have very little faith in it lasting.

Nah, maintenance is like polishing. Uses up good riding time.

Yeah but if it means riding a shit ht with no gears whats the actual point.
I spend very little time maintaining bikes these days, lucky it’s dry but mostly avoiding bogs and grinding paste puddles was the key.

Given the nature of the sport it would seem to me that the ones easiest to fix, have easy spares and best warranties.

Anything with brand specifics is a candidate for hassle like the old OD2 Giant’s or specific shocks that are only available for a specific brand/model etc. or anything with press fit BB’s is potentially a pain.

The Giant bikes I’ve owned have probably been the most trouble-free.

Turners with their bushings and zerks

The most bomb proof bikes I’ve ever owned were my Coves. They’re built that way, bigger bearings that most, long shocks to cut down on wear etc.

The cost was weight.

My Intense is a constant battle to keep the bearings running smooth.

How often do you ride? How do you ride? How often do you clean the whole bike? Do you tend to tinker or do you leave things as they are?

So many variables…buy a BSO and don’t ride it and it will be as good as the day you pulled it out the carrier bag.

Spend a stupidaly large amount on a bike (>£3.5k) and don’t clean it and be hamfisted with it plus ‘tinker’ with it constantly with cheap tools and watch it fall apart…

the most realible bike is the one you build and mantain yourself.

The Giant bikes I’ve owned have probably been the most trouble-free.

Which is great until you need new forks or headset (or just bearings) on a OD2
My XtC has a press fit BB which was trouble free but when it needs replacing becomes trouble… unless you have a press.

I also need a new freehub and again finding the right one is a pain.. I’m sure Giant aren’t alone … in this I just find tracking down the exact right bits ends up more work than the actual job itself.

Technically, the answer isn’t straightforward

If you’re on a hardtail or a rigid bike then components are the ones that fail (frames rarely do)

On a FS then maybe you’re talking about bushings/pivots

TurnerGuy – Member
Turners with their bushings and zerks

If you can get an old alu frame. The new plastic frames use bearings like everyone else

Example #1 mrs rocket has a GF Big Sur from around 2009. It’s been used but not abused and is the recipient of most of my component cast-offs. It has never ever failed.
Example #2 matey has a not unreasonable Boardman. It’s about 18 months old but he’s a premier league cockrotter armed with a jet washer so the bike is constantly going wrong with the kind of problems you only read about on forums

My own bikes have not been without problems but’s that because I kid myself I ride them hard enough to break stuff

IME it’s the components that give more trouble, so the one with the best customer service to sort out any issues, admittedly this can an more an LBS thing that a bike brand thing unless buying direct.

Good frame warranty.

No specific proprietary parts.

Ease of service, replacing bearings etc, and availability of parts

Beyond that it comes down to usage, maintenance, and a bit of luck.

Bird ticks the boxes for me.

Which is great until you need new forks or headset (or just bearings) on a OD2

Well I didn’t buy them when they were doing that crap.

They’ve stopped now haven’t they? Must’ve got the message eh?

I don’t have any Giants now BTW, but maybe in future when they’ve realised they ballsed up by dropping 29in. Never exciting bikes though, are they?

+1 for it depends.

I’ve had half a dozen specializeds and had very few problems. Grannyjone spends £1500 odd in a year fixing his camber…

That said, I’ve had very few reliability issues with anything really.

the most realible bike is the one you build and mantain yourself.

😆

I know a guy who has had a Nomad for three months

My mate has done about 20 rides on his Nomad C & it’s had 2 sets of rear wheel bearings replaced. The bike cost 4.4K ffs!
He had a 2012 5 before that & he never had it back for anything. My 5 has had 1 set of pivot bearings in 6 years, & nothing else apart from consumables.

the most realible bike is the one you build and mantain yourself.

Not really true. It depends on how competent you are VS how incompetent your lbs mechanic is.

Best thing you can do to your bike is not jet wash it.

My mate has done about 20 rides on his Nomad C & it’s had 2 sets of rear wheel bearings replaced. The bike cost 4.4K ffs!

I’ve had mine for 3.5 years (inc 6 weeks of riding 6/7 days in whistler). It’s not needed the bearings changed yet… maybe it’s because I paid more for mine?

My mate has done about 20 rides on his Nomad C & it’s had 2 sets of rear wheel bearings replaced. The bike cost 4.4K ffs!

Well, he did go for the cheap one…

😉

Turners with their bushings and zerks

Borderline agree. My Czar and Flux have both needed maintenance on the bushes with either play or just not being able to get grease in. Or even the odd creak etc.

The upside is I can do it all myself without a bearing press.

If you can get an old alu frame. The new plastic frames use bearings like everyone else

yes, just bought two alu Turner frames and rebuild kits, got so many pivots and bushes knocking around now they should last me a while.

Well I didn’t buy them when they were doing that crap.

They’ve stopped now haven’t they? Must’ve got the message eh?

Well they went back on OD2 (which luckily I missed as well) but as far as i know they are still mysterious as to which hubs/headset they use … but they aren’t alone in this….

As someone else said (or perhaps rephrasing it) the most hassle free is the one you build yourself … or at least know all the frame specs and don’t need to guess on headsets or bearing sizes etc.

At least for me this is the hassle part… actually changing headset bearings is 10-15 mins… finding the right ones a different story… (or it could be the mech hanger or torque settings on the shock mounts etc.) or needing some special fitting for the shock that is brand specific and the shock itself model specific… (to the actual tune only used by a certain model) …

I don’t have any Giants now BTW, but maybe in future when they’ve realised they ballsed up by dropping 29in. Never exciting bikes though, are they?

Hard to say …. I don’t seem to fit them very well…. I’ve got the wrong proportions… and I’ve ridden XtC’s at one end and Reign at the other… my main gripe though are manufacturers that use non-standard stuff so when it inevitably wears out your left scouring the internet and working out of yours was batch A or batch B … that got fitted with different Hubs or something …and trying to read the part number to work out