[Closed] How often do you change you bike?

Too often, however unlike Ton I never seem to sell them afterwards so they pile up!

Tend to buy 2nd hand stuff so no big financial outlays.

once a year, as they normally get nicked 🙁

Too often, however unlike Ton I never seem to sell them afterwards so they pile up!

Same here. Early in my MTB career I sold a couple of frames which I regretted so I tend to keep them now. Currently I'm adding frames at the rate of something like 2 or 3 a year, so have quite a lot now.

I don't actually replace bikes that often though - a couple of my main bikes (my Epic and my Soul) I've had for a long time.

Might never buy a whole new bike again - my 07 Stumpy is almost all upgraded parts, once the frame dies (if it does) I'll get another one.

Seems a good way to keep up with recentish technology in brakes/wheels/drivetrains without buying a new rig.

I also think prices for new bikes have gone mental. My bike was £1200 in 2007. The current "same" model with worse parts is £1500.

My Epic cost £1000 new in 2003 (reduced from £1500 in the sales) but the new base model is £2000 I think. The new on is much higher spec than the old one though - mine didn't even have disk brakes when I got it.

I bought an orange P7 in about 2000 for £800 and have now replaced every part on it, however I will never get rid of it. After 10 years of riding that I am now on the verge of buying my first full suspension bike. Why do I get the feeling it will not last as long?

I went thru about 15 bikes in two years before I seem to have settled on the ones I have and hope not to feel the urge to change ever again Lol

When the frame snaps/cracks.

Buy the right bike for the job in the first place and you don't even need to look at other bikes

I haven't bought a complete since my first proper mtb in arrround '00.

That got heavily upgraded then replaced with a self-built DMR Switchback with a mix of new/sh parts which had a mid life rebuild with loads of newer bits after ~2 years. Then that frame made way for the curent (sh) 456 frame after about 2 years but with the same parts. Got 2 builds for that now one AM one XC (36lb and 28lb).

Might have to split it into 2 bikes, one ~24lb XC hardtail and a ~35lb AM/FR full susser like the old patriot/new alpine.

mmm interestingm, i had a cube AMS three years ago since then i have bought a Cube Fritzz and a DH Norco!! even thinking about building a nice little hardtail for winter

I'm still using my '98 Kona Caldera.

I've changed the frame, wheels, post, bars, ...

actually; there's one original part left. Can you guess what it is?

surely it is better to get a decent amount of money for a bike/frame that you are not gonna ride.
sell it on and try another...........it is what money is for.... 😉

Buy the right bike for the job in the first place

Depends my riding covers,

XC
Trail
All Mountain
BMX
Dirt Jumping
Road
Commuting

Multiple bikes are a bit of a nececity!

Much more fun having a new bike for each every so often anyway 🙂

Buy the right bike for the job in the first place and you don't even need to look at other bikes

From a "need" point of view you might be right, but what's that got to do with it really? Since I bought my Epic in '03 I've not ridden a single trail that it wouldn't have coped with easily, however it's not stopped me putting together perhaps 10-12 other bike builds since. I do it partly because I like building bikes but mostly because I like having a range of bikes available with various different characters.

there's one original part left. Can you guess what it is?

Headset?

1996, 2003 & 2 months ago. Guess it's a 7 year itch thing.

Bought 4 this year (2 FS complete bikes, 1 FS frame and one complete hardtail) and currently have 2 of the FS bikes but planning on selling one and buying a hardtail again.

I don't change my bikes, I merely add to the collection...

Besides, my 2004 Enduro keeps getting better and better every time I upgrade it so why would I change it for anything else? For larier stuff I have a 2009 Wolf Ridge which also gets better and better every time it's upgraded and I have the use of a (my stepson's - I built it for him!) Merlin Malt 1 for a zippy hardtail fix too. Trickle down means that the Merlin gets decent componentry that's been upgraded on both the Spesh and the Marin.

Depends my riding covers,

XC
Trail
All Mountain
BMX
Dirt Jumping
Road
Commuting

Multiple bikes are a bit of a nececity!

agreed. I ride all you have listed and more which is why I have more than 7 bikes. but funnily enough, since allmountain, XC and trail are exactly the same thing I ride them all on the one bike. 😆

Besides, my 2004 Enduro keeps getting better and better every time I upgrade it so why would I change it for anything else?

I've got 2 '04 Enduros (an SX and an S-Works) and I'm still trying to decide whether I should continue to revise them or retire both and replace with a more modern bike with 140 or 150mm at both ends.

The S-Works has had a lot of use during the year and currently sports a lightish (28lbs) build with an 120mm Float up-front and an RP2 on the back. Earlier in the year it was 32+lbs with coil Pikes and a vanilla.

Some days I ride both my bikes.

I've got 2 '04 Enduros (an SX and an S-Works) and I'm still trying to decide whether I should continue to revise them or retire both and replace with a more modern bike with 140 or 150mm at both ends.

for the riding you do (or seem to) the SX is probably overkill, those frames are over 8.5lb and pretty burly with v. low BB height so make amazing cornering mini DH/freeride bikes. your set-up (if the same as the thread you had about it) is not getting the best from it either.
What size was it? (might well take it off your hands for spares if you're selling)

for the riding you do (or seem to) the SX is probably overkill,

No "probably" about it!

those frames are over 8.5lb and pretty burly with v. low BB height so make amazing cornering mini DH/freeride bikes. your set-up (if the same as the thread you had about it) is not getting the best from it either.

Not sure which set-up that would have been. It's had a few different sets of forks on it but currently it's wearing some 55r's. They're not light though - current build isn't much under 35lbs! A bit of grind riding up hills with it, but great fun coming down.

How would you set it up?

What size was it? (might well take it off your hands for spares if you're selling)

I think it's the smaller size (can't really remember though). I might sell it if I do decide to consolidate/replace all my FS's with a single bike - but more likely I'll either keep the frame up the back of the garage with my other "occasional build" ones or build something really heavy with downhill tyres on to use where uplifts are available - Fort William for example.

Buy the right bike for the job in the first place and you don't even need to look at other bikes

Where's the fun in that? 😕

surely it is better to get a decent amount of money for a bike/frame that you are not gonna ride.
sell it on and try another...........it is what money is for....

Ton's right. The only frame I have unbuilt at the mo' (aside from the MC Battery on ebay) is my lil red 'bred which I'd never sell - does get built up occasionally if I'm between bikes but it's not what I'd want as my main ride.

Despite seemingly having short-term test-piloted a rather obscene amount of tiny framery recently I generally tend to hang onto a build for around 7-8 months then get a little bored and try something else. Sometimes I make the right choice straight away, sometimes not and said frame ends up on ebay after one or two rides. Sure I lose money but at the end of the day what would it cost to hire/demo said bike for a couple of weeks? (I know that demo fees are generally refundable if you make a purchase)

Some you win, some you lose - it's all good.

Not sure which set-up that would have been. It's had a few different sets of forks on it but currently it's wearing some 55r's. They're not light though - current build isn't much under 35lbs! A bit of grind riding up hills with it, but great fun coming down.

How would you set it up?

Can't remember exactly but it was closer to seat-up XC (or do they call it allmountain these days) than anything else. and you mentioned taking it out round the Pentlands (not somewhere I'd ever want to take mine).
Mine's a long tho and I bought it specifically to set-up as a mini DH bike as it's easier to push up than my DH bike and even with the single 36T ring, chain device and 8spd cassette can be pedalled back up the odd fireroad. With Pikes at full length and shock in low/slack it has pretty much the same angles/dimensions (65deg H/A, long and low) as my DH bike but less travel, also being mega low it corners better than most DH bikes.
Mine's 36.5lb with a 2.5 front minion and a sturdy (think dual ply) 2.1 prototype DH rear tyre. Shock has been Pushed as the standard Vanilla had next to no comp damping and blew through the travel far too easily, and a scoper seatpost so it can be completely slammed or full pedalling extension.
Where it shines is short DH or DH track sectioning. being lighter and having half the travel of a DH bike it's really well suited to hitting short sections flat out and pinging out of corners over and over again and leaves you noticably less tired over a days DH than a full DH bike. but even doing full (3min) runs at relatively tame tracks like innerleithen it'll leave you aching for more travel. It's def not a bike I'd ever want to take to fort William, the short travel, high leverage ratio and non-reservoir old skool shock are just not upto repeated hard hits over a 5min track where damping fade will become noticable pretty quick (along with the shortcomings of a Pike up front).
but conversly take it to somewhwere like Glentress and it'd be rubbish too, the seat angle is truely awful for climbing with the seat at full extension, not only does it put you in a compromised position but being that far back over the rear wheel causes the shock to sag too much and because of this even with better comp damping from the push internals it still bobs too easily under pedalling forces that deep into the travel, because of it's weight it'll lose out to a hardtail on the twisty pumpy bits and as the BBs so low, even with my short 165mm cranks you'll rarely get the chance to pedal back upto speed on rutted trails where there's not enough gradient for a DH bike (zoom or bust for example).

anyway, even without the the old skool super slack seat angle IMO it's simply too heavy a frame to ever be any good at anything other than gravity assisted riding. and why would you bother since the old XC enduro's from the same era had that covered pretty well.

mama - Ton's always seemed a bit clueless to me when it comes to bikes. but are you sure you're not simply confusing your enjoyment of riding with your enjoyment of purchasing?

GW, what you talking about? Spec SX? Pics? That sounds like my kind of bike - slack, low bb, mini d/h . . . hmmmmmmm . . . sounds like something to add to the wish list 😉

are you sure you're not simply confusing your enjoyment of riding with your enjoyment of purchasing?

No, they go hand in hand. Love buying stuff, love building stuff, love testing stuff . . . and sometimes I keep them 😉

mama - 2002-2004 Specialized SX Supercross.

The purchasing/building bit never did anything for me, ever thought of owning/running your own bike shop?

Ah cool - the white red and black one? Sounds like something to keep an eye out for on ebay (despite my recent posting to the contrary 😳 ). I'd love to run my own bike shop but I'd end up riding the profits 😉

oh.. and 2011 Tazer might do a similar job with the right shock.
or 2011 SX if you could switch to a coil shock.

My old supercross. It was a nice bike but a bit too small for xc mincing and for some reason I thought the back end felt a bit flexy on jumps. Rode pretty well though, mini dh bike.

[IMG] [/IMG]

Hamsterley table top

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Have an Orange 5 so no need to change bike But send it
back for a respray £ 165 bargain

Ah, that's the one David - looks good - reckon it'd ride pretty similarly to my Tazer FS - it's treated with kid gloves due to its crack addiction but I reckon it'd rock on the downhills (climbs like a dog though).

Don't say the 'T' word again GW - I have two already . . . [url= http://mamadirt.fotopic.net/c1553419_49.html ]Tazers rock!![/url]

In the last 3 years I have had about 10 bikes although the past 3 months I have had 3 of those.

So far probably about every 6 months 😳 But that's partly because I'm still figuring out what I want from my bikes. The Scandal and Idrive were both just the wrong frame, but bought for the right reasons and could have been keepers. The Kraken served its purpose and got me riding, and is still in service. The rest seem like keepers for now unless I can stretch to a Ragley ti.

(just replaced a Soul which I loved with an Mmmbop which I love. I reckon right now, my most likely next bike is a Soul which I love to replace an Mmmbop which I loved :roll:)

lottery win or the equally as unlikely inheritance win usually signifies new bike in this household..

This is my SX in a heavy but can be ridden uphill guise:
[img] [/img]
It had Kenda downhill tyres on in that pic but they were replaced with much lighter Eskars straight away. It'll probably be going back to a spec similar to that but with a Mavic Speedball (currently on my BFe but I never tend to actually lower it!) instead of the normal seatpost.

It may be an illusion but your forks look bent.

I've changed my entire bike collection in the past 18 months but mostly by changing frames.

My Trance has become a prophet as I fancied a single pivot
My Kona Caldera became a ridged on-one 29er which I sold but now I have a ridged 26 on-one with both 26" and 700cc wheels
My Voodoo cyclocross became a kinseis as my frame snapped
My 456 became titanium

This activity has been inversely proportional to the amount of riding I was doing. Now I'm riding I have no desire to spend anymore money on bikes

Nick

I swapped seven times in three years for a mixture of reasons (two were nicked, then just couldn't make up my mind what I needed). I've now had my Soda for well over 6 months and although it's had a couple of different forks and drivetrains, I nolonger covert anything else.

Whether I'll say the same in a year's time, or will have experimented with clown wheels like most of my riding buddies, only time will tell.

I haven't bought a complete mountain bike in years; always seem to buy frames and swap/upgrade bits. I've had my Soul for 3 to 4 years and my Dialled Alpine for 2 so I must be going soft or at long last I have bikes that suit my needs. I still have an old (10 years+)853 Kona Explosif which I built up as a singlespeed with bits I had lying around as I couldn't face selling it and had to find an excuse to ride it again! Still have an old Giant Reign frame lurking somewhere but I doubt it will ever get used again after I stripped it to build the Alpine.

Ooooh, that looks good Epicsteve 8)

Damn, why can't I just leave the search alone . . .

[img] http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Specialized/6607?$Display$ [/img]

[i]remembers the last time I posted a Homer Simpsonesque drool thread[/i] 😕

I love my Tazers, really I do 😛

I have a main bike for a couple of years , and build and play with odd balls built up of ebay, try them out then sell them on, mainly frames and just swop componenets around, my latest build was an mmmBop cheap frame for CRC, fantastic bike, 😀