...you know, you've just bought a new dream Cotic Yeti Carbine 6.9.3 travel full XY running gear Mavstans wheels bike with Hopemano hubs and Fox Sid forks, then after the "new toy" syndrome has gone, the first scratch/chip/dent has occurred, and the new model arrives at the October product launches...
How long do you keep it before you start thinking of a replacement?
You need to get rid of it NOW, if it's chipped or scratched. Frame failure on the Surrey Hills will be instant death, you know it will. Get an Apollo.
Lol, this is a hypothetical question Toxicsoks, my recently chipped machine is staying right where it is....
Ah but we know otherwise. It's gnawing at your mind, isn't it? 😈
Actually, no. I <heart> my Yeti....
my last uber bike did me 6 years. Just replaced it.
Dunno. Depends, sometimes it can be frugal to sell on early, get more for the bike particularly if there's an attractive deal to be had on the replacement.
I have a raw bike. No chips and I like scratches.
My 1993 M Trax is still going as a mate's commuter, my 1998 Stumpjumper M2 was going until a year ago when I bent it round a car, and my 2007 Trance is still my current off road ride, with a ~2005 Yeti DJ as a commuter. Yeti ASR5 will be purchased this year though...
You are asking in the wrong place though, this place is a tragedy of middle aged IT consultants with too much cash and not enough to spend it on!
The 1955 Dawes Debonair in my hut would be perfectly rideable if I could find a decent touring fork for 27" wheels..... 🙁
In my experience the cheaper the bike the longer i keep/use it for.
Lifetime should mean exactly that... Expensive bikes are expensive to run though.
Until it's broken. I'm not good enough to benefit from the marginal year-on-year improvements anyways.
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My Coyote Dual first hit the trails in Jan 2005. Still going strong. Bit of a Trigger's broom but still same frame and forks.
Might have a birthday do for it tonight!
Just retired my 06 Rocky Ridge, though only the frame and stem were original (and the stem lives on on my new bike!). I've bought/sold quite a few other bikes between 2006 and now though. Depends whether its a keeper!
We seem to be talking, by default about years. We need to get this down to days. In fact, I think in extreme cases we could be talking in minutes.
I'll sort it....
Hora to the forum please. Repeat: [b]Hora to the forum please!![/b]
My Enduro is eight years old and keeps getting better. My Pure 7 on the other hand is only five days old...awww...
I replaced my 2001 Stumpjumper FSR in Jan 2010.....it was starting to get like Trigger's broom a bit.
I'd replaced brakes, forks & crankset but all were replacing totally knackered items & the replacements were all end of season bits.
Can't really afford or justify replacing bikes too often. Hopefully the new Stumpjumper will last quite a few yrs!
I've churned hardtails at a silly rate... But then my full suss seems to be a keeper and my rigid is 19 years old. So that's probably not a totally helpful answer
I replaced my previous bike because my current one allowed me to ride better. That was because the geometry / suspension etc had improved over the 6 years and my riding style developed from XC to more freeride/XC.
So it didnt wear out, it was replaced by something more suitable and with suspension that was much better, geometry that suited me etc.
It could have gone on and one, in fact I sold it to a mate who loves riding it. Unless you actually break the frame, all you do is replace the bits hanging off it.
till it breaks or its so old that advances mean the advances will be noticeable to me rather than just subjective "cashmina" feel.
I guess 5 ish years for a FS and till it breaks for a Hard tail and same for a SS
when it snaps or cracks, or if steel when it has been welded too many times for me to continue trusting it.
OR
if it doesn't fit me properly.
Still have mid 90's machines in use here
if i win the lottery tonight about a week otherwise till i break it.
till i get bored of it, and want to try something else......so not very long. 😀
Yunki that was my favourite OFAH quote.
Last bike purchase was a while ago, from hardtail to full sus, it'll be a program of upgrading and replacing broken stuff till the frame can't take the abuse any more.
So that could be 5 days or 5 years!
Humm my Heckler is now officially 6 years and 4 months old. It was my ideal bike at the time, Thomson, Hope, XT throughout. The Fox forks and shock are still on along with the Thomson post and hope stem, the hope hubs have been rebuilt and the rims still exist, cranks and handlebar are I think the same; otherwise everything else has been changed out. I've been thinking about a new bike now for the last two years but now my wife's pregnant I think I might get a new bike in 20 years! Who knows what they'll look like then!!! Shimano XTCYBR with mobile shifting and braking from your cybernetic implant in your head.
Shimano - I thought of it here first!!! Design-right!
I have compulsive bike purchase disorder, been to the doctors, they can do nothing for me.
I ride a 1997 Marin B-17, bought it new.
It came with V brakes and STX-RC drivetrain. So far all I've changed is the wheelset and brakes to deore/717 and Julies, the fork from RST to Fox vanilla, , frame from stock to Maxlight XC, the seat from a Ritchey to WTB, bars from stock to Easton, stem from stock to RaceFace, Drivetrain replaced as needed, currently XT, frame from Maxlight to Turner 5 spot, seatpost to Easton, wheels from deore to Hope/WTB, brakes to XT, bars to Sunline. Here's my Marin, I still love it.
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My bikes never seem to die.. They occasionally undergo binary division, or eventually a complete component part replacement.. Then the old bits sitting in the corner of the garage will reform themselves into a singlespeed in the middle of the night.. Sleep fettling is a tragic disease!
Love your Turner, I mean Marin, MLC. It just looks very 'right' somehow.
Again with the lotto. If I win it will be a new fleet. But only when it breaks then I get the relacement.
I have only sold 2 bikes .....
I occasionally give them away to mates but usually because they areso old and used that they are worthless cash wise and id rather see friends get use of them than sell them for peanuts .
Had my trailstar for about 3 years I think, considered changing it in the past but the geometry is pretty much the same as any of the current "hardcore hardtails" so what's the point? All it needs is a fresh lick of paint 🙂
my lefty's a 2001 model keep thinking about a new one but i love it took me is long to get it how i like it lol
TBF as midlifecrashes wrote, but change Marin To GT STS.. I'm not a habitual swapper of stuff. I'll use something until its knackered.
Having said all of that I'm thinking about swapping the HT just because I fancy it, its 5 or so years old...
I tend to get bored of them after a little while (like 2 years max) and get that new bike itch.
Nothing usually wrong with the bike I'm currently riding, its just hard to not get excited by the new stuff coming out and all the hype that comes with them.
Still running a 1992 Raleigh dyna tech - well the frame and cranks anyway, no other original bits on it, though the ti bars are on another bike now. It now has front suspension and discs both ends, so I don't mention it on Retrobike. Other two bikes are about 1 and 2 years old but I use all three about the same.
ran the last two until the frames failed and I will do the same with the Mojo until I hit a baby Robins face and the carbon dust barbs from the failed frame makes its way to my heart then it wont matter will it?
Last Marin Attack trail failed in many places, although the lifetime warranty would have covered it, the game had moved on so second hand carbon fame and bits-swop it was...
How long do you keep it before you start thinking of a replacement?
Two weeks 😀
I've got a steel ht....I can't see the geometry of steel hardtails ever changing to a point where I need to change it, if I keep the parts well serviced and raw it/paint it I'm guessing it'll still be serving me in 10 years time. I'm going to change it when I get to old for razzin it down dh trails with drops and jumps, then i'll get a trail focused FS.
My Hummer frame is over 7 years old now , deffo Triggers broom ! Don't think there is anything left from the original incarnation .Question is why if Ti is a frame for life am i even looking elsewhere ? Thing is we have been through so much together ! Replacement chainstays , Morzine,Whistler ,Lake Tahoe etc etc etc 🙄
My '93 Lava Dome is used daily as a singlespeed commuter. Will always be the best bike I will ever own. Gets an occasional off road jolly when I can be bothered to put big tyres on it.
Main 'mountain bike' is 07 Stumpjumper FSR which I could probably afford to replace but see no reason to at all. Won't be replaced until I either break it or become a better rider and 'need' a better bike (unlikely)
I'm still on my first MTB, 2006 Giant XTC (although only the frame, bars and stem are orginal). I might think about a new one this year as it needs a lot doing to it that might amount to a few hundred quid, and a lot of the time it doesn't feel like the best tool for the job anymore*- maybe look at something a bit less 'race'.
Anyway, point is I tend to keep my bikes until they don't work or don't work for me- they don't get replaced by shiny.
*I know, you could ride pretty much anything on a 100mm travel hardtail, etc etc.
There is no lifetime, you immortalise by the magic that is evolution. A cost efficient means of keeping the 'need shiny' monster subdued.
The frame might change every couple of years but some parts like my xtr shifters are older than your average dog. Only a 10sp groupset will see those go and even then it will be on to one of the kids bikes.
There is a danger that even this way eventually you could reach a prolonged period of satisfaction, at which point you start breeding them.
My bike has just had bits replaced until I found all the ones I liked that worked well. 456 with XT, Saint crank, Blackspire bash and rings, Hope hubs (20mm), Mavick rims, Marzocchi 55's (oil and coil), Titec, Hope disks, Spoon saddle. All chosen as it does the job. Lasted me about 6 years, forks just replaced this year and now I'm happy with it. It suits my riding style and I don't think it'll change, so no need to get rid.
I have however bought 5 other bikes in that time for other riding styles and may well buy a few more over the years!
Ride it until you don't enjoy riding it. Simple. And if you are the sort of person who can't enjoy it because it's not shiny and new, or because someone else has a newer model, then you should probably save your dosh and put it towards psychotherapy.
My hardtail is a 2000 cannondale 900, the road bike is a OCLV 5900 of similar vintage (the cannondale had an early upgrade to hope brakes and rear wheel, but otherwise both have only had consumables replaced) and my "new" bike is a 2007 s-works stumpjumper fsr. My long lost 1994 zullo road bike is waiting to be reborn too.
Expensive bikes are easier to justify when they run forever.