ndthornton

Member
Buy paintless bikes. Best of both worlds. Rag them and they always look new.
Ti for hardtails, bare Alu for full suspension
My 2012 Liteville looks like it just came out of the box

To a point, that’s true – although my raw 301 doesn’t quite look like it came out of the box, it looks far fresher than its black anodised brother.
My Ti Hummingbird does however look pretty immaculate…

Although, being into Litevilles, I’ve seen plenty that look as if they’ve been thrown off cliffs (multiple times) and yet they just keep on keeping on. Cosmetics don’t really matter imho.

As someone famous (possibly) once said:
It’s better to collect scratches than dust!

It ain’t no garage queen.

My 2009 ti ragley just been stripped for yet another incarnation.

Like wise my 2008 carbon race bike has just been rebuilt for my nth time comeback……

Rather than get hung up on semantics of spec I realise that even changing wheel size to what ever the flavour of the week is it’ll likely save me at best a couple of places.

So bikes generally don’t get changed unless they banjo’d which is a bit more than a little paint damage.

My ibis looks like it’s been through a hedge backwards many times with lots of scratches but it still works and it still shifts.

I have a fear of putting the first scratch on a new bike by having a big scratch. To stop this I deliberately hit a new frame with something like a spanner and put a chip in the paint somewhere as soon as I get it! The only time I didn’t do it was when I got my Orange 5 re-powdercoated and upgraded a lot of bits. First ride out at BPW it spat me off!! Thankfully I was pedalling up so it just put me OTB halfway up the climb, behaved perfectly from then on.

As for general scratches? If it happened while riding it it’s just patina and adds character, making that bike mine. IF any of my bikes get scratched by me or someone else knocking it or being careless with it I get really annoyed. I have to bite my tongue sometimes on uplift days…

Mechanics over cosmetics.

I don’t abuse but I don’t worry about a knock or a ding or scrape.

A clicking BB, mushy brakes or grotty drivetrain by contrast 😬😬😬😬

Allmy bikes are kept working perfectly but rarely washed and I really don’t care about paintwork. The only exception is th efat bike ‘cos it was bought new adn I might want to sell it again ( tho doubtful) so want to preserve resale value

garage-dweller

Subscriber
Mechanics over cosmetics.

I don’t abuse but I don’t worry about a knock or a ding or scrape.

A clicking BB, mushy brakes or grotty drivetrain by contrast 😬😬😬😬

This, completely.

Off the bike I go to painstaking lengths to make sure they’re looked after. Careful in the garage, when assemblin, loading, fixing punctures trailside (no flipping over) but when actually riding it? Nah. They get ridden properly. Not abused, but very much used to MY full capability.

@ Dannyh
Yeah im the same, I don’t worry at all about dings dents etc collected while riding.
But i do get annoyed when a bike is scratched while parked up etc.
I cgas about 2nd hand value, im more likely to give away a bike I don’t use than sell it.
At the end of the day, a bike is a tool to be used.