How long do you keep your bikes for?

I feel like I come across a lot of posters on here who refer to a bike they had only a few years ago as if it was a long time ago, or how they are now on their umpteenth bike in ten years (or whatever).

The thing is, while I can understand having multiple bikes (different rides for different purposes and all that!), I have a hard time getting my head around the idea of changing my bike constantly (or even very frequently).

So my question is:

How many of you buy a bike, just love it, and keep it (and keep riding it) for a good number of years?

For what it’s worth, I still think of my own 2009 Fisher Big Sur as being brand new.

I keep mine about 5 years

Usually 1 or 2 each year, depends on the latest fads 😆

However this year I have 3 in mind, saying that I’m in the trade so it really doesn’t cost that much as alot of the cost is recovered each year from resale.

But don’t you feel any affection for a particular bike and just want to keep it?!?

In 22 years of riding I’ve had 6 bikes. Still got my 2nd bike (of which the frame was built in 1990) but It’s Triggers brush. Had a Norange 5 for 2.5 years & don’t intend to change it.

Depends on the bike. I’ve a gt sts I’ve owned since 97, an original Inbred from the early noughties and a 2003 Stiffee 69er. I’ve also had a number bikes I’ve kept only a few years then moved on. Sometimes a bike has a certain charisma that makes it a keeper, sometimes it’s just a bike.

I’m doing well. I’ve kept the same three bikes throughout the whole of this thread..

For evvveeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr or until it breaks.

or get nicked 🙁

Much as above some bikes I will only keep a year at most but some stay a lot longer , you just never know still you start to use them.
I still ride my very old Saracen killi flyer and a 1950 Raleigh road bike that prob does more miles than anything I own

I guess most years I will build 2-3 new bikes

’til I get bored of it. Current lot are 2, 10 and 22 months old. Only the 2 month old one was bought new.

Depends how you’re defining bike really. I haven’t outright bought a full bike for quite a while now but I’ve upgraded components as they wear out or my preferences for setups change and I’ve swapped frames maybe 3 times in last 4 years or so.

I’m not doing too well lately! Hemlock is now I think 3 years old and going nowhere. But I only had my Camber for about 2 months before sacking it, and the C456 it replaced only a year. There was a BFe in there at the same time somewhere which lasted 6 months. The Mmmbop before that, ooh I dunno. Not that long. None of them was ever quite right, some lovely bikes in there but I was looking for something else. Hopefully found it now.

All in all, it’s just as well I have the 21 year old Carrera to even it up.

mongoose tyax 2 years
Boardman ht 1.5 years
Trancex 4 years
Evil sov 1 year

Pipedream Modro SS about 6 years so far
C456 about 6 months currently
Scandal about 18 months.
Cube Road bike about 2 months.

All work well for me and may be a long while before the move on. Used to have a Kona King Kahunna Ti for 10 years, but fancied a change. Pipedream Sirius was the change and that was kept for 5years, so not as frequent as some on here.

The lifespan shrinks as I get more nerdy picky about my bikes. I’m more into changing frames than whole bikes as I like the parts I own. I’ve ping-ponged between FS and HT for the past 2-3 years, I’m back in a HT phase.

I’ve dropped to a 6 month rotation 😳 but my riding has come along leaps and bounds (literally) in that time so the bike I ride needs to do different things to 3 years ago. Similar, but different. 3 years ago is roughly when bike tinkering took hold chronically, prior to that a stock setup was perfectly fine. How things change!

In this time I’ve moved from SRAM to Shimano, reduced to double n bash, stuck with Hope hubs, widened my bars, returned to flat pedals and come to appreciate slack steel. Oh and Maxles, I do like a pair of Maxles.

I have one bike at a time* and my last two I had for over six years each. Just changed a couple of weeks ago to a Kaffenback frame and forks. I am no longer a mountain biker.

*I have a 1989 MS Racing mtb at my parents. It is set up as a singlespeed and gets used occassionally to pootle around if I visit Keswick and find myself with a bit of spare time.

never sell anything

I wanted a good all round bike that would last.
Bought a GT Zaskar X 12 years ago.
It’s a great bike, and I’ve never seen another, which is nice.

Till it breaks usually .

Never sold a bike, of bought a new one when i have a perfectly good functioning bike.
They always snap way before i get bored, or fancy a change.

That was until my current bike which i’ve had for 7 years. That is 6 years longer than anything else prior to it.
So, i might actually have to throw this one away at some-point if it doesn’t break.

Usually until they break in which case I have no choice but to get a new one. At the last count, I’ve broken two Santa Cruz, two Oranges,, two Turners, a Raleigh and a Ritchey though the latter was no thanks to a **** in a car who deliberately ran into the back of me. Actually, better add a borrowed Scott to that list too. Strike that thought, I forgot about the Cove Hummer that I broke. I blame my Raleigh Chipper – it was my first ever bike and the first one that I
broke. Nothing changes! 😀

I cant see myself buying a simiular priced bike to my 2006 Felt q650.They are all worse specced nowadays 7 or 8 speed for the same price.Plus they all look clumsy in and have cable routing that doesnt appeal to me either also the wider handle bars are clumsy looking.I dont like the new felt q bikes either with the manipulated top tubes.I think aluminium hardtails looked best arround the time I got mine when you already got ingrated headtube but still had cyclocross still cable routing and more roundish ovalised tubing and v-brake option.

I tend to keep bikes (thankfully have the space, well it’s just a pain putting the car in the garage)

Sold two bikes:
Salsa Bandito – built it up but didn’t get on with it – 8 months
One One ss – killed my knees – 4 years (mostly sat in garage)

1 stolen
Nigel Dean MTB, with Campag Group set – 2 years

2 broken
Kona Cinder Cone – 4 years
Police auction road bike – 3 years

rest kept.
airborne Lancaster – 5 years
spesh eduro – 9 years
Cannodale M800 (beast of the east) – 16 years (now on commute duty)
Copi San Remo – 8 years – now on turbo duty, cause it’s shit on the road
MB Dronfield Road Bike – 20 years (recently resprayed and up dated)

Only one currently owned bikes was bought new

n + 1 and all 🙂

I’ve had a few transients, some I really regret selling, others I was glad to see the back of. Currently riding a Coyote Dual that I’ve had for 7 years, only the frame and the fork remain from the original. Also got an old Kona Hahanna that I built about 18 months ago as a fully rigid SS. Both completely different bikes, probably keep them till they break.

My oldest bike was built in Mar 2008. A couple of others have come and gone since then though, mostly through me re-defining what I want each bike for.

my Rocky Mountain Vertex 1992 triple butted tange prestige will now live with me forever. I have done too much stuff on that frame with too many interesting people to let it go. Too many good and bad times. I just wonder what colour to paint it next! Bikes can be emotional

I wanted a good all round bike that would last.
Bought a GT Zaskar X 12 years ago.
It’s a great bike, and I’ve never seen another, which is nice.

Come to think of it, I’ve still got my old ’95 Tequesta and a late 80s Peugeot road bike.
Not that I’m a hoarder but bikes are, you know, special. 😳

I have an Orange O2 of the first geneation Circa 1996. Currently undergoing a very slow rebuild into a SS.

I only bought a new bike last year as the lack of disc mounts on the O2 stopped me upgrading to better stoppage methods.

Ritchey P20, 13yrs. Doubt I’ll ever sell it.
Colnago C40, 10yrs, far better than I’ll ever need, but I’d be mad to sell it for a different road bike.
On one 456C, 2yrs
Yeti ASR5C, 2 months. The frame replaced a 5yr old 575. The rear hub and top headset cup are now 12yrs old from various previous builds

Tend to change frames every 9-10 months as I get bored, usually take components across but then these usually get swapped out every 10-12 months.
Middle aged, no kids and only space for one bikes means I tend to, and can afford to, change things depending on what I am riding a lot of at the time (i.e. CX to AM etc).
Currently on a SC Blur TRc (5 months) which replaced a Yeti ASR-5 (9 months) and looking for something with more suspension in the new year, maybe a carbon Covert or Scott 700, lets see what happens in Jan/Feb.

My road bike is from about 1996, my hardtail which I still race on occasionally from 2001, and my full susser is about 4 months old.

bontrager race, frame rusted through, 16years old
bontrager privateer, in bits, 17years old
Lemond Croix de Fer, warranty replacement for a frame i snapped, 5years old i think.
Trek Top Fuel only 2.5 years old.

Bikes don’t matter it is what you do with them that does, fitness matters more than the bike.

I start each year saying I won’t make a change, this year I might just do it 😉

Also this year was the first year I took the same bike to the alps. The bike I have now is the best of those I’ve owned its longevity with us reflects that.

I have no set time to keep bikes and no current plans to make any changes unless forced too.

They’re all part of the family.

Kona Hei Hei – 15 years
Kona Kilauea – 19 years
Surly Crosscheck – 5 years

If my cycling isn’t up to my expectations I usually blame myself, not the bike.

I’m glad its not just me who is constantly tinkering…

1994 Raleigh Dyna Tech Ogre – rarely used

2012 C456, built 2 months ago with spare bits from old Soul. I’ll probably get bored of it before next summer

2012 Liteville 301, built up in May from parts from 2011 Zesty. A really complete bike, and for present, see no reason to replace for some time 😀

Like some others on here once I get attached to a bike Itend to keep it. I’m currently riding a Cannondale M900 from 1996, and am now into a round of admiring/quizzical ‘wow look at that retro bike’ looks, which is fun. Have ridden that bike in at least five different countries:-)

2006 and still going strong.
Why would I change it?

(not that I use it enough lately to justify a new bike 🙁 )

My Handjob is 2007. No need for that to be replaced either.

Usually <1 year. However due to having an expensive year of buying a new car and 3 new motorbikes i’ve had to keep the Giant XTC29 for more than a year now and it will have to stay for a while yet. I’d like to throw a load of money at a super light xc 29er, but TBH i struggle buying a bike that’s lower specc’d than mine for £3000 more !!!!

I’ve also tried several machines now and not liked them as much as the Giant, so can’t see me swapping for a while yet.