Whats the acceptable "lifetime" of your bike….

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.