High mileage bikes
Discussion
I was looking at my commuter rig and thinking about some of the components on it. Now my bike like many is like triggers broom. However some components have in excess of 25000 miles on them.
The bike originally started life as a 2014 Avanti Cadent 2. It was a superb intro in carbon road bikes, super comfy, fast, light. In 6 years I totted up a fair few miles on it, in excess of 15000miles.
In 2020 I was washing the bike and could see light through the dropout, basically the frame had snapped! One too many bunny hops I suspect. In a quick rush to get something sorted I bought a cube peleton for £90 and swapped all the components over. I sold the original Peleton components for £82!
I have since moved house and now commute around 70 miles a week on it.
Some fag packet calcs tells me the following components have in excess of 25000 miles on them! Carbon fork, left hand shifter, brakes, front and rear mechs, pedals, handle bars.
I have gone through 3 105 cranksets (it's generally cheaper to buy new cranks with rings, than just rings). That said I'm running a modified 105 chain ring currently, due to marginal model differences.
The rear 105 shifter also failed at around 20000miles, and it does annoyingly eat gear cables, which is a common issue. The wheels did just under 20000miles before I wore through the rim! I like to get my money's worth. I think the new fulcrum wheels were £80.
To be honest the bike gets abused, minimal reactive maintenance is generally how it goes. Maybe a 6 monthly chain change. And quarterly brake pad change.
I originally bought the bike new for £800, ridiculously cheap for a full carbon, 105 bike, however it was because the UCI banned them. I don't think the bike overall has cost me more than £2k, in 10 years and 25k miles. Including all consumables.
I am tempted to get a titanium Ribble roadie in the summer, and keep the cube as my emergency back up, but we shall see.
Does anyone else have any high milages bikes?
The bike originally started life as a 2014 Avanti Cadent 2. It was a superb intro in carbon road bikes, super comfy, fast, light. In 6 years I totted up a fair few miles on it, in excess of 15000miles.
In 2020 I was washing the bike and could see light through the dropout, basically the frame had snapped! One too many bunny hops I suspect. In a quick rush to get something sorted I bought a cube peleton for £90 and swapped all the components over. I sold the original Peleton components for £82!
I have since moved house and now commute around 70 miles a week on it.
Some fag packet calcs tells me the following components have in excess of 25000 miles on them! Carbon fork, left hand shifter, brakes, front and rear mechs, pedals, handle bars.
I have gone through 3 105 cranksets (it's generally cheaper to buy new cranks with rings, than just rings). That said I'm running a modified 105 chain ring currently, due to marginal model differences.
The rear 105 shifter also failed at around 20000miles, and it does annoyingly eat gear cables, which is a common issue. The wheels did just under 20000miles before I wore through the rim! I like to get my money's worth. I think the new fulcrum wheels were £80.
To be honest the bike gets abused, minimal reactive maintenance is generally how it goes. Maybe a 6 monthly chain change. And quarterly brake pad change.
I originally bought the bike new for £800, ridiculously cheap for a full carbon, 105 bike, however it was because the UCI banned them. I don't think the bike overall has cost me more than £2k, in 10 years and 25k miles. Including all consumables.
I am tempted to get a titanium Ribble roadie in the summer, and keep the cube as my emergency back up, but we shall see.
Does anyone else have any high milages bikes?
Edited by Cats_pyjamas on Thursday 18th January 18:04
My Coach does circa 35-40 000km per year, training and racing.
His previous bike, a BMC, had done in excess of 120 000km in less than 5 years. Sadly he destroyed the dropouts and the repair quote was quite steep.
He now rides a BH that is a hand-down from an ex-Pro in Holland who gave him an old Team bike that he raced in his final two years as a Pro. It's done an estimated 200 000km now - mostly very hard stresses.
My current oldest is a 2019 Wilier Zero6 that had done circa 30 000km but this year I've replaced the entire drivetrain; chainrings, chain, cassette, jockey wheels and wheels. It's also had a new saddle since new and gets a new chain, handlebar tape every few months too.
My 2021 Trek Madone has done circa 28000km and I've only changed the chain, handlebar tape and tyres several times so far. Chains and tyres don't last long when sprinting often, between 3-4k km.
My other 3 bikes have done 20 000km between them but 2 are only a year old. Luckily my mileage is split between 5 bikes otherwise for one bike it would be a fair bit in only a few years!
His previous bike, a BMC, had done in excess of 120 000km in less than 5 years. Sadly he destroyed the dropouts and the repair quote was quite steep.
He now rides a BH that is a hand-down from an ex-Pro in Holland who gave him an old Team bike that he raced in his final two years as a Pro. It's done an estimated 200 000km now - mostly very hard stresses.
My current oldest is a 2019 Wilier Zero6 that had done circa 30 000km but this year I've replaced the entire drivetrain; chainrings, chain, cassette, jockey wheels and wheels. It's also had a new saddle since new and gets a new chain, handlebar tape every few months too.
My 2021 Trek Madone has done circa 28000km and I've only changed the chain, handlebar tape and tyres several times so far. Chains and tyres don't last long when sprinting often, between 3-4k km.
My other 3 bikes have done 20 000km between them but 2 are only a year old. Luckily my mileage is split between 5 bikes otherwise for one bike it would be a fair bit in only a few years!
Had a Canondale super six (2013/2014 model?) and did over 60,000 km on it (a lot of that climbing) in 5 years. Sadly the carbon around the BB disintegrated so it’s now hanging on the wall in my garage as a memory of the rides I did on it.
However, the Rotor 3D cranks with P2M that was fitted when I bought the bike new is still going strong!
Edited to correct mileage / age.
However, the Rotor 3D cranks with P2M that was fitted when I bought the bike new is still going strong!
Edited to correct mileage / age.
Edited by thepritch on Thursday 18th January 18:43
Peter Gostelow bought a Cannondale Bad Boy and set off on a 3 year round the world tour without any adaptions apart from racks and wider tyres. Almost 50000km by the time he got home. His page summing up the bike is here. Needless to say many components wore out. Chains, cassettes hubs, rims. The deraileurs lasted the whole trip though.
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3d2&am...
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3d2&am...
I've just replaced the BB, chain, cassette and cables on my 2014 Tarmac which has been sat unloved on the trainer for the last 5 years and it feels like new. It has inspired me to convert it to a flatbar bike which I'll use for pottering about. I did something similar on my Diverge which is now 6 years old but also replaced all the outer cables and rear mech and that too feels like a new bike. I'd been considering replacing it but the new bike is £12K which is almost double what I paid, its no wonder the bike industry is collapsing.
Bought a Cannondale Topstone 105 in 2020. Have since put 11,500 miles on it, mostly commuting. It's on the original chain, drivetrain and brake pads. In fact I've only replaced the (notoriously crap) Omega BB, and a rear wheel after a spoke ripped through the rim on the original WTB.
It's well overdue a good service, but it's not missed a beat in 4 years of fairly hard riding.
It's well overdue a good service, but it's not missed a beat in 4 years of fairly hard riding.
I’ve a 2016 Trek Domane which was used when I bought
It in 2018. I since put around 15000 mainly summer miles on it. It eats BB’s but apart from brake pads and discs and a new chain every year it’s all original. The shimano recall is giving me a new chainset which is handy though 😃. Reading this back is making me want a new bike
It in 2018. I since put around 15000 mainly summer miles on it. It eats BB’s but apart from brake pads and discs and a new chain every year it’s all original. The shimano recall is giving me a new chainset which is handy though 😃. Reading this back is making me want a new bike
I had a Trek Emonda SL 6, bought new in 2015. It had covered a documented 21,500 miles up until an errant driver drove over it last July (with me on it).
I had a 2010 Merida Road-Race 905 and put over 7,000 miles onto that in just under 4 years before that, too got hit by a car.
My classic steel bike has a documented 3,000 miles on it, but I also owned it for 20+ years before joining Strava, so that has probably seen 60,000+ miles of service on sport/recreational duties and another 14,400 miles of commuting. So, close to 80,000 miles, total.
Keep the consumables serviced and replaced in good time and most bikes will roll on and on until you do something stupid with/to them, or someone else does.
Since joining Strava (and keeping a tally of what miles go on what bike) I've got a documented 44,771 miles split between six bicycles, plus the estimated 77,000 undocumented miles on one of those six. I'm comfortable with high miles frames, so long as I know their history. Since picking cycling back up in my mid 20s, I've not seen any frame failures outside of obvious bike abuse or collisions.
I had a 2010 Merida Road-Race 905 and put over 7,000 miles onto that in just under 4 years before that, too got hit by a car.
My classic steel bike has a documented 3,000 miles on it, but I also owned it for 20+ years before joining Strava, so that has probably seen 60,000+ miles of service on sport/recreational duties and another 14,400 miles of commuting. So, close to 80,000 miles, total.
Keep the consumables serviced and replaced in good time and most bikes will roll on and on until you do something stupid with/to them, or someone else does.
Since joining Strava (and keeping a tally of what miles go on what bike) I've got a documented 44,771 miles split between six bicycles, plus the estimated 77,000 undocumented miles on one of those six. I'm comfortable with high miles frames, so long as I know their history. Since picking cycling back up in my mid 20s, I've not seen any frame failures outside of obvious bike abuse or collisions.
RoadToad84 said:
Bought a Cannondale Topstone 105 in 2020. Have since put 11,500 miles on it, mostly commuting. It's on the original chain, drivetrain and brake pads. In fact I've only replaced the (notoriously crap) Omega BB, and a rear wheel after a spoke ripped through the rim on the original WTB.
It's well overdue a good service, but it's not missed a beat in 4 years of fairly hard riding.
Spoke too soon. Lost rear gears after changing the rear tyre. Shifter isn't clicking and cursory inspection (bearing in mind I haven't a clue what I'm looking at) showed no sign of a cable at the lever, so suspect it's come adrift or snapped. Taking it in next week for a full service. It's well overdue a good service, but it's not missed a beat in 4 years of fairly hard riding.
RoadToad84 said:
RoadToad84 said:
Bought a Cannondale Topstone 105 in 2020. Have since put 11,500 miles on it, mostly commuting. It's on the original chain, drivetrain and brake pads. In fact I've only replaced the (notoriously crap) Omega BB, and a rear wheel after a spoke ripped through the rim on the original WTB.
It's well overdue a good service, but it's not missed a beat in 4 years of fairly hard riding.
Spoke too soon. Lost rear gears after changing the rear tyre. Shifter isn't clicking and cursory inspection (bearing in mind I haven't a clue what I'm looking at) showed no sign of a cable at the lever, so suspect it's come adrift or snapped. Taking it in next week for a full service. It's well overdue a good service, but it's not missed a beat in 4 years of fairly hard riding.
Really interesting replys!
Never added the mileage up but I was riding 36+ miles every afternoon.
Most noticable thing I got though was tyres; may have just been I noticed it because the Elsewick Hopper I had as a kid
had the same tyres on after three years of use.
I had a few chains on the go on a cassette, and I got though a few casettes to every set of chainrings.
I never managed to use a new chain on an old casette, so I used a few chains on every casette and swapped chains
over everytime they were oiled; casettes lasted a few chains
I often had to replace just one chain ring, the middle one was always the worst worn.
Mechs never went, guide and tension pulleys used to need replacing when the mech started strange shifting.
I used to keep a watchout for cheap new rims, hubs and other bits. I jumped on special offer parts, e.g LX cranksets from
chain reaction for £21. The only shop I went in to buy things was Evans and I doubt there was a time I didn't ask them to price
match. I tried to standardise parts across the bikes, I rarely went below XT parts[those lx cranksets].
I paid sub 50 quid for bikes, I had old mountain bikes.
Cables, wheel bearings, headsets were all looked at about once a year, I tended to replace all cables automaticaly.
Nearly forgot to include tubes, they might well be the most bought item.
Most noticable thing I got though was tyres; may have just been I noticed it because the Elsewick Hopper I had as a kid
had the same tyres on after three years of use.
I had a few chains on the go on a cassette, and I got though a few casettes to every set of chainrings.
I never managed to use a new chain on an old casette, so I used a few chains on every casette and swapped chains
over everytime they were oiled; casettes lasted a few chains
I often had to replace just one chain ring, the middle one was always the worst worn.
Mechs never went, guide and tension pulleys used to need replacing when the mech started strange shifting.
I used to keep a watchout for cheap new rims, hubs and other bits. I jumped on special offer parts, e.g LX cranksets from
chain reaction for £21. The only shop I went in to buy things was Evans and I doubt there was a time I didn't ask them to price
match. I tried to standardise parts across the bikes, I rarely went below XT parts[those lx cranksets].
I paid sub 50 quid for bikes, I had old mountain bikes.
Cables, wheel bearings, headsets were all looked at about once a year, I tended to replace all cables automaticaly.
Nearly forgot to include tubes, they might well be the most bought item.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff