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Main
Date: 21 Sep 2007 19:50:11
From: Jorg Lueke
Subject: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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Aside from tires what other parts are prone to wear out over time and
at what rate?
I am suspecting eventually the chain will go along and later the crank
and the cassette. But what's a typical mileage number assuming a
decently maintained bike?
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Date: 25 Sep 2007 15:16:14
From: Marz
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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On Sep 24, 12:55 pm, "Bill W" <bwri...@videotron.ca > wrote:
> Glad I don't have a mtb. I couldn't afford the maintenance.
>
> "Marz" <marzjenni...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1190640130.968397.121030@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > On Sep 21, 9:50 pm, Jorg Lueke <jlueke_2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> Aside from tires what other parts are prone to wear out over time and
> >> at what rate?
> >> I am suspecting eventually the chain will go along and later the crank
> >> and the cassette. But what's a typical mileage number assuming a
> >> decently maintained bike?
>
> > I'm just going through some major maintainence right now and listing
> > items in order of rate of replacement I think I get...
>
> > (oh, this list is for mtb, not for the road bike)
>
> > brake pads (every 3 months)
> > tyres (every 3-6 months as I rotate a set of tyres depending on the
> > weather/terrain)
> > chain (every 6 months)
> > gloves (every 6 months)
> > cassette (once a year)
> > cleats (check every 6 months)
> > shoes (18 months)
> > chain rings (once a year)
> > cranks and bb (18 months)
> > seat (18 months)
> > forks and rear shock (full service once a year)
> > wheels (2 years)
>
> > The whole bike, maybe a 4-5 year life span.
>
> > Oh and inner tubes, I go through about one new inner tube every other
> > month as I usually chuck 'em after their 4th patch.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
I try not to think about it too much, but doing a quick bit of math on
a note pad here, I think every ride costs me about $5 in maintainence.
(sat and sun riding; $500pa/(50*2))
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Date: 24 Sep 2007 20:52:04
From: DennisTheBald
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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Generally speaking when the side pull calipers start returning to the
open position only on one side, you need a new brake cable. I think
this is more a function of years rather than miles. Maybe you could
prevent this with routine maintenance, but once it happens you gotta
have a new cable. I'm not sure that this would constitute a failure
as the cable was intact, not frayed and continue to apply the brake,
but it was worn out just the same.
Shifter cables take more abuse.
I've got my rear brake un-hooked right now, until I deal with some
horizontal run-out on the rear wheel. I had the front brake unhooked
for a couple months or so while I ordered funny sized spokes and rims
and such after tweaking my little bitty front wheel. I'm kinda with
Frank on brakes not being that heavily used. But shift cables are
under heavier tension and I use them more often.
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Date: 24 Sep 2007 13:22:10
From: Marz
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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On Sep 21, 9:50 pm, Jorg Lueke <jlueke_2...@yahoo.com > wrote:
> Aside from tires what other parts are prone to wear out over time and
> at what rate?
> I am suspecting eventually the chain will go along and later the crank
> and the cassette. But what's a typical mileage number assuming a
> decently maintained bike?
I'm just going through some major maintainence right now and listing
items in order of rate of replacement I think I get...
(oh, this list is for mtb, not for the road bike)
brake pads (every 3 months)
tyres (every 3-6 months as I rotate a set of tyres depending on the
weather/terrain)
chain (every 6 months)
gloves (every 6 months)
cassette (once a year)
cleats (check every 6 months)
shoes (18 months)
chain rings (once a year)
cranks and bb (18 months)
seat (18 months)
forks and rear shock (full service once a year)
wheels (2 years)
The whole bike, maybe a 4-5 year life span.
Oh and inner tubes, I go through about one new inner tube every other
month as I usually chuck 'em after their 4th patch.
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Date: 24 Sep 2007 13:55:17
From: Bill W
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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Glad I don't have a mtb. I couldn't afford the maintenance.
"Marz" <marzjennings@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1190640130.968397.121030@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On Sep 21, 9:50 pm, Jorg Lueke <jlueke_2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Aside from tires what other parts are prone to wear out over time and
>> at what rate?
>> I am suspecting eventually the chain will go along and later the crank
>> and the cassette. But what's a typical mileage number assuming a
>> decently maintained bike?
>
> I'm just going through some major maintainence right now and listing
> items in order of rate of replacement I think I get...
>
> (oh, this list is for mtb, not for the road bike)
>
> brake pads (every 3 months)
> tyres (every 3-6 months as I rotate a set of tyres depending on the
> weather/terrain)
> chain (every 6 months)
> gloves (every 6 months)
> cassette (once a year)
> cleats (check every 6 months)
> shoes (18 months)
> chain rings (once a year)
> cranks and bb (18 months)
> seat (18 months)
> forks and rear shock (full service once a year)
> wheels (2 years)
>
> The whole bike, maybe a 4-5 year life span.
>
> Oh and inner tubes, I go through about one new inner tube every other
> month as I usually chuck 'em after their 4th patch.
>
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Date: 25 Sep 2007 12:39:51
From: Dane Buson
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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Bill W <bwright@videotron.ca > wrote:
> Glad I don't have a mtb. I couldn't afford the maintenance.
Actually I ride on the road and my list is suspiciously similar. Though
the bike frames have only averaged about 18 months...
--
Dane Buson - sigdane@unixbigots.org
"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels
in praise of intelligence." -Bertrand Russell
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Date: 24 Sep 2007 01:25:12
From:
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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On Sep 23, 10:00 am, Dane Buson <d...@unseen.edu > wrote:
> Mike Jacoubowsky <Mi...@chainreaction.com> wrote:
>
> > Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail. No
> > tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead and
> > replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go a
> > very long time before worrying about them.
>
> I've never had a brake cable fail...
I've had two of them fail in the past 35 years, one being on our
tandem. Neither was a major problem, actually. Both were towards the
end of the day's ride, and I simply braked earlier using the other
brake.
I've thought about this a bit. ISTM that almost all my braking is
really very gentle. And of course, I try not to waste energy by
unnecessary braking. That includes downhills, where I usually
outcoast my riding partners. But in any case, "emergency" braking, or
hard braking of any kind, is really rare for me.
Back when I rode my mountain bikes a fair amount, it was different. It
would also be different if I did any racing, I suppose. But my
utility, day riding and touring don't seem to demand much from my
brakes.
- Frank Krygowski
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Date: 25 Sep 2007 12:53:25
From: Dane Buson
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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frkrygow@gmail.com wrote:
> On Sep 23, 10:00 am, Dane Buson <d...@unseen.edu> wrote:
>> Mike Jacoubowsky <Mi...@chainreaction.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail. No
>> > tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead and
>> > replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go a
>> > very long time before worrying about them.
>>
>> I've never had a brake cable fail...
>
> I've had two of them fail in the past 35 years, one being on our
> tandem. Neither was a major problem, actually. Both were towards the
> end of the day's ride, and I simply braked earlier using the other
> brake.
>
> I've thought about this a bit. ISTM that almost all my braking is
> really very gentle. And of course, I try not to waste energy by
> unnecessary braking. That includes downhills, where I usually
> outcoast my riding partners. But in any case, "emergency" braking, or
> hard braking of any kind, is really rare for me.
I do try and anticipate and leave plenty of room. Like you I like to
leave hard 'emergency' braking for emergencies.
Well, the rear straddle cable died when I was doing a hard squeeze to
stop at a red light. Normally I do most of my stopping with the front,
but I just decided (at random) to stop with the rear then.
The front didn't *quite* fail during an emergency stop. I was thinking
"man that was a mushy stop" after some lady decided my lane looked my
nicer than hers. Without realizing we couldn't both occupy the same
position in the space-time continuum.
I pulled off onto a quiet street and looked and I only had 3 or 4
strands of cable left. I wandered off home (where I have several
spares), replaced the straddle cable and made it to my ride on time. I
had to skip stopping at the Saigon Deli for sandwiches, but I managed
something else while it was out.
>
> Back when I rode my mountain bikes a fair amount, it was different. It
> would also be different if I did any racing, I suppose. But my
> utility, day riding and touring don't seem to demand much from my
> brakes.
Eh, I'm big, I ride fairly fast and I ride all year long. My main bike
gets a lot of miles, so it needs more maintenance than other peoples
bikes. Even so, modern brakes are pretty forgiving if you don't
completely mistreat them.
--
Dane Buson - sigdane@unixbigots.org
0 to Light Speed in 10 seconds!
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 14:20:09
From: Tom Keats
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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In article <p48is4-16t.ln1@curare.zuvembi.homelinux.org >,
Dane Buson <dane@unseen.edu > writes:
> Mike Jacoubowsky <MikeJ@chainreaction.com> wrote:
>>
>> Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail. No
>> tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead and
>> replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go a
>> very long time before worrying about them.
>
> I've never had a brake cable fail,
I /have/.
I had the lead nub that goes inside the brake lever, pull
off of my front brake cable while coming home from
Spanish Banks. As I recall it was on the Off-Broadway
bike route, just before Cypress or Maple St. An elderly
bald gent pedestrian thought it was weird that I'd pull-off
the street to apparently yield to the cross-street traffic who
had the stop sign. Then I had to explain my conundrum to him.
He was a nice guy. To this day I recall how the sunlight
glistened off his well-tanned scalp.
> but I have had my cantilever brakes
> straddle cable fail a couple times. Both after about 20,000 miles. So,
> it's probably better to change them more often than that.
I've heard horror stories of front inner cables failing,
causing old-school MTB canti straddle cables to fall onto
and get caught in the front tire's knobbies. I guess that's
why V-brakes are so popular. Remember when MTBs came equipped
with that hook thing on the front brake-bolt to catch the
straddle cable in case that happened? Fenders work just as well.
cheers,
Tom
--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca
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Date: 29 Sep 2007 11:59:52
From: Claire Petersky
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky
"Tom Keats" <tkeats2005@hotmail.com > wrote in message
news:9al6df.oe4.ln@vcn.bc.ca...
> In article <p48is4-16t.ln1@curare.zuvembi.homelinux.org>,
> Dane Buson <dane@unseen.edu> writes:
>> Mike Jacoubowsky <MikeJ@chainreaction.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail.
>>> No
>>> tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead
>>> and
>>> replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go
>>> a
>>> very long time before worrying about them.
>>
>> I've never had a brake cable fail,
>
> I /have/.
A story from the archives:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.misc/search?hl=en&group=rec.bicycles.misc&q=+Frayed+brake+cable+on+the+way+to+work&qt_g=Search+this+group
--
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
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Date: 25 Sep 2007 12:41:09
From: Dane Buson
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
Tom Keats <tkeats2005@hotmail.com > wrote:
> In article <p48is4-16t.ln1@curare.zuvembi.homelinux.org>,
> Dane Buson <dane@unseen.edu> writes:
>> Mike Jacoubowsky <MikeJ@chainreaction.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail. No
>>> tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead and
>>> replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go a
>>> very long time before worrying about them.
>>
>> I've never had a brake cable fail,
>
> I /have/.
Eeep.
> I had the lead nub that goes inside the brake lever, pull
> off of my front brake cable while coming home from
> Spanish Banks. As I recall it was on the Off-Broadway
> bike route, just before Cypress or Maple St. An elderly
> bald gent pedestrian thought it was weird that I'd pull-off
> the street to apparently yield to the cross-street traffic who
> had the stop sign. Then I had to explain my conundrum to him.
> He was a nice guy. To this day I recall how the sunlight
> glistened off his well-tanned scalp.
>
>> but I have had my cantilever brakes
>> straddle cable fail a couple times. Both after about 20,000 miles. So,
>> it's probably better to change them more often than that.
>
> I've heard horror stories of front inner cables failing,
> causing old-school MTB canti straddle cables to fall onto
> and get caught in the front tire's knobbies. I guess that's
> why V-brakes are so popular. Remember when MTBs came equipped
> with that hook thing on the front brake-bolt to catch the
> straddle cable in case that happened? Fenders work just as well.
Well, in my case, I'm riding slicks and fenders. So there were no
worries about the straddle cable catching.
--
Dane Buson - sigdane@unixbigots.org
And 1.1.81 is officially BugFree(tm), so if you receive any bug-reports
on it, you know they are just evil lies."
(By Linus Torvalds, Linus.Torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi)
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 06:17:31
From: SlowRider
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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Nice summary, Mike -- I'm going to print it out and keep it in my
maintenance stack in the garage.
-JR
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Date: 22 Sep 2007 06:12:28
From: Jorg Lueke
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
Thanks for the replies that's very helpful to know.
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Date: 21 Sep 2007 20:47:08
From: Mike Jacoubowsky
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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> Aside from tires what other parts are prone to wear out over time and
> at what rate?
> I am suspecting eventually the chain will go along and later the crank
> and the cassette. But what's a typical mileage number assuming a
> decently maintained bike?
Chains on road bikes- 1000-4000 miles, depending upon rider weight, terrain
(hills wear chains out more quickly), and especially how clean/dirty it is.
Rain kills drivetrain components (and many others).
Cassettes- If you replace the chain before it gets too bad, you'll get 5
chains to 1 cassette. Chainring wear is dependent upon "sophistication" (how
much weird machining is involved to make it shift better, which also causes
them to wear out more quickly) as well as the same things that wear out
chains. In the old days, we rarely saw chainrings wear out so badly that
chains would slip on them. Now, it's very common to see middle chainrings on
triples that have worn such so much that they slip.
Rims- Who know? Older heavy aero-type rims would bust a curb before they'd
break or dent. 30,000+ miles was not uncommon. Modern lighter rims will
typically go from 7-15,000 miles on the rear. Front rims don't wear out from
miles per se, but riding in the rain will wear out the sidewalls such that
they'll liteally explode outward at some point. That point can be as few as
2000 miles in some cases, depending upon how mucky your ride is and how much
you have to use your brakes. You're basically talking about taking sandpaper
to the sides of your rims under such conditions.
Handlebars- Nobody replaces handlebars as often as they should (including
yours truly). In my opinion, 20,000 miles (assuming no crashes) is probably
a good time to be thinking they ought to be replaced. A failed handlebar can
wreck your day.
Gear cables- For STI road levers, 7-12k miles is common for failure. This is
one of the most-ignored maintenance items, because you don't see the problem
(caused by the very tight radius the cable follows inside the lever), and
the only symptom of a cable needing replacement happens just before it fails
(you'll be able to shift to a larger cog, but it won't want to come back
down to a smaller one).
Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail. No
tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead and
replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go a
very long time before worrying about them.
--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
"Jorg Lueke" <jlueke_2000@yahoo.com > wrote in message
news:1190429411.671500.141410@n39g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> Aside from tires what other parts are prone to wear out over time and
> at what rate?
> I am suspecting eventually the chain will go along and later the crank
> and the cassette. But what's a typical mileage number assuming a
> decently maintained bike?
>
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 21:28:16
From: John Thompson
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
On 2007-09-22, Mike Jacoubowsky <MikeJ@ChainReaction.com > wrote:
> Rims- Who know? Older heavy aero-type rims would bust a curb before they'd
> break or dent. 30,000+ miles was not uncommon. Modern lighter rims will
> typically go from 7-15,000 miles on the rear. Front rims don't wear out from
> miles per se, but riding in the rain will wear out the sidewalls such that
> they'll liteally explode outward at some point. That point can be as few as
> 2000 miles in some cases, depending upon how mucky your ride is and how much
> you have to use your brakes. You're basically talking about taking sandpaper
> to the sides of your rims under such conditions.
Unless you're using hub brakes (disk or drum), then the rim sidewalls
don't get any wear regardless of weather. I've had drum brakes on my
commuter bike for over 20 years with no wear issues.
--
John (john@os2.dhs.org)
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 18:40:21
From: SMS
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
> Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail. No
> tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead and
> replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go a
> very long time before worrying about them.
In college, I was riding down a fairly steep hill on campus, in the
winter, and a brake cable snapped. No problem, so I thought... until the
other one snapped as well. I think it must have been related to the cold
snap, this was in northern Florida and sub-freezing weather was pretty
rare. The cables were probably about two years old. There was no visible
corrosion at all.
I was able to do a foot stop at the bottom of the hill.
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 20:44:30
From: Mike Jacoubowsky
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
>> Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail.
>> No tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead
>> and replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can
>> go a very long time before worrying about them.
>
> In college, I was riding down a fairly steep hill on campus, in the
> winter, and a brake cable snapped. No problem, so I thought... until the
> other one snapped as well. I think it must have been related to the cold
> snap, this was in northern Florida and sub-freezing weather was pretty
> rare. The cables were probably about two years old. There was no visible
> corrosion at all.
>
> I was able to do a foot stop at the bottom of the hill.
They were probably just bad break cables. Back in the day brake cable
failure wasn't all that uncommon, but it was almost always right at the
head, and not frayed, but actually broken (or pulled out) right where the
cable left the head.
Modern bikes set up correctly, whether road or mountain, are very unlikely
to experience such a failure. For all the areas manufacturers have looked
for ways to cut costs, cables don't seem to be one of them, at least not for
the 1st & 2nd-tier companies.
--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
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Date: 24 Sep 2007 08:18:50
From: SMS
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
> Modern bikes set up correctly, whether road or mountain, are very unlikely
> to experience such a failure. For all the areas manufacturers have looked
> for ways to cut costs, cables don't seem to be one of them, at least not for
> the 1st & 2nd-tier companies.
I'm sure the bicycle I was riding was not from a 1st or 2nd tier
company, but a $60 department store "10 speed," which at the time meant
"Made in Japan." Eventually it was shipped to South America as part of a
"Bikes not Bombs" shipment. Those shipments ended when the peasants
decided they wanted "Cars not Bikes."
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 21:32:06
From: John Thompson
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
On 2007-09-24, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com > wrote:
> In college, I was riding down a fairly steep hill on campus, in the
> winter, and a brake cable snapped. No problem, so I thought... until the
> other one snapped as well. I think it must have been related to the cold
> snap, this was in northern Florida and sub-freezing weather was pretty
> rare. The cables were probably about two years old. There was no visible
> corrosion at all.
>
> I was able to do a foot stop at the bottom of the hill.
There are hills in Florida? :-)
I doubt it was cold related. I ride my commuter bike in much more
extreme conditions than you describe (northeastern Wisconsin) and never
had a brake cable failure.
--
John (john@os2.dhs.org)
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 20:00:05
From: SMS
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
John Thompson wrote:
> On 2007-09-24, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> In college, I was riding down a fairly steep hill on campus, in the
>> winter, and a brake cable snapped. No problem, so I thought... until the
>> other one snapped as well. I think it must have been related to the cold
>> snap, this was in northern Florida and sub-freezing weather was pretty
>> rare. The cables were probably about two years old. There was no visible
>> corrosion at all.
>>
>> I was able to do a foot stop at the bottom of the hill.
>
> There are hills in Florida? :-)
Hey, there's even Mount Dora.
> I doubt it was cold related. I ride my commuter bike in much more
> extreme conditions than you describe (northeastern Wisconsin) and never
> had a brake cable failure.
I don't know what else would have suddenly caused both cables to snap
like that. Maybe they were lousy cables to begin with, but they had
worked fine for a couple of years.
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Date: 25 Sep 2007 00:41:13
From: Mike Kruger
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
SMS wrote:
> John Thompson wrote:
>> On 2007-09-24, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> In college, I was riding down a fairly steep hill on campus, in the
>>> winter, and a brake cable snapped. No problem, so I thought...
>>> until the other one snapped as well. I think it must have been
>>> related to the cold snap, this was in northern Florida and
>>> sub-freezing weather was pretty rare. The cables were probably
>>> about two years old. There was no visible corrosion at all.
>>>
>>> I was able to do a foot stop at the bottom of the hill.
>>
>> There are hills in Florida? :-)
>
> Hey, there's even Mount Dora.
>
>> I doubt it was cold related. I ride my commuter bike in much more
>> extreme conditions than you describe (northeastern Wisconsin) and
>> never had a brake cable failure.
>
> I don't know what else would have suddenly caused both cables to snap
> like that. Maybe they were lousy cables to begin with, but they had
> worked fine for a couple of years.
I'd sooner suspect sabotage than cold.
Winter riding can lead to more cable maintenance, but that's because of the
salt and the freeze/thaw cycle leading to more corrosion.
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| | | | | |
Date: 25 Sep 2007 00:32:04
From: Justa Lurker
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
SMS wrote:
>
> I don't know what else would have suddenly caused both cables to snap
> like that. Maybe they were lousy cables to begin with, but they had
> worked fine for a couple of years.
Maybe your girlfriend's previous boyfriend ?????
|
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Date: 25 Sep 2007 00:33:04
From: Justa Lurker
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
Justa Lurker wrote:
> SMS wrote:
>
>>
>> I don't know what else would have suddenly caused both cables to snap
>> like that. Maybe they were lousy cables to begin with, but they had
>> worked fine for a couple of years.
>
> Maybe your girlfriend's previous boyfriend ?????
>
>
Or on 2nd thought, maybe **your** ex-girlfriend .......
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 07:00:25
From: Dane Buson
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
|
Mike Jacoubowsky <MikeJ@chainreaction.com > wrote:
>
> Brake cables- Everyone worries about brake cables, but they rarely fail. No
> tight bends. Use common sense; if you see a lot of corrosion, go ahead and
> replace them. But generally, if things are running smoothly, you can go a
> very long time before worrying about them.
I've never had a brake cable fail, but I have had my cantilever brakes
straddle cable fail a couple times. Both after about 20,000 miles. So,
it's probably better to change them more often than that.
--
Dane Buson - sigdane@unixbigots.org
WARNING TO ALL PERSONNEL:
Firings will continue until morale improves.
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Date: 22 Sep 2007 07:31:47
From: TomP
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
> Handlebars- Nobody replaces handlebars as often as they should (including
> yours truly). In my opinion, 20,000 miles (assuming no crashes) is probably a
> good time to be thinking they ought to be replaced. A failed handlebar can
> wreck your day.
I wondered about this. I have 45k miles on the bars that came with my '96
Trek5000. Bottom bracket shell started making noise; TREK replaced the frame at
no cost!
--
Tp,
-------- __o
----- -\<. -------- __o
--- ( )/ ( ) ---- -\<.
-------------------- ( )/ ( )
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No Lawsuit Ever Fixed A Moron...
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Date: 21 Sep 2007 23:46:44
From: David L. Johnson
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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Jorg Lueke wrote:
> Aside from tires what other parts are prone to wear out over time and
> at what rate?
> I am suspecting eventually the chain will go along and later the crank
> and the cassette. But what's a typical mileage number assuming a
> decently maintained bike?
>
Of course every part is subject to wear, or fatigue. Chains would be
the next in line after tires. There is a way to check the chain, in
that as it wears, it lengthens. Any chain measuring more than 12+1/8
inches for 12 full links (inie and outie) needs to be replaced.
Replacing chains when needed will allow the cassette and chainrings to
last longer -- since they cost considerably more than a chain, this is
good. When you replace the chain, if it "skips" under load, slipping
off the sprocket under pressure, especially in your favorite gear, then
the cassette, or at least that sprocket, needs to be replaced. Replace
the chain when the teeth get sharpened like shark's teeth, or when they
are so thin that some of them bend or break.
Most parts need to be periodically checked for cracks. Bearings, like
bottom bracket and hubs, will need work when they make noise or run
rough. Hubs usually are serviceable, bottom brackets are usually not
these days, but are cheap to replace. Same goes for headsets, but they
last longer. Ditto pedals. maintenance (greasing) will make a big
difference with most pedals, and re-packing (replacing grease and
bearings, along with thorough cleaning) is needed for hubs and any other
servicaable bearings. Brake pads wear, and need replacing when they get
too thin. Similarly, rims wear for the same reason, and do need
occasional replacing, but that will take thousands of miles, depending
upon riding conditions.
If your bike creaks or clicks, check it out. That can be a crack
developing.
--
David L. Johnson
Accept risk. Accept responsibility. Put a lawyer out of business.
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 00:09:02
From: Andrew Price
Subject: Re: Average Lifetime of Bike Parts
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On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:46:44 -0400, "David L. Johnson"
<david.johnson@lehigh.edu > wrote:
>Of course every part is subject to wear, or fatigue. Chains would be
>the next in line after tires.
On my (road) bikes, tyres last longer than chains. I change the
chains on two Campagnolo 10 speed transmissions every 2,000km. There
is still some margin, but I prefer to replace the chains rather than
the rear cassette. Tyres last at least 4-5 thousand km.
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