How much do you trust an old bike

[Nabeaquam]

Well I watched that and felt that my feeling of being dubious over bonding, plastics etc in frame construction well founded!
Ive only ever had steel or aluminium bikes, mostly steel, never cracked one, mates have cracked aluminium frames and usually been me thats spotted it, but they were nearly all hooligans, and on high end lighter stuff back in the day.. jumping etc in the woods.... all mtb.
I know road bikers, cant ride the things myself, but I know they kill steel frames, thats just because the things are so bloody light not built to last.
Nowadays I am a scenic rider for the most part, I have a bike to ride hard but ive owned it from new, its 1999 I think Kona explosif, I think about as bomb proof as a frame gets, with steel forks. I know its never had an accident or been jumped etc, so I will really throw that about if in the mood.
I do have bonded parts in Pace forks, but not seen any failed, and less likely to throw me off than what happened to this guy.
Though I am no expert, I wonder if this frame failed due to solvent paint used in the re paint...? Maybe if the really nice paint had been left it would still be in one piece?
Anyhow someone said not knowing history may be an issue, for me thats sensible though I hadn't really thought about it before, theres a big difference riding sensible trails or the canal and going to a bikepark. This is adding to my thinking about a newer bike for bigger day rides etc.

I had a Raleigh mtb with the bonded frame. Bought it new. It used the glue that they use to put airplanes together. Supposed to be guaranteed forever. I’m never flying again. It was otherwise such a piece of shite, geometry wise, that I gave it to my neighbors 70 year old father for the bike path. He passed on a number of years ago. I’ll have to tell his son to junk it.

 

[Nabeaquam]

Old steel is safer than old anything else. The industry recommendations: replace your carbon handlebars every year, aluminum and titanium bars are supposed to be replaced every two years and steel bars when they bend. Crack a steel frame and weld it back together with 2-3 car batteries connected in parallel with house wiring scraps and vice grips, use jumper cables for leads and 6011 rods or a coat hanger for a welding rod. Anyone can fix that. If your steel frame joint separates completely apart while on the trail, use ratcheting tie downs to hold it together until you’re at the trail head. People have finished klunker races with 1930s broken frames held together by tie downs.

I no longer ride anything even approaching real mtb terrain, but if I did I would still trust an old bike that I had "built", BUT only with steel handlebars.
A CTC friend of mine (a sedate, experienced, petite, rider) recently had a close call when one side of her alu 'bars snapped clean off with no warning on smooth tarmac.
Yes, logically I should extend this to other components but it seems to me that 'bars are a particular dangerously stressed area.

Danny Mckasker snapped his aluminum bars right off in one of his videos, dropping off of a telephone box. As I said earlier, industry standards are to replace aluminum bars every two years. I’ve cracked aluminum mountain bike frames before and I broke a steel frame tube right through. I too went fast down a set of long concrete stairs in an old mining ghost town, did a front wheelie trying to stop at the bottom and crashed sideways into the woods. I torqued the seat going sideways and the seat tube broke at the bottom of the seat post, about 30 cm down from the clamp. It either got stuck between two trees or I fell on it. I think I fell on it, it was quite a smack, loud. The seat was bent and pointing in several directions. I got back on and started to ride it and I thought it was an a swing bike, whoope, such fun. Everyone thought I was dead. It dissuaded several other riders from going down the steps. I did that many times before, but never so fast. I couldn’t stop, as the stairs now has woods growing pretty close to the end. What to do, pound the seat post past the frame separation, and ride it out. The rock gardens made it a little wiggly, but it was rideable. The frame is now hanging, in the woods, in a tree, by a trail that ate it. Steel forgives and can’t sometimes be jury rigged enough to ride. More bad advice, if you’re riding in a group where riders have different diameter rims, and someone has a 650b inner tube, fit it into a 26, 27.5 or 29 wheel. If you get a flat and have no inner tube, disrobe and put all your apparel inside the tire. Hide in the woods until dark and then ride out. If your a roadie, then a shirt will work. I never take my own advice.

 

[Chris99]

I have been riding a Kona Kilauea 1994 since I bought it when a year old. A big guess here but probably done 20 miles a week on it since I got it. Obviously every part that wears has been replaced. The only unpredictable failure I have had was a broken seat post. Luckily this happened close to home. If it occurred when touring it would of been the end of my holiday. The only original componant now is the frame.
Off out on it shortly!