In 30 years of cycling I have broken only one frame, the Specialized I cracked last month, and that was after 15 year of hard riding. Parts wear out, that is normal, and some bikes were poorly engineered but still I am fascinated with those riders who have broken numerous bikes. Is it you? Is it fate? bad luck?
How many bikes/components have you broken then?
- Thread starter voodoo-kid
- Start date
- Tioga T-bone stems, several of them in the early 90's, used to go along to the local motocross track and tackle the jumps, shop got sick of replacing them 
got a Controltech stem and never had a problem again...
- Some crappy Raleigh steel frame hack bike, seatstays started to come adrift from the seat tube (probably due to the above "min insertion height" seatpost thinking about it), but was easily welded up
- Mavic 230 TIB rim, sidewall blewout... in fairness it was probably age/wear and not my fault.
- Tyres/tubes, several over a couple of years, caused by jumping up/down the flight of steps outside of school (wheels were always fine though :? )
- Modern Deore rear mech, literally exploded whilst riding along, jockey wheels & springs lost somewhere along the road. I have no idea what happened with this one, a mystery.
I consider myself to be pretty "light" on the bike & parts, not that I am particularly skilled, but being around 12stone and usually fairly sympathetic to the bike (ie not doing 12ft gap jumps etc) I've never had too many problems, all things considered.
I've ceretainly wrecked more motorbikes in my time than mountainbikes
got a Controltech stem and never had a problem again...- Some crappy Raleigh steel frame hack bike, seatstays started to come adrift from the seat tube (probably due to the above "min insertion height" seatpost thinking about it), but was easily welded up
- Mavic 230 TIB rim, sidewall blewout... in fairness it was probably age/wear and not my fault.
- Tyres/tubes, several over a couple of years, caused by jumping up/down the flight of steps outside of school (wheels were always fine though :? )
- Modern Deore rear mech, literally exploded whilst riding along, jockey wheels & springs lost somewhere along the road. I have no idea what happened with this one, a mystery.
I consider myself to be pretty "light" on the bike & parts, not that I am particularly skilled, but being around 12stone and usually fairly sympathetic to the bike (ie not doing 12ft gap jumps etc) I've never had too many problems, all things considered.
I've ceretainly wrecked more motorbikes in my time than mountainbikes
snapped an I beam stem
bent the stanchions on a set of Stratos MX6's
Broke a Foes weasel frame in half
broke steerer on a set of Judy DHs before they reinforced them
snapped axle on a DX front hub
snapped axle on an M900 rear hub
Cracked a Vitamin T (now repaired and still going strong)
Snapped a UN71 BB axle
Cracked 2 DNA ti frames (although this was a manufacturing fault)
Cracked a Setavento Ti frame
Bent a set of Answer riser bars
Broke numerous USE seatpost head clamps before they reinforced them
Also - left collarbone (naturally), my right shoulder no longer connects to my collarbone, 2 ribs, left foot, and theres a big hole in my left kneecap from smacking it against my stem in the mid-nineties,
Thats most of what I can remember. Not broken much modern stuff. I've Had a Turner frame since 2000 that is still going strong. I've gone off Ti frames for anything but xc.
bent the stanchions on a set of Stratos MX6's
Broke a Foes weasel frame in half
broke steerer on a set of Judy DHs before they reinforced them
snapped axle on a DX front hub
snapped axle on an M900 rear hub
Cracked a Vitamin T (now repaired and still going strong)
Snapped a UN71 BB axle
Cracked 2 DNA ti frames (although this was a manufacturing fault)
Cracked a Setavento Ti frame
Bent a set of Answer riser bars
Broke numerous USE seatpost head clamps before they reinforced them
Also - left collarbone (naturally), my right shoulder no longer connects to my collarbone, 2 ribs, left foot, and theres a big hole in my left kneecap from smacking it against my stem in the mid-nineties,
Thats most of what I can remember. Not broken much modern stuff. I've Had a Turner frame since 2000 that is still going strong. I've gone off Ti frames for anything but xc.
Totally destroyed my two day old Raleigh Mirage by riding it into a sort of concrete sided storm drain, whilst looking back at a couple of girls. Messed myself up pretty bad too, busted collar bone and cheek bone. Flat spotted quite a few wheels. Broken a lot of bones through skating and falling out of trees.
RadNomad
Senior Retro Guru
lewisfoto":3vdv1oyq said:
I see the same thing in the car business, some cars after 5 years are beautiful, others are trashed, not necessarily through accidents but just rough use, abuse, carelessness and/or poor maintenance. My father (an engineer) calls it "using without abusing", or "having mechanical sympathy". He's been wearing the same Omega watch daily since 1964 and his 1987 3 Series is a gem. If you buy good quality from new and look after it there is no reason for it to be worn out or destroyed in a few years. My '96 Lava Dome is almost immaculate and i like adrenaline as much as the next guy so it isn't a wallhanger. A long list of broken parts tells me more about the user than the quality of his parts. Competitive mountainbiking of course is a different story where damages are to be expected.
Rode straight into the back of a car on my falcon fattrax bent he rigid forks a long way back.
A worn 217 front wheel tacoed
A new 517 front wheel tacoed
Lots of square tapers ruined/broken hate the things
XT M739 brakes, levers adn V's worn out beyond use.
217 worn to the point of the rim cracking (matching the front tacoed one)
So many freehubs I lost count, what I didn't know BITD was that they were replaceable FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A worn 217 front wheel tacoed
A new 517 front wheel tacoed
Lots of square tapers ruined/broken hate the things
XT M739 brakes, levers adn V's worn out beyond use.
217 worn to the point of the rim cracking (matching the front tacoed one)
So many freehubs I lost count, what I didn't know BITD was that they were replaceable FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
USE seatpost
ControlTech seatpost (was told by man in shop they were unbreakable)
XT cassette alloy spider
2 Brake cables
Snapped teeth of a rear sprocket
Snapped a chainset (twas a pressed in cheapo type)
Destroyed the ball bearings on drive side of bottom bracket (all thas was left of them was a grey metallic paste)
ControlTech seatpost (was told by man in shop they were unbreakable)
XT cassette alloy spider
2 Brake cables
Snapped teeth of a rear sprocket
Snapped a chainset (twas a pressed in cheapo type)
Destroyed the ball bearings on drive side of bottom bracket (all thas was left of them was a grey metallic paste)
voodoo-kid
Devout Dirtbag
I think it seems to be a case that i'm not mechanically sympathetic, or putting it another way, an unskilled clumsy oaf - anyone that rides with me would attest to that! The old Raleigh frames were XC race frames that, in all fairness, i probably took them a little beyond thier design limits - riding with mates (lots of miles), trials, street and jumping (small jumps mind). The two other frames were really down to rubbish quality and a design fault.
I'm a lot more sedate these days due to having a young family, so hopefully i won't break so much stuff.
Keep 'em coming folks, this is starting to hot up...
I'm a lot more sedate these days due to having a young family, so hopefully i won't break so much stuff.
Keep 'em coming folks, this is starting to hot up...
