How much do you trust an old bike

[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!

 

[highlandsflyer]

I agree, keep an eye on highly stressed alloy parts. Frankly though, Shimano and the big guys (like 3T, Cinelli, ITM etc.) knew their stuff and had the experience to engineer it to last. Boutique CNC bits I avoid. Keep it clean and check frame junctions, cranks, stems and bars for cracks. Steel stuff has a theoretically infinite fatigue life and is of little concern to me. There's no more reason my 1995 P7 will break today than the day it was new.

Personally I'm not concerned about Carbon Fibre, I race on a 25 year old boat with composite structure and a carbon mast. However, any sign of bruising, loss of clearcoat or delamination rings immediate warning bells.

What happens when your mast fails? How about the hull?

 

[hamster]

What happens when your mast fails? How about the hull?

If the mast fails it falls down. I have been on a boat racing in 1987 when it happened at 3am, mid channel. The whole rig went over the side, of course it was windy and we had to act fast before a stay cut somebody in half or the mast punched through the hull. Not fun, out with the bolt croppers and cut the whole lot away FAST. £50,000 bill for the insurance. What failed? A £10 pin in a rigging link sheared. FWIW it was an aluminium mast and stainless rigging.

My boat has a foam composite hull, each year I check for delamination and soft spots. Structurally it's less of a risk of sudden failure.

SO inspect regularly and also after any damage. The best example of stored up problems was the 40 footer Cheeki Rafiki, which broke up and sank mid-Atlantic after her keel broke off. All those on board died. She had grounded some years earlier and there was hidden damage which hadn't been inspected thoroughly enough.

 

[highlandsflyer]

If the mast fails it falls down. I have been on a boat racing in 1987 when it happened at 3am, mid channel. The whole rig went over the side, of course it was windy and we had to act fast before a stay cut somebody in half or the mast punched through the hull. Not fun, out with the bolt croppers and cut the whole lot away FAST. £50,000 bill for the insurance. What failed? A £10 pin in a rigging link sheared. FWIW it was an aluminium mast and stainless rigging.

My boat has a foam composite hull, each year I check for delamination and soft spots. Structurally it's less of a risk of sudden failure.

SO inspect regularly and also after any damage. The best example of stored up problems was the 40 footer Cheeki Rafiki, which broke up and sank mid-Atlantic after her keel broke off. All those on board died. She had grounded some years earlier and there was hidden damage which hadn't been inspected thoroughly enough.

The problem with inspection is the lack of it, and the lack of expertise to carry it out properly. THEN there is the problem of expense to get it done properly, which is resultantly not going to happen for most people. That shiny painted thirty year old featherweight road bike is going to be hurtling down a thirty percent gradient at some point with compromised components or structure. I would not think twice about lightweight carbon parts, as long as there is a level of redundancy for when it goes wrong.

If I were planning bluewater sailing I would think long and hard about a thirty year old carbon fibre anything.. (Maybe my shore bike.)

 

[hamster]

I agree, having put my money where my mouth is and restored a 44 year old steel frame as my main road bike - deterioration is easy to see and failure modes are gradual.

Lightweight ANYTHING is unsuitable for bluewater sailing, which is why massively over-engineered 60s and 70s GRP designs (Nic 32, Contessa, Rival etc) - or steel - are still popular. No way would you see me doing that on a Jan/Bav/Ben AWB.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Many used bikes have received impact stresses, especially if they are 30 years old.

It's surprising how reliable carbon fibre is, and also bonded frames.
Impact is much worse than age for them too!

I'd love to say they were less reliable than steel (because I don't like them as frame materials and methods) but most broken frames we see are caused by impact or corrosion. (and often both)


...or fatigue in the case of cannondales.

(To be fair most aluminium fatigue failures are caused by poor seatpost fit or insertion)

 

[Dface]

Many used bikes have received impact stresses, especially if they are 30 years old.

It's surprising how reliable carbon fibre is, and also bonded frames.
Impact is much worse than age for them too!

I'd love to say they were less reliable than steel (because I don't like them as frame materials and methods) but most broken frames we see are caused by impact or corrosion. (and often both)


...or fatigue in the case of cannondales.

(To be fair most aluminium fatigue failures are caused by poor seatpost fit or insertion)

Fatigue? I was going down steps on mine last night like I was 15 years old

 

[bikeworkshop]

Rider fatigue is a different matter!

 

[Dface]

Rider fatigue is a different matter!

I definitely have that.