When should a bike retire?

kencoo

15 years ago i bought a mountain bike. It cost about IRL650 at the time and i still consider it to be money well spent as i cycle it daily. I do the light services myself.
Chain is slipping so i brought it down to the local shop for a full service, new chain block, the works. The shop owner said its wasnt worth putting any money into it and after a discussion decided he wouldnt service it for me. He said it needed to be renovated rather than serviced.... got me rather hot under the collar to be honest....two customers came in and one agreed with the shopkeeper that it should be dumped the other took my side.
Anyway took it to another shop who was happy to do the work.

Question is if a bike owner i happy to pay to have a bike maintained even if "its not worth it" why should it be a problem?
The bike is old i know but will soon have a new chain/block/crank. I put new tyres and brake on 2 months ago.
Realistically why should it then be thrown out or am i missing something?

Think_then_talk

I have a raleigh since 94 its been been used a good bit lol,
Like you was told was not worth putting any money into it.
Then I was offered a trade in "new bike".
Told them no thanks after all its a raleigh good frame ect,
In the end I went to another shop and got a new back wheel &
the gears fixed for 90 euro.Happy days I'll retire first & the bike
will still be going.

TheBlaaMan

kencoo wrote: »

15 years ago i bought a mountain bike. It cost about IRL650 at the time and i still consider it to be money well spent as i cycle it daily. I do the light services myself.
Chain is slipping so i brought it down to the local shop for a full service, new chain block, the works. The shop owner said its wasnt worth putting any money into it and after a discussion decided he wouldnt service it for me. He said it needed to be renovated rather than serviced.... got me rather hot under the collar to be honest....two customers came in and one agreed with the shopkeeper that it should be dumped the other took my side.
Anyway took it to another shop who was happy to do the work.

Question is if a bike owner i happy to pay to have a bike maintained even if "its not worth it" why should it be a problem?
The bike is old i know but will soon have a new chain/block/crank. I put new tyres and brake on 2 months ago.
Realistically why should it then be thrown out or am i missing something?

Its down to an issue of him standing over his work(manship) on a bike that he feels may let you down and you then go back to him to complain about shoddy work etc etc. Not nice for you, but I can see where he is coming from. Anyway, you have already found the solution to this...........bring your custom elsewhere .

rollingscone

Or learn to service it fully yourself...

If I had money I'd be in like flynn for the bike maintenance and building courses at Rothar

Dermot Illogical

kencoo wrote: »

The shop owner said its wasnt worth putting any money into it and after a discussion decided he wouldnt service it for me. He said it needed to be renovated rather than serviced....

What did he mean by renovated? Was there some part of the bike he felt needed extra work?

VanhireBoys

Depends if you are "emotionally attached" to said bike...

I am going to do a full stripdown respray and rebuild of a bike that is 1986 and cost me about 100eu ... !

It will deffo cost about 300eu to do this but what the hell .. i will be well retired before it is....;)

feck sake lads

Kencoo my raleigh is 28 years old and as good as the day it was made.
pass no remarks of dickheads like that not a clue what there talking about.
check out shimano mountain bike groupsets like XTm770 if the wheels are good stick a nice set of schwalble kojacks on it totally transform it

for parts a really good site is bikediscounts german site but great prices on stuff.:cool:

happytramp

It comes down to one simple question. Is it worth spending €100 on a bike that will still be worth less than €100 after the work is finished?

feck sake lads

happytramp wrote: »

It comes down to one simple question. Is it worth spending €100 on a bike that will still be worth less than €100 after the work is finished?

of course it will :P

Coronal

happytramp wrote: »

It comes down to one simple question. Is it worth spending €100 on a bike that will still be worth less than €100 after the work is finished?

If you plan on selling it, no. If you plan to keep using it, why not. If all the parts are then good quality and working then buying a new bike of simillar quality would cost a lot more than €100.

My fixie is an example of this: 350 to start off with, but I've changed the saddle, it's on its 4th set of tyres, new headset, chain and sprocket recently, also changed the handlebars and bar tape, put mudguards and new pedals on it... Totally worth it :cool:

Tonyandthewhale

15 years is not old for a bike. My audax/commute/light touring bike is built around a frame from roughly 1989, my fixie is a few years older, my touring bike/bad weather commuter is almost 10 and I also have a town bike from 1958.

Cheap bikes that have been let go to seed for a few years may reach a state where getting them road-worthy again is not economical (especially if you're paying a shop for labour) but there's no need to throw out a perfectly good bike just because it's X number of years old.

happytramp

Coronal wrote: »

If you plan on selling it, no. If you plan to keep using it, why not. If all the parts are then good quality and working then buying a new bike of simillar quality would cost a lot more than €100.

I happen to agree 100%. I don't see why a shop would refuse to do the work. Unless of course the bike is unsafe and will still be unsafe once the work is finished. ie. bike has structural damage and is in danger of failing in the near future.

Coronal

Very true Hopefully any potential issues (I'm thinking BB and headset) were pointed out so that the OP can get them sorted.

killalanerr

op thats up to you,my old training tack is probably in better nick now than it was when a bought it,i replace/repair its parts as they are needed,it will get new brakes over the summer,as was said i will be retired before the bike is

Andy-Pandy

I've a Klein pulse pro mountain bike which cost me £1300 in a sale in 1997. Best money I've ever spent. Im not using it at the moment, it has a pair of rigid forks on it but i plan on putting some new suspension forks on it and doing it up to be a proper mountain bike again. I would rather do that bike up than invest in a new one, it's the most comfortable bike i have ever cycled.

The only original part left on it are the break levers though. Everything else has been changed over the years. It really shows the importance of a good frame

Lumen

There's no point in getting wound up if a shop doesn't want to service a bike for whatever reason, they're perfectly within their rights to turn down work.

BostonB

happytramp wrote: »

It comes down to one simple question. Is it worth spending €100 on a bike that will still be worth less than €100 after the work is finished?

Sure if you like it.

feck sake lads

Lumen wrote: »

There's no point in getting wound up if a shop doesn't want to service a bike for whatever reason, they're perfectly within their rights to turn down work.

thats ok saying that but he made the op feel very small in front of other customers not very nice in my book.

kencoo

The bike in question is a raleigh. its a heavy bike by todays standards and the geometry is different than modern bikes... The bike shop did suggest that i would be better off buying a bike for circa 350 for the long run. (In my opinion a 300 bike these days is poor quality though.)
I suppose the point is, if the parts are new and frame is fine why would you or should you replace it with a newer model? Do frames on steel bikes have shelf lifes?

rollingscone

Not in practical terms. If you're happy with the style and ride and it's safe then there is no problem.

ballyharpat

I think if you like the bike, and it's comfortable for you, it's worth upgrading/maintaining, a steel bike you buy today, would be of a lesser quality steel, I believe, than one you bought 20 plus years ago. Colnagos from the past are really hard to come by and while they are heavier than todays counterparts, are a much more comfortable ride and have a classic look that you cannot buy today.

feck sake lads

Steel is still the favourate material of top frame builders world wide.
dont be fooled by shiney paint jobs ,
you would need to pay a lot of money for the best modern day bikes be it road or mountain bike, honest if your happy with your bike and how it rides hold onto it, its all down to the pilot.:rolleyes:

Lumen

feck sake lads wrote: »

thats ok saying that but he made the op feel very small in front of other customers not very nice in my book.

Where did you get that from?

OP said:

"The shop owner said its wasnt worth putting any money into it and after a discussion decided he wouldnt service it for me. He said it needed to be renovated rather than serviced.... got me rather hot under the collar to be honest....two customers came in and one agreed with the shopkeeper that it should be dumped the other took my side."

feck sake lads

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/334033-I-would-LOVE-to-see-photos-of-your-MTB-conversion

hope the link works it explains itself.

BostonB

My bike looks a bit like the ones in that thread. Its a 17yr old steel MTB which I changed to suit my commuting.

That said it would have made more sense to by a decent hyrid at the start. I ended up changing and repairing quite a bit on the MTB. When I first pulled it out of the shed to start back on the bike, a shop told my to do that, because the MTB would make the commute a lot harder. That said 3yrs ago hyrids were a lot cheaper than they are now.

Sagi

I just recently bought an old raleigh from the first part of the ninties, and I'm renovating it, putting some money into a few components I could not really save anymore and to replace the brake pads chain etc.

So in the end I will have paid 150 to 200 euros for a bike I use for commuting which is quite ok. For the money I could not buy a bike that comes close to the same quality. (the raleigh got shimano lx shifters and dereilleurs, and a new old wheelset with lx hubs and araya rims)

Anyhow, I don't like the mentality to throw a bike away just becaiuse it's old, as long as it runs or can be repaired I would not see a reason to give it up and replace it with something new.

feck sake lads

sagi well said and your 100% correct;) cycling not all about road racers and top of the range carbon bikes that cost 10 grand and more/;)