Pro-tip: buy a bike once. It’s not as if they expire or something! There is no good reason a bike shouldn’t last decades and decades, as long as you keep it maintained. My utility bike was manufactured circa 1990, and it works just fine.
(Well, unless it has an aluminum frame, anyway – those really do wear out eventually because aluminum has no fatigue limit.)
That’s the thing, a back frame bent even just by 3 degrees becomes unsalvageable, and if you’re riding a bike such that you’re not testing the frame to some degree then I’d argue that you’re not riding at all :-P
Depends on what kind of storage infrastructure is available to you. When commuting, I can lock my bike inside a bike room at both ends, which requires a badge to open. The chance of my bike getting stolen on a commute is very slim.
Pro-tip: buy a bike once. It’s not as if they expire or something! There is no good reason a bike shouldn’t last decades and decades, as long as you keep it maintained. My utility bike was manufactured circa 1990, and it works just fine.
(Well, unless it has an aluminum frame, anyway – those really do wear out eventually because aluminum has no fatigue limit.)
That’s the thing, a back frame bent even just by 3 degrees becomes unsalvageable, and if you’re riding a bike such that you’re not testing the frame to some degree then I’d argue that you’re not riding at all :-P
Bent in which way?
Rear triangle on a steel bike can be straightened out if you are careful.
Front triangle shouldn’t have issues unless it’s bad from the start. (that requires a table and skill)
Only bike I have straightened was a steel huffy (not worth working on)
It had a head tube that was twisted so wasn’t fixable… Rear was easy enough to align though.
Front triangle I just swap out the stem, but back triangle there’s nothing I can do to fix that without weakening the frame even more
Steel is real.
I have two bent steel frames from beautiful French bikes that I had to sadly say bye bye to
Every Dutch person in this thread: what the fuck is testing your frame?
going off the road, popping wheelies, carrying heavy parts, cornering at extreme angles with a heavy load, that kind of thing
They don’t expire, but they do get stolen. Especially if you’re using it to commute.
Depends on what kind of storage infrastructure is available to you. When commuting, I can lock my bike inside a bike room at both ends, which requires a badge to open. The chance of my bike getting stolen on a commute is very slim.