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I have never had to replace everything on a bike yet. I have replaced bikes in the past but my racing days are done and I gain nothing upgrading from perfectly usable parts.Yes, and if you replace everything but a frame, you will likely spend more money than replacing it with a completely new bike. It isn't impossible, but if you spend similar money for equipping your frame with new components as getting a new bike, why not go for the new bike and sell the old one? Plus, I would only consider stripping the bike to the frame and building it up from scratch if I would do it myself. If you ask a LBS to do it, that'd probably be another added expense.
The analogy is quite clear: you choose to ride an older (vintage) bike the same way you choose to drive an older car: it isn't because it is cheaper, it is because you enjoy the feeling that it gives you. Perhaps you love to tinker. Perhaps you like to restore old things and you appreciate the beauty of cars/bikes of a certain era. You like to strip down a bike to the frame replace all bearings, replace some parts and put the bike back together.@OreoCookie , I'm always puzzled by how common it is for people to make points about bikes by analogy with cars. […] I see little similarity between a 30-year-old bike and a 30-year-old (four-wheeled) BMW. The former is likely to have parts that are interchangeable with those of a great many other bikes of the same age.
I'd make a distinction between two strategies: either you opt to put period-correct parts onto the bike, which means you are in the vintage category. Or you put modern parts on it and make a semi-retro build, in which case, your options narrow as standards change over time. My mountain bike was obsoleted by standards, and the same is happening for road bikes, albeit more slowly.But if you get the rear of your 30-year-old steel road frame "cold set" from 126 mm (if that's what it is) to 130 mm, you've got a frame that's pretty similar to a non-negligible minority of today's new frames, and one that will take a wide range of wheels, cranksets, seatposts and stems that are easily obtained new or old. And as for "downstream" (?) compatibility, my oldie has new "Grand Bois" rims laced to its half-century-old Zeus hubs, new Koolstop pads for its decades-old Mafac brakes, etc.
I guess that depends on how often you use your bike. In my experience it does happen that all drivetrain wear items need replacing. That's because worn chains like worn chainrings and worn cassettes — they all fit together nicely, precisely because they are worn. And then you replace e. g. the chain and nothing works properly anymore, because the new chain has a smaller pitch between the chain links, too small for the worn cogs.And the chances that everything needs replacing at once is so small it isn't even a consideration.
Airframes can be old, because they are subject to a meticulous maintenance regimen. Even then there are many cases where in most circumstances it makes no financial sense to keep them around, because the cost of necessary maintenance exceeds the value of the plane. (There are special circumstances like the US military keeping the B-52 around, because they have no new aircraft that can take its place. AFAIK even programs aimed at replacing the ancient engines by more modern ones were canned.)"any item you have has a finite life span" Ordinarily, that'd be a hook for me to start talking about vintage guitars, but I'll stifle that. (And many people would be surprised how old some airframes can be.)
I believe that this used to be true. But is it still true? Or perhaps I should ask: To the extent that this is still true, is it still an issue? Some time before the Covid pestilence interrupted supplies, I thought that it might be time to change the chain of my not-at-all-antique bike, and so asked about this at my LBS. Yes, good idea, he said. So, um, does that mean that I should also change chainwheels and cassette? I asked. No, these are fine, said he. (Even though he would have profited somewhat from selling me replacements.)That's because worn chains like worn chainrings and worn cassettes — they all fit together nicely, precisely because they are worn. And then you replace e. g. the chain and nothing works properly anymore, because the new chain has a smaller pitch between the chain links, too small for the worn cogs.
Yes. This doesn't make me happy.On the road side, Shimano doesn't make things very easy either: you could think that the current 10-speed Tiagra components are perfect replacements, but Shimano is using the 11-speed pull ratios on the Tiagra components, which is incompatible with older 10-speed components.
Yes, happened to me when I got a new-to-me mountain bike: I noticed the chain was worn, but forgot to check the chain ring. So I couldn't ride after I had put on a new chain. This is 11-speed mountain bike stuff (XTR groupset, save for the XT cassette).believe that this used to be true. But is it still true?
Yes, with tiny exceptions: I think the 11-speed Di2 TT shifters might be compatible with 12-speed equipment, because it made no financial sense for Shimano to redesign them. In principle, with electronic shifting there is no reason why you can't continue to use the same shifters for any number of speeds. Perhaps you'd need a firmware upgrade. But that's not the game Shimano (and SRAM) are playing.Also, I learned (or misheard) the other day that there are two versions ("generations"?) of Di-2 and that if you want to change some component that's part of an earlier set, you have to pay an exorbitant price for it.
Philosophically (ethically, etc), I'd be real disappointed if I had to accept that everything on a bike wore out at once, and that disposing of it and buying a new one was somehow the next step to take.Chains wear faster than chainrings and cassettes. I think it's 5-7 chain changes before you need to think of replacing the others.
Correct, Tiagra 4700 rear derailleurs are compatible with 11-speed 105 5800, 105 R7000, Ultegra 6800 and R8000 but not with any other 10-speed group sets.On the road side, Shimano doesn't make things very easy either: you could think that the current 10-speed Tiagra components are perfect replacements, but Shimano is using the 11-speed pull ratios on the Tiagra components, which is incompatible with older 10-speed components.