My stuff keeps breaking

Am I beating it too hard?

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 88.9%
  • No

    Votes: 3 33.3%

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .

hotsauce

Well-Known Member
I was packing up my trainer this morning and found the fluid from the resistance unit leaking onto the mat. This got me thinking about how often my bike stuff breaks from issues unrelated to me beating it up.

The list from the last 12 months includes:
  • Cannondale SuperSix Evo frame - crooked rear dropouts
  • Exploded rear hub on a FSA Energy wheel
  • Pacenti SL23 rim - 25% of the nipples pulled through the rim (7 of 28)
  • Cyceleops Fluid2 trainer - goo everywhere
Luckily all of this has been replaced under warranty (with varying levels of frustration). Am I just being unnecessarily harsh on my stuff or is this the nature of bike equipment?
 

hotsauce

Well-Known Member
Bike shit breaks, sometimes they warranty it, sometimes not.
If it breaks because you push gear to the limit, I understand rolling the dice on a warranty claim. But "quality" stuff just shouldn't have the failure rates that seem common. The frame especially, that model was on the market for 3+ years before I bought it, production should have been dialed.

Is it due to a struggling bike industry and limited quality control or are we just conditioned to buy durable goods that turn out to be consumables?
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
no one chimed in with a joke about the title of the poll?!

AM I BEATING IT TOO HARD?

guys, really... i expect more from you

Ain't nobody got time(/money) for that while buying an apartment and a kid on the way.

applicable.

------

yeah, it breaks. you put out lots of whats, er watts. you use your equipment.
two things most of the market doesn't do.
 

hotsauce

Well-Known Member
Surprisingly, everything I've broken via cyclocross has been repairable or extremely minor. I've wrecked more times than I can count, I even bent the shifter paddle on a SRAM hydro lever which was bent back into place. The road gear takes much more of a beating even though 80% of the use is sitting on a trainer.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Is it due to a struggling bike industry and limited quality control or are we just conditioned to buy durable goods that turn out to be
Not sure what happened with road bike frame, as long as you didn't crash it they should warranty it.
Hubs break, unless you spend big money for high end stuff...then it should break less.
Nipples can pull through, it's not uncommon. Talk to your local bike shop about advice before buying wheels.

Get rid of your trainer and go ride your bike.

Bike stuff doesn't last as long as your car:)
 

jmanic

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
Staff member
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
no one chimed in with a joke about the title of the poll?!

AM I BEATING IT TOO HARD?

guys, really... i expect more from you
We were saving it for you.
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Nipples can pull through, it's not uncommon.


86df0197f836341da7b4065f8143402f.jpg


 

olegbabich

Well-Known Member
Cannondale and Niner are the only bike frames I managed to break.

That is 2 Cannondale full suspension frames and a Niner hard tail.

These bike were not cheap.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Cannondale and Niner are the only bike frames I managed to break.

That is 2 Cannondale full suspension frames and a Niner hard tail.

These bike were not cheap.
The reason they aren't cheap is because they know they be warranting more than 50% of them.

@hotsauce let's discuss how you are breaking a frame and destroying hubs and wheels on the trainer. I mean shit, you BROKE a trainer. Maybe stop riding the trainer, the bike goods are trying to tell you something.

Are you one of these guys that doesn't pay attention to what they are riding over?
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Cannondale and Niner are the only bike frames I managed to break.

That is 2 Cannondale full suspension frames and a Niner hard tail.

These bike were not cheap.

Can't speak to the Cannondale, but Niner is great on warranties. I had to warranty my Sir9 frame twice because of frame cracks on the chainstays (not a flaw in the bike -- if you bounce around on rocky terrain enough with any steel frame, you're eventually going to crack it. I put over 6K miles on both frames before they gave out.)

@hotsauce , breaking a bunch of things in 12 months can come down to any number of causes: are you riding a lot more and riding more aggressively when you do? Are you taking care of your bikes after you ride it (cleaning the drivetrain, looking for dings in the frame that may create weak spots, checking spoke tension, etc.)? Are you riding in areas that are more techy? If you don't know them already, learn the basics of regular maintenance and put the time in to keep your bike in riding condition and you probably won't have those problems. If you ride enough, the concept of "ride it hard and put it away wet" is total BS. Just a quick check of the bike after a ride can usually head off a lot of issues before they become problems. And if you have no time to take care of your bikes after you ride it, just keep a slush fund at the ready to pay for someone else to when these things happen.
 
Top Bottom